June 12, 2008 WALGREENS seeks Maintenance Managers & Maintenance Technicians in 14 locations
Walgreens currently seeks qualified MAINTENANCE MANAGERS and MAINTENANCE TECHNICIANS for 14 locations in our state-of-the-art Distribution Centers across the country. Walgreens Distribution Centers have developed a reputation for finding the newest, most efficient and innovative ways to move merchandise.
June 12, 2008 Leadership Tip
Keep Your Commitments
Dependable. Reliable. Trustworthy. Do those words describe you? If asked, would your team members say that your word is “good as gold”? The answer to each of those questions needs to be a resounding “yes” if you are going to be the kind of leader that others will follow.
All successful leaders place a premium on keeping their promises and commitments. If they say they’ll do something – whether “important” or seemingly insignificant – they remember it…and they DO it. They count on the fact that people can count on them. And they understand that statements like…
I was gonna,
I meant to,
I haven’t forgotten,
I’ll get to it soon…
all translate the same way: I JUST DIDN’T DO IT!
Those are excuses. They’re close to meaningless. Each time they’re uttered, they chip away the trust and confidence employees have for their management. And when those two factors are gone, so is your ability to lead.
The good news: With few exceptions, all leaders really do intend to keep “their word” and their promises. The bad news: Good intentions alone won’t take you very far. You get no “points” for them. Points come only when you deliver.
So don’t make promises lightly…don’t make ones you can’t (or really don’t intend) to keep…don’t mislead the people that ultimately will determine your success. And when you do make commitments, write them down, check them frequently, do whatever it takes to make good on them. Earn the right to expect others to keep their word by keeping yours.
Tip excerpted from Start RIGHT, Stay RIGHT...LEAD RIGHT: Every leader’s straight talk guide to success on the job by Steve Ventura
June 12, 2008 Liquid Air-Separation Compressor Testing Case Study
Nelson Baxter, a consultant with AZIMA Corp., Woburn, Mass., was recently requested to measure the startup operation of a four-stage, 5.0 k-hp liquid-air separation compressor. The purpose of the test was to evaluate the unit’s condition and detect any root problems that previously might have caused an excessive vibration transient in the first stage that resulted in a subsequent trip event. Baxter initially recorded some sub-synchronous instability, but for five succeeding days, no unusual vibration transients appeared.
June 12, 2008 Valve Maintenance Tip
Periodic maintenance of valves is essential.
Valves that remain in one position for a long period could end up being inoperable when you need them.
Maintenance of valves is not difficult, but sometimes it seems like a daunting task, when you consider how many valves are in a large building like a hospital. A good way to get a handle on this task is to create a valve schedule. The schedule can just be a simple spreadsheet and should contain information like valve tag numbers, purpose of the valve, location of the valve, size and type of valve, and a reference to a drawing. The schedule will be a useful aid for mechanics to locate the valves and could also help to speed finding the right valves to operate in an emergency. It takes a little time to gather the information the first time, but it will be well worth the effort.
A good valve maintenance program will extend the life of the valves, identify problems with the valves so they can be corrected, and ensure the valves operate when they are needed.
Reader tip provided by Jeff Siniscalchi
Maintenance Supervisor
Bassett Army Community Hospital
Fairbanks Alaska
Thanks Jeff - your stainless steel, diamond plate, Reliabilityweb.com coffee mug is on the way!
Send in your own tip and get a stainless steel, diamond plate, Reliabilityweb.com coffee mug
June 12, 2008 Vibration Tip
Sensor Mounting Tip
When mounting for permanent applications it is important that the surface where the sensor is to be mounted be adequately prepared. Start by using a wire brush to eliminate any dust, paint or rust particles. Then, using a rag soaked in an approved cleaning agent, clean the area of any oils or grease which would prevent a good bond of the adhesive between the sensor and the machine. Use a sufficient amount of the approved adhesive and make sure you fill any voids in the contact area. Wear gloves to protect your skin and mold or contour the adhesive with your fingers around the sensor and mounting area. This will ensure good adhesion and improve the sensor’s performance.
Tip provided by LUDECA, INC.
ALIGNMENT * VIBRATION * BALANCING
http://www.ludeca.com
Tel: 305-591-8935
June 12, 2008 Lawson Offers Asset Management Report
The Asset Management Report “Benchmarking Enterprise Asset Management in Manufacturing” is based on an Aberdeen Group survey of 190 manufacturing enterprises and compares different asset management techniques.
The report analyses the success of these management methods and provides recommendations and steps to success.
June 12, 2008 Ultrasound Tip
This tip is about how to deal with competing ultrasound and/or background noise, using the ultrasonic instrument, frequency tuning and working with barriers to help you locate air leaks, etc…
You walk onto the plant floor, you have earplugs in your ears, the noise is loud. 80, 90, 95 decibels! You think to yourself there is no way an ultrasound receiver can pick- up any leaks in this area. Wrong! Airborne ultrasound receives high frequency sound. That’s sound above 20 kHz. You and I listen in low-frequency below 18 kHz. What’s noisy to you and I is not to the ultrasonic receiver. Air leaks are typically heard in the 38-42 kHz range. Most airborne ultrasound instruments are centered at 38-40 kHz plus or minus 2 - 10 kHz depending upon the manufacturer. However, most ultrasonic instruments in the marketplace can hear air leaks, but only a few have the ability in a noisy environment to hear the leak from any reasonable distance.
Sometimes even with the top of the line instrument when trying to locate low-level leaks you need to know how to deal with background noise.
For instance you have a manifold with multiple leaks, using a glove on one hand to block other leaks or competing sounds is a great idea. Using a piece of cardboard to block sounds works well. Ultrasound does not pass through a solid!
When performing a leak audit in your plant, maybe your near the compressor and you have multiple leaks, try and place your body between the leaks and the compressor. Use your body as a “barrier” between you and compressor. Hold the ultrasonic instrument in front of your body keeping the instrument from waist to chest high with your elbows close. Of course the wider your girth the more effective you can be. This will aid you in locating those leaks without the competing ultrasonic sounds interfering with locating those leaks.
You have an air leak that sounds like its coming from a blank wall? Put your back to the wall and scan top to bottom and side to side. Ultrasound travels in a straight line, you should be able to locate the source.
Let’s say your plant is one those extremely noisy plants, 85-90 decibels. Here’s where an ultrasound instrument with frequency tuning is really helpful. Place the headphones over your ears then point the instrument towards your nose. Start breathing through your nose (mouth shut), at the same time lower or raise the frequency on your unit until the sound from your nose is “sharp” with little or NO ambient background sounds. At this time if you look at the frequency setting you should find yourself in the 38-42 kHz. Fine tuning the instrument in this manner before walking onto the shop floor will aid you in finding the leaks quickly.
Tip provided by James Hall
Ultra-Sound Technologies
phone: 770-517-8747
June 12, 2008 Top 10 Common Sense Fallacies in Maintenance
Maintenance Fallacy #8
Full utilization of one’s CMMS/EAM is an impossible task.
Maintenance Fallacy – Full utilization of a CMMS / EAM is not required. A good maintenance manager can walk through his/her plant and tell if everything is ok or not. One connection all of these organizations have in common is they are all totally reactive and their companies loose large amounts of money everyday but never know it. They probably tried layoffs in the past and cut off funding for maintenance but nothing seemed to work. Reactive maintenance is one of those things that just happens.
Did you know that over 50% of companies do not fully utilize their maintenance software even though their company may have spent thousands and sometimes millions of dollars to implement them?
Here is the answer to this problem. Management must make the decision to fix the problem first. It is a culture issue and must be faced head on. First, perform a gap analysis in order to identify what the gap is between how the software is current set up and used and how it should be set up and utilized. (do not hire the company who sells the software or installed it for you), find a consultant or trusted advisor who has done this many times. Ensure a Maintenance SOP is written which identifies all of your maintenance processes then align the maintenance software with the processes. Develop a software SOP which will assist a maintenance person perform simple tasks in the software from opening a work order to ordering parts from your store room. Keep everything simple. Perform a trial test with the SOP on a couple maintenance team members from each crew and roll it out as people seem to grasp the new software.
Begin measuring the effectiveness of your maintenance processes by using “can reports” from your CMMS/EAM.
Provided by Ricky Smith CMRP
Cell: 843-725-8378
http://www.alliedreliability.com
Find out more about Ricky Smith’s new book Rules of Thumb for Maintenance and Reliability Engineers
