More Articles
Effective strategies for coaching and developing your employees
Performance coaching is not about disciplinary action, nor is it about accountability (although it may promote accountability in the long term). It is really about leadership development - teaching your team of supervisors, managers and leaders the skills and behaviors that are necessary to perform their
Expert tips on successfully planning a CMMS project
A well-planned and executed computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) project can yield a maximum return on your investment (ROI). This return is realized through increased efficiency, productivity and profits. However, a poorly planned and executed CMMS project can result in a loss of revenues.
Manufacturing improvement and the Rolling Stones
If you’re like me, you’ve listened to the Rolling Stones over the years. Their contemporaries, the Beatles, became more artistic and lyrical as they evolved. (”Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” as Jerry Seinfeld would say.) But for driving party music, the Stones,
Reliability reduces waste of time, talent and resources
Following along with my last blog, “Reliability is a green initiative”, I would like to talk about waste reduction. Waste is seen in many different forms in manufacturing. Some of these wastes include physical, time and talent. Physical waste is anything that is left over from the process
Effective communication: Turn this weakness into a strength
Corporate leaders are trained in economics, strategy and a variety of other business skills. Few are trained in communication, yet experts agree that communication is one of the most important skills leaders should have on their list of competencies. To ensure successful communications within your
Is there life after the death of predictive maintenance?
It is sad how quickly a good predictive maintenance program dies, even though the program has gotten a manager promoted, convinced you and others that there is a lot of value in doing PdM to improve maintenance practices, saved money and gained credibility. The demise of a good program is usually due
The power of a clear, concise vision to improve M&R results
One of the first responsibilities of leadership (of an organization, company, team or country) is to provide a simple, clear view of what the future can and should look like. Visionary leaders throughout history have done this in different ways. Many leaders that were effective used short, simple vision
Redundancy is not a four-letter word!
In one of my first blogs here, I mentioned my nuclear submarine background. Among the things I mentioned was the redundancy built into their high-reliability designs. Many of those systems were split into two halves (port and starboard), and each system had two pumps (total of four). Each side could
Reliability is a ‘green initiative’
Demand for products has declined in many parts of the world, and with more manufacturing being shipped overseas, reliability of our existing processes is even more important than before. Many of my friends in different industries have told me about all of the initiatives being done to green up their
In the M&R business, good enough never is
About 15 years ago, I was fortunate to attend a conference where the keynote speaker’s focus was quality. This person was a successful entrepreneur and had built a top-flight company over the past two decades. The company’s success was based on making the best-quality, best-tasting cookie
