Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Celebrate Little Wins

Celebrate Little Wins

While the ultimate goal of a Maintenance & Reliability is to achieve large changes in asset performance and the organizational culture, this cannot be achieved all at once. This goal can only be achieved step by step over time through consistent and persistent effort. Often an organization will have large durations of time where little or nothing has been said about the organizations progress. This can have the effect of making it look like nobody cares about the M&R effort anymore, "flavor of the month" syndrome. One way to combat this is to identify every small victory which moves the organization toward its ultimate goal. Even the smallest win can build support within the organization and create new stories to tell. These small celebrations will maintain the cultural momentum necessary to achieve the proactive maintenance program your organization has set as it's "Big Win" goal.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Demonstrate PdM Program Value

Demonstrate PdM Program Value

Prior to implementing any new PdM technology, be sure to perform some CMMS data mining activities first. Attempt to capture historical statistics on the types of failures you're trying to prevent with the particular technology you're implementing.

For example, if you're starting a rotating equipment vibration program, review CMMS WO history/failure codes for bearing-related failures and document these (numbers of failures & associated costs) in some form of chart/graph. This historical failure information will serve as your program baseline.

Keep this documentation up to date and, as the PdM program matures, you should see a steady decline in the number of bearing-related failures caused by vibration. Communicate this positive information throughout the entire facility in order to demonstrate the value of your PdM activities.