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Money talks in quest to reduce waste
Following along with one of my past blogs, “Reliability is a ‘green’ initiative”, I would like to talk some more about waste reduction. Waste is seen in many different forms in manufacturing, and much of these wastes can be reduced or eliminated through incentives. It is no mystery that money
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
Guidance and game plans for your maintenance shop’s special tools
We all accumulate special fixtures, lifting frames, carts, transport pallets and piping inserts that are infrequently used but save time and enhance safety when their time comes. What you do with these special tools in between determines whether you get that savings and safety boost again or if you have
Is proper torquing a part of your standard work?
Read enough OEM recommended procedures and you will notice that a common thread is proper torque values for fasteners. Many standard work (and standard operating) procedures in industrial facilities list recommended or required torque values for jobs like gasket replacements, motor alignments, bearing
Can maintenance and operations coexist? A radical process change story
My previous blog described a plant with no supervisors and with self-directed work teams that handled maintenance and operations. Most of us come from traditional plant organizations with an operations group and a maintenance group with their own supervisors and specialized skilled crafts. One of the
Signage and labeling: Safety tips you need to use today
The importance of signage and labeling is often underplayed or even ignored when a maintenance program is being discussed. Since we are visual creatures and the visual workplace is the direct application of this, we should take a few minutes to go over some reasons and applications for signage and labeling
How to enable process redesign and CMMS success
A blog from Kris Bagadia on “10 factors to a successful CMMS implementation” triggered a memory of attempting this in my preretirement days, long ago in 1990. I thought maybe my reply to Kris should be expanded, and this is the resulting blog posting. The United States Postal Service had
34 Signs You’re Living in the Real World of Maintenance
Anyone who has ever done plant maintenance improvement work is inevitably accused at times (sometimes in very imaginative, descriptive ways, some of which are physically impossible) of just not knowing what it’s like in the “real world” of maintenance. So, here are some of the things
Get your CEO to see the link between maintenance, plant safety
In many circles - and maybe your own company - over the last year or so, the question of reducing the cost of reliability has been ever present. Many maintenance budgets have been slashed without due process or reflecting on the true cost over time. I recently attended a conference where this was a topic
