Predictive Maintenance Technology Conference
September 15-18, 2008
Qwest Center
Omaha, Nebraska

In just 4 days you and your maintenance team will discover a roadmap that will guide you to a more proactive maintenance program.

Best Practice maintenance programs (the top 20%) have increased uptime and reduced cost by using advanced technologies like:

• Vibration
• Infrared
• Ultrasound
• Motor Testing
• Oil Analysis

To register for or learn more about PdM-2008 please call one of our friendly conference specialists toll free at (888) 575 1245 or…

Register for PdM-2008 online

Lean Maintenance is defined as delivery of maintenance services to customers with as little waste as possible or producing a desirable maintenance outcome with the fewest inputs possible.

Inputs:

1) Labor (any kind including labor from the operator, mechanic, clerk, staff and contractor)
2) Management effort (reduce headaches or non-standard conditions requiring special management inputs)
3) Maintenance parts, materials, supplies
4) Contractors
5) Equipment rental
6) Service contracts of all types
7) Raw materials
8) Energy
9) Capital
10) Overhead

Outputs:

1) Improved reliability (uptime)
2) Improved output quality
3) Improved repeatability of process (less variation)
4) Improved safety for the employees, the public, and the environment

Tip excerpted from “Lean Maintenance” a new Industrial Press book by Joel Levitt

Get a copy of Lean Maintenance

Walgreens currently seeks qualified MAINTENANCE MANAGERS and MAINTENANCE TECHNICIANS for 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.

Find our more about Walgreens opportunities

Chasing your Tail

You may have experienced occasions on balancing jobs where you seem to be chasing your tail. Trim run after trim run seems to only move the imbalance or even make it worse. Often the trim runs were preceded by an initial correction weight that did not bring the balance down as much as one would have expected.

It is time to go back to the basics. A spectrum and a bode plot of a start-up or coast-down are invaluable tools to make sure you are not trying to balance when a different problem is actually the source of vibration. No matter how much you try to balance, you cannot correct a problem like looseness, a bent shaft, or misalignment by balancing.

Tip provided by LUDECA, INC.
ALIGNMENT * VIBRATION * BALANCING
http://www.ludeca.com
305-591-8935

Try Ludeca’s Return On Investment - Condition Monitoring Form

Perspective on Improvement Initiatives

Hey… What Are YOU Looking At?

Ever wonder why it’s so hard to get everyone engaged in an improvement initiative? If it seems like everyone is going in a different direction, well, they are. Take a look at roles found in most organizations and what consumes most of their time, focus and energy.

Management: Focused on the 5-year plan and its execution. Future…

Operations: Focused on the next production schedule. Future…

Sales: Focused on the next sales cycle and established quotas. Future…

Quality: Focused on product quality right now. Present…
Maintenance: Focused on maintenance issues right now. Present…

H/R: Focused on succession planning for the site. Future…

Project Engineering: Focused on the newest project or toy coming to the site. Future…

Accounting: Focused on expenditures last week, month, and year. Past…

Information Technology: Focus driven by all. Past, Present, and Future…

It becomes much clearer when it’s viewed this way. This happens in every organization, it’s part of what makes each of our sites unique. It’s also what makes it extremely difficult to see any gains on an improvement initiative. A few things must be established to help offset this realism and make the changes you desire, happen:

• Engaged employees, get all involved, then everyone impacts everyone else.

• A detailed Plan of Improvement so everyone knows where to go and how to get there.

• Develop a Vision and Mission Statement and share it with the organization. This helps to bring things back into perspective when all are focused on the past, present or future.

• Develop Shared Beliefs or Core Values to assist in driving the right behaviors. It also makes it very obvious to all when unacceptable behaviors are displayed.

Still not sure on how to get all this pulled together to get your improvement initiative off the ground? Join us for the 4-part series, Maintenance and Reliability for Managers and get hands-on instructions to establish a culture for change.

Tip provided by Dave Bertolini, Managing Principal, People and Processes, Inc.

Learn more and register today for the 4 part series, Maintenance and Reliability for Managers in Jacksonville, FL

Turningpoint technology warns you of decreases in your turbine machinery’s efficiency and reliability.

This eliminates non-specific breakdowns, preventing untimely crane call-outs and lost generation at peak times.

Our hardware is simple to install, easy to monitor and it
predicts parts failures with an accuracy built upon proven and exact vibration-analysis science.

Find out more about Turningpoint technology

Tip 2 - The right people will help you be successful

Management of people is clearly a different job than that of an individual contributor. Your performance is no longer solely due to your efforts; it is dependent on the performance of your subordinates. It follows, then, that your success depends on having capable individuals in every role on your team.

In the book Good to Great, Jim Collins describes one of the key attributes of great companies as having “the right people on the bus”. This attribute applies to smaller organizations as well. Some people are simply not capable of performing some tasks well because they do not have the innate talent to do so. As a manager, you will be tempted to devote a lot of time attempting to “correct” performance that is ultimately not correctable. When you do this, you are not helping the remainder of your team – you should be devoting your efforts to helping your good people produce at peak capacity.

Clearly, keeping someone in a position where they are a poor fit benefits no one. If you have an individual that continually produces substandard results, the other team members will spend their time compensating for the results of the poor performer. They will become frustrated and their performance will ultimately slip as well. Your organization will not produce superior results if you are continually compensating for someone who is not pulling their weight. The kindest thing to do in this case is to find a position – within the company or outside of it – where that substandard performer can excel. They will experience greater job satisfaction and your team will be more productive.

Tip provided by Bruce Hawkins
MRG - Management Resources Group
http://www.mrginc.net

iPresentation Tutorial Invitation: Maintenance 201 – More of the Basics

Importance of Properly Seating Brushes on DC Motors

Brushes are used to carry current from the armature to the commutator. They must be seated properly to allow for proper current density across them.

If they are not properly seated, the part that is in contact with the commutator will have a higher current density than usual. This can result in overheating of the brushes causing them to come off of their neutral axis, arcing and sparking, streaking of commutator film, and damage to machine.

After an overhaul or periodic cleaning, it is a good idea to take a look at the wear on your brushes. If seating is required, the steps below detail one way to accomplish this:

• Take a roll of sandpaper that is the width of the commutator and long enough to wrap around the circumference of the commutator with 2 to 3 inches of overlap.

• Tape the sandpaper to the commutator using masking tape versus duct tape to avoid leaving a strong residue on the commutator. Wrap the paper around the commutator and have the overlap cover the tape. To the brushes, it seems as if you have one continuous roll of sandpaper underneath them.

• Load one brush holder with a row of brushes. Adjust tension so that paper can slide under them when the commutator is spun, but still get a firm grip on the paper.

• Spin the commutator by hand and observe the brush wear.

• Repeat for each row of brushes.

• Once seating is complete, remove the sandpaper and tape and clean out the commutator and armature area with a vacuum and/or low-pressure air.

• Remove any masking tape residue with a canvas wiper (rolled and looped canvas cloth). If the residue is too strong for the canvas to remove it, use a flexible abrasive stone (made like a large eraser). Be aware that if the flexible abrasive stone is used, you will end up removing film from the commutator. If some of the film is removed, you must completely remove the film via stone. A commutator film run in MUST be completed once the film is removed.

Tip provided by PdMA MCE Division
Tel: 813-621-6463
http://www.pdma.com

White Paper: World-Class Companies Need World-Class Motor Management and Maintenance (PDF)