The Reliability Support Team at the Eastern Processing Facility located at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station,  FL,  won Uptime Magazine’s Best Design for Reliability Program award.

During the design phase of their program, the team was challenged with the implementation of Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) principles and Precision and Predictive techniques from construction through commissioning. These have proven to be the most advantageous with regard to failure mode consequence reduction.
Congratulations to Frank Saukel, Garry Pell, and their team for this prestigious award and a job well done!

Program Highlights
1. Eastern Processing achieved Failure Mode Reduction with added redundancy.
2. They redesigned the facilities’ Reverse Osmosis Water System.
3. They performed Asset Prioritization based on safety, environmental, mission impact, and probability of failure studies.
4. They trained technicians and engineers on RCM. In the words of Garry Pell: “Don’t expect to gain tribal knowledge if you don’t invite them into the Teepee. Get your people involved from engineering to safety, from shipping to operations.”
6. They developed all maintenance procedures based on RCM decisions.
7. They identified the Predictive Maintenance (PdM) technologies and tools they needed, met with different vendors at different IMC Conferences, then focused, implemented, and trained on 1 or 2 maintenance and

Condition Monitoring (CM) technologies annually, including:
• Lubrication analysis
• Vibration analysis
• Laser shaft alignment
• Infrared thermography
• Ultraviolet thermography
• Electric signature analysis
• Ultrasound
Many discrepancies were corrected using these PdM and CM technologies. According to Frank Saukel, “Every one of the PdM technologies has paid for themselves.” For instance, they identified misalignment and motor structure resonance conditions using their VIBXPERT® vibration analyzer on several of their water pumps which had been aligned by a contractor.

Every pump was found to be bolt-bound and base-bound. They realigned all their pumps to excellent tolerance with their ROTALIGN® ULTRA laser alignment tool.

They also found and corrected electrical deficiencies with ultraviolet thermography and detected sub-grade piping leaks with ultrasound. Their precision lubrication program included oil analysis, with a resulting reduction in the number of lubricants, minimization of cross-contamination, and implementation of a color-coded system for easy machine identification and the use of accessories to control moisture. Learn more…