PMO2000 can change the way you view, rationalize and manage your maintenance strategy all in 1/6th the time and with 1/6th of the resources of conventional RCM.

Download your free evaluation version of PMO2000

#9: Emergency maintenance is continuing to rise for no known reason

Problems seem to increase everyday and as you get a handle in one area another area problems begin spinning out of control. When you have so many problems and you can’t get a handle on them. You must step back and develop a good plan of attack. The first step would be to track all failures by using a metric called Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF). This metric allows you to focus on the assets that are failing the most. This metric is measured by dividing the number of emergency work orders into time. An example would 3 emergency work orders divided into 24 hours would be 24 divided by 3 equals a MTBF of 8.

Tip by Ricky Smith, Asset Reliability Advocate
Co-author Rules of Thumb for Maintenance and Reliability Engineers

Find our more about Ricky Smith’s new book Rules of Thumb for Maintenance and Reliability Engineers

Cause Mapping is an extremely effective 3 step “systems thinking” approach to root cause analysis that significantly improves communication in group problem solving.

Workshop coming soon:

• Anaheim, CA
• San Antonio, TX
• San Francisco, CA
• Mt. Olive, NJ
• Houston, TX

Find out more about Cause Mapping Workshops

Overwhelmed with a CMMS Implementation?

You have just implemented a new CMMS, got finally got your equipment hierarchy in place, and have put the equipment criticality rating against the equipment in the database. Feeling overwhelmed about collecting all of the equipment nameplate data, and developing maintenance plans such as PM/ PdM/ Lubrication procedures for all of the site equipment?

Don’t fret. Simply break down the tasks into a more manageable process by using the criticality rating to focus your efforts on the most critical equipment first. If you need to break it down further, select a pilot area to validate and refine your efforts. Methodically work down your various criticality ratings from highest to lowest until you complete the effort. If you would like to know some of the next steps to implementing a CMMS, send me an email at

Tip provided by Jeff Shiver, CMRP, CPMM
People and Processes
http://www.peopleandprocesses.com

More CMMS Resources at CMMSCity.com

PdM-2008 - The Predictive Maintenance Technology Conference
LubricationWorld-2008
September 15-18
Qwest Center - Omaha Nebraska
http://www.maintenanceconference.com

Call for Participation Now Open for PdM-2008 and LubricationWorld-2008 - Proposals due March 3, 2008

Leading companies are driving increased reliability, availability and uptime through condition based predictive maintenance and fundamental lubrication excellence. When it comes to insights into new developments it’s clear the one place to be is the Predictive Maintenance Conference and LubricationWorld.

In its 4th year, you will find these collocated conferences featuring high profile keynotes, exciting case studies, panel discussions, eye-opening demos and plenty of time for networking.

The call for participation is now open and early abstracts have the advantage!

Find out more about the Call for Participation Now Open for PdM-2008 and LubricationWorld-2008

Lawson Enterprise Asset Management is a best-of-breed software solution specifically designed to help improve the reliability and availability of your critical assets. It can help you to maximize your profitability and return on your asset investment during every stage of the asset lifecycle. It can also be easily integrated with your other business operations and systems.

Find our more about Lawson Enterprise Asset Management

When balancing fans, it is always better to use an outer section of the fan for a reference. This gives great results for balance due to refined placement accuracy of weight, but that is not always a usable choice.

Many times fans have too many surface irregularities that interfere with the reference strobe causing 2, 3, and 4 times running speeds to show up on the balance equipment.

Most often the best luck is found on the shaft, since this environment is more easily controlled. When this occurs, your actual placement of weights is often slightly off from where the balancing equipment expects placement. After initial test weight has been applied, interrupt the balancing equipment.

Your trim weight has now been calculated for you, and you have seen the fan wheel reaction to the additional weight during the trial run. You can then add trim weight according to what you feel is optimal placement. After a few runs the learning curve becomes easier.

This provides much better results and is often faster. Following final weight placements, the balancing equipment should have recorded the results allowing any follow up to be done as in the past.

Reader tip provided by Jake Schley
Vibration Analyst
Chiller Systems Service, Inc.
Lakewood Colorado

Thanks Jake - your stainless steel, diamond plate, Reliabilityweb.com coffee mug is on the way!

Send a Tip and get your own Stainless steel diamond plate Reliabilityweb.com coffee mug

Begin with the end in mind. Many organizations fail to reap the benefits available from RCM projects because they do not have a good plan for implementing the equipment maintenance plan that is generated. Your RCM effort will be more successful if you build a plan for how your are going to implement the equipment maintenance plan at the very beginning of the project.

Tip provided by Allied Reliability
843-414-5760

Find out more about RCM Blitz - Fast Reliability Centered Maintenance