March 15, 2007 MRO Optimization - Best Practices for effective inventory parts & storeroom management
Read this Best Practices White Paper to learn critical management methods for getting a storeroom into excellent shape – and keeping it there.
These processes offer an opportunity to reduce surplus inventories & save on purchases by consolidating vendors - without radically changing normal business practices.
March 15, 2007 GE’s Plant Optimization and Control Users’ Conference
With over 25,000 Bently Nevada condition monitoring systems and 3000 System 1 condition-monitoring software platform installations worldwide—GE Energy is sponsoring a series of forums where operating users and reliability professionals can share experiences and benefit from direct access to GE reliability experts. Learn how reliability improvement services help customers spend up to 60% less on maintenance while improving uptime, wrench time, environmental compliance and more.
Hosting the user conferences in four worldwide locations, agendas include user presentations, technology trends, workshops, and user group networking sessions.
March 15, 2007 Training Tip
Training for the Appropriate Level
How many courses have you been to that are more of an all-in-one course that leave you in a cloud of confusion?
Too many courses today teach a broad spectrum of items in too short of a time. I understand that the cost of training and availability of time are limited because of today’s working culture. The problem with broad ranging courses is that there is not enough repetition designed into the courses and they sometimes cover tasks over multiple levels in the organization. Familiarization is sometimes good as long as it is not at the sacrifice of important job specific training. More times than not the familiarization training can be done through communication on the job.
When looking for training courses identify the specifics of what you need training on and research the different training courses to find one that closely matches your needs without a lot of extra fluff.
Rob Apelgren, CMRP
Director of Training Services, SUCCESS by DESIGN
Toll Free (800) 392-9025 ext 202
http://www.motordoc.net
iPresentation Invitation: Maintenance Training Levels and Importance
March 15, 2007 The Ice Cold 6-Pack: Quick & Dirty Tactics For Immediate Maintenance Results
Tactic #2: Stop Drinking From the Fire Hose
From the authors of The Dirty Dozen: 12 Ways to Wreck Your Maintenance Program
Have you ever dealt with an “emergency” work order to fix a coffee maker, paint an office or assemble a desk? We call these jobs “emotional emergencies”. We know a site that generated 1000+ emergency work orders per month, most of which were emotional in nature. This is like drinking from a fire hose!
To become more proactive, you need time to plan and execute your work according to a schedule. How do we disconnect from roaring flow of “emergency” demands to focus on tasks that increase reliability?
The answer is to prioritize your work. Build a prioritization system that is easy to understand, so anyone can use it properly. People demand instant service when they don’t trust that maintenance will meet their needs unless they scream and wave their arms in the air every time something needs to be done.
Honesty on the part of the requester and maintenance is what makes the system work. It is an enormous victory when people begin requesting work to be completed by the date they really need it, and maintenance responds to those requests with remarkable service.
The site we mentioned earlier now has only one or two true emergency work orders monthly. Stop drinking from the fire hose today!
Tip provided by Nobreakdowns.com
Arms Dealer for the Maintenance Battlefield
Tel: (218) 327-3114
March 15, 2007 Start Up New Equipment Installation Tip
The second of 12 Reliability deliverables when installing new equipment is “All maintenance and operational Preventive Maintenance (PM) work orders are complete and entered into the system.” The start up and operational frequency for performing PM work is set on Failure Modes and business risk.
PM work includes repeated activities which are triggered by time, cycles or conditions. PM work which needs to be developed include cleaning, inspection, intrusive inspection, lubrication and rebuilds. The best preventive maintenance programs trigger PM activities based on equipment condition such as cycles, process control information, equipment performance data and operator checks.
When a new line or facility is being built, it is very important to determine the control point for triggering a specific PM. If this is done during the preliminary engineering phase of the project, the cost impact to provide an automatic trigger will be minimal.
The priority in developing PM activities must be based on the criticality of an asset. An asset providing safeguards, environmental protection or is a revenue producing asset should have higher priority than an asset providing a support function.
When writing a PM, use the KISS method. (Keep It Simple Stupid)
Keep safety and environmental issues as a priority. Instruct on what is to be done and what is to be measure. State what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. Specify the required action to address an unacceptable condition.
Tip provided by Kevin Lewton
Met Demand LLC
http://www.metdemand.com
March 15, 2007 New Service Offering – Trico On Demand
Introducing Trico On Demand - your new, 24/7 resource for answers to those tough maintenance and reliability problems you face each day.
Trico On Demand is a members only service through which you can quickly and easily access expert solutions to your lubrication management problems. Instead of being left to solve the problems with internal resources only, Trico will offer an added level of expertise.
Call Trico On Demand - Answers today, for today’s problems toll free at 800.558.7008 or…
March 15, 2007 Vibration Analysis Tip
IEPE (Integrated Electronic Piezo Electric) accelerometers are the industry standard for most industrial vibration analysis. These two wire sensors require a constant current power source and 24 VDC power supply. The vibration signal is converted and amplified by the integrated electronics to produce an AC (analog) Voltage output. The maximum AC voltage signal output of the sensor is typically +/- 5V and can be determined by the circuit design and the input voltage.
Knowing the maximum AC voltage output of a sensor and knowing the maximum vibration amplitude likely to be seen in an application can help an analyst to determine the appropriate sensor for a given application. For example if application “X” is likely to produce 125 g’s of vibration, then simply divide the 5V max output by 125 g’s: the result is 0.04 V/g or 40 mV/g. Therefore, your 125g application requires a sensor with a sensitivity of 40 mV/g or lower, otherwise the signal will overload the sensor electronics, causing saturation or clipping in the time domain. Since 40 mV/g is not a typical sensitivity, the proper sensor for this application would be a 10mV/g sensor.
These calculations have been simplified on many sensor data sheets by reporting the “Dynamic Range” of the sensor. For example the Dynamic Range of a 10 mV/g sensor would typically be +/- 500 g’s.
One accelerometer does not fit all applications, and understanding how they work and how to apply them to your application will be very beneficial to the overall success of the vibration monitoring program on your machines.
Tip provided by CTC
800-999-5290 x 809 (in USA)
585-924-5900 x 809 (international)
http://www.ctconline.com
iPresentation Invitation: Measuring Vibration in a Hazardous Area
March 15, 2007 Motor Testing Tip
Performing a Rotor Influence Check (RIC) on a horizontally mounted electric motor is a simple procedure .
Use the magnetic protractor/pitch gauge , supplied with the tester , to move and measure the motor shaft rotation “X” number of degrees to perform the test .
The protractor / pitch gauge relies on gravity to locate its arrow and therefore will not work on a vertically mounted electric motor .
The solution to this problem is to use a degree wheel . A degree wheel is commonly used in automotive applications to degree the camshaft and obtain accurate valve timing .
Magnetically attach the degree wheel to the end of the vertical shaft. Fashion a pointer from , for example , a small diameter Tig welding rod and tape to the electric motor bent to point at zero degrees .
Next rotate the motor shaft until the pointer aligns with the desired number of degrees required for the RIC test .
Repeat rotation and measurement for each increment of the test until completed.
Reader tip provided by Jeff Scott
Invista - Electrical Reliability Seaford , Delaware
Thanks Scott - your Maintenance-Tips hat is on the way!
