It’s not as though there hasn’t been a serious effort made to address the skills gap issue that continues to plague the manufacturing industry, but we just can’t seem to get ahead of the curve. And as baby boomers continue to retire in record numbers, workers continue to be displaced due to the global pandemic, and misconceptions about the manufacturing industry as a whole continue to dissuade people from considering it a viable career option, it’s only going to get…
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Safety Remains Top Priority for Factory “Frontline” Workers
While the COVID-19 pandemic certainly escalated the focus, maintaining employees’ health and safety in industrial environments has always been a top priority. But as vaccinations kick into high gear and “herd immunity” appears within reach, now is not the time to become complacent about safety. Safety awareness should always be at the forefront, and protocols to maintain it regularly assessed. I sat down with Pete Roy, manager of Environmental Health and Safety for IVC, to discuss the pandemic’s impact on…
Certified Doesn’t Always Mean Qualified – Who Is Monitoring Your Machines?
As manufacturing continues to become more technologically advanced, obtaining technical training for employees is no longer an option, but a necessity. At times, the expense may seem out of proportion with respect to the tools used in that task. Yet, when you’re sending them into the field, it’s critical that the service they provide is up to the standards your customers have come to expect from your company. Budgeting for employee training, in theory, should be a “no brainer” to…
Is It Resonance? Addressing the Root Cause and Not the Symptom
As anyone in the field of condition based monitoring can tell you, there are any number of issues that can cause a machine to vibrate excessively such as unbalance, bearing failure, and cracked welds to name a few. Often times, however, the aforementioned conditions are not the cause of the excessive vibration problem, but rather, the symptoms of a bigger issue: resonance. What is resonance and why is it so difficult to diagnose? Simply put, resonance is the amplification or…
Five Manufacturing Maintenance Must-Haves
“Adios” 2020. The year that was supposed to be about having “clear vision” and “clarity” instead felt like the backdrop of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. But as they say, the best view comes after the hardest climb. Well…let’s hope so. With over 30 years in the condition based maintenance industry, we know a thing or two about keeping industrial machinery operating at optimum efficiency. So, as we enter 2021 with eyes wide open and valuable lessons learned, we have identified…
Does Your Maintenance Strategy Feel Like a Game of Whack-a-Mole?
Ben Franklin once said, “…in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.” If Ben had worked in maintenance, he could have expanded on that statement and included “equipment failure.” The onset of a new year is undoubtedly the most popular time for people within a manufacturing organization to recommit to improving their maintenance operations by cutting waste and increasing uptime with new vigor. But as anyone involved with reliability can attest, even the best-laid maintenance plans get tossed…
RCM Audits, Part 4: Cross-Section Review of Sample Data from an Audit
In the final installment of our Reliability Centered Maintenance Audits white paper, a cross-section review of CBM / PdM Audit data taken in chemical, oil, building product, and steel manufacturers over the past few years was performed to try and highlight outliers within the audits that negatively affected the Management Systems and Technologies cumulative scores. Multiple key indicators that contribute to facilities scoring in the Bottom Quartile on their Management Systems Rankings were identified during this study. Data reviewed found:…
End-of-Year Planned Maintenance Shutdown? Commissioning/Re-Qualification of Equipment is Crucial Before Restarting Operations
Although planned shutdowns are extremely expensive and render a plant nonoperational for an extended period of time, they are necessary for a number of reasons: They provide the opportunity for various maintenance issues to be resolved that cannot be addressed while the plant is operational. They enable internal inspections of equipment to be conducted that would otherwise be impossible while the equipment was running. It allows ample time for major system overhauls such as new equipment installations to take place.…
Training in 2021: Your Employees Could Give You Competitive Edge
Can 2020 just be over already? For the manufacturing industry, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the transition to automation and digitization, as factories try to remain operational with fewer employees on-site to manage it, and with social distancing guidelines in place. Adding to the difficulty is the industry’s ongoing struggle to find enough candidates with the right skills and talents to fill open positions. In fact, according to the Manufacturing Institute’s 2020 Training Survey, “manufacturers have consistently cited the inability…
Reliability Centered Maintenance Audits, Part 3: Management of Deployment Technologies
As amazing as today’s CBM technologies are at the early detection of potentially catastrophic machine problems, companies must precisely manage the deployment of these technologies to ensure that there is a clear understanding of their impact on reliability and that they are being utilized appropriately. That’s why a top-down reliability vision, with clearly defined goals and objectives, must be communicated, along with ample support and reasonable expectations for compliance. Our many years of PdM/CBM auditing experience has revealed the following…
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