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Guest post by Brandon Weil, CMRP at Eruditio LLC

Belts, chains, and sprockets, chances are you have at least one if not all of these in your facility and chances are you’re relying heavily on experience and judgment instead of quantitative inspection criteria. All too often the importance of proper inspection techniques and defined replacement criteria for these critical parts are overlooked. Don’t believe me? Just pull up some of your PM inspection procedures, discuss the topic at a toolbox meeting, or observe someone performing the inspection, you might be surprised at the range of answers and opinions. If there isn’t a specific measurement or min/max criteria, then you’re leaving the inspection up to chance. Another thing to consider is if these parts aren’t being installed properly in the first place you will undoubtedly see premature failures and reduced operational life. Precision maintenance installation tools such as laser alignment for shafts, pulleys, and chains make a world of difference in preventing the introduction of infant mortality-related failures like premature bearing failures, belt and pulley wear, etc.

The good news is that you can start improving the quality of your preventative maintenance inspections almost immediately; all you need are a few basic low-cost tools [Click Here] and you will find a document with inspection criteria for these three parts to get you started. Improving your PM inspection procedure, putting the right tools in the right hands, and setting quantitative standards for your inspection is a very low-cost high-return activity that can start paying dividends today.

Download Belt & Chain Storage Best Practices

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by Ana Maria Delgado, CRL