Promote Proactive Reliability
A Reliability Tip
Detecting Failure Modes Through Instrumentation:
Most physical assets these days contain a large amount of instruments for monitoring and managing the operation of that asset. Maintenance is not often aware of the potential in these configurations to identify failure modes using the assets instruments. One reason is that maintenance often looks for a single point of data to isolate the failure mode, and most times targeting a failure mode in this way would require several instruments. I call this "Triangulation". An example of this I have witnessed recently was in a plate heat exchanger. In this example 2-4 instrument outputs were required to target a specific failure mode.
In the example of the plate heat exchanger, the failure mode they targeted was fouling or loading of the exchanger internally. Temperature and flow instruments they created a thermal efficiency calculation in their DCS which displayed the exchangers performance in real time. When the exchanger loaded up, or otherwise declined in its performance operations requested the exchanger be disassembled inspected and cleaned. This detection method also applies for corrosion which reduces the thermal efficiency of the plates as well. By taking this approach they eliminated a minimum of 30 hours of work and downtime each year for each of their 12 heat exchangers, and made this part of their maintenance program entirely condition based.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
MRG is published in Uptime Magazine!
Be sure to check out Management Resources Group, Inc. in the April/May 2011 issue of Uptime Magazine!
Business Case for Data Integrity
Written by Robert DiStefano (Chairman and CEO) and Stephen Thomas
[click here]
Business Case for Data Integrity
Written by Robert DiStefano (Chairman and CEO) and Stephen Thomas
[click here]
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
MRG, Inc. is published in BIC Magazine!
Be sure to check out Management Resources Group, Inc. in the May 2011 issue of BIC Magazine!
Control New Assets With Maintenance and Reliability Readiness
Written by Michael Desabris (VP)
[click here, Page 134]
Control New Assets With Maintenance and Reliability Readiness
Written by Michael Desabris (VP)
[click here, Page 134]
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.
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.
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.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Take Control of your New Assets with a Maintenance and Reliability Readiness Plan
Have an Advanced Sneak Peek at MRG's May Article in BIC Magazine!
Take Control of your New Assets with a Maintenance and Reliability Readiness Plan
Having spent more than 25 years in the engineering, maintenance and construction industry, I have found that applying well thought out maintenance and reliability plans early in the design and construction phase is "cheap insurance" for quickly attaining availability and throughput targets while lowering the costs of maintenance for the remainder of the asset lifecycle. In fact, investing just 0.1% to 1% of the project costs on maintenance and reliability readiness yields:
See the full article in the May Issue of BIC Magazine!
Take Control of your New Assets with a Maintenance and Reliability Readiness Plan
Having spent more than 25 years in the engineering, maintenance and construction industry, I have found that applying well thought out maintenance and reliability plans early in the design and construction phase is "cheap insurance" for quickly attaining availability and throughput targets while lowering the costs of maintenance for the remainder of the asset lifecycle. In fact, investing just 0.1% to 1% of the project costs on maintenance and reliability readiness yields:
- Faster, safer more reliable start ups
- Sustainable availability and throughput targets
- 10-20% reduction in overall maintenance costs
- 20% reduction in the costs of spares
- Engaged workforce
See the full article in the May Issue of BIC Magazine!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Reliability Tip
Reliability Tip
In Conjunction to Your Maintenance Activities, Populate your CMMS with Current and Accurate Foundational Asset Data
All too often, basic asset information such as manufacturer, model, serial number and additional characteristics are not included in a plant's CMMS. In addition, spare parts lists for these assets are typically non-existent or are sparsely populated. Upon completion of maintenance activities, take a few minutes to capture asset nameplate information as well as any spare parts used during the repair and add the information to the hardcopy work order.
In Conjunction to Your Maintenance Activities, Populate your CMMS with Current and Accurate Foundational Asset Data
All too often, basic asset information such as manufacturer, model, serial number and additional characteristics are not included in a plant's CMMS. In addition, spare parts lists for these assets are typically non-existent or are sparsely populated. Upon completion of maintenance activities, take a few minutes to capture asset nameplate information as well as any spare parts used during the repair and add the information to the hardcopy work order.
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