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Purchasing a condition monitoring tool is one step in your journey to implementing a reliability program. Proper training on how to use the new technology,  planning the work correctly,  ensuring the work is completed on schedule and done so correctly is critical to success. Just as important is understanding the risks associated with your equipment, especially when it fails. A criticality assessment along with failure modes and effects analysis will help you understand those risks and determine where to focus your maintenance activities.

I recently spoke to a plant engineer that had purchased alignment equipment and vibration equipment from LUDECA. He had performed several alignments and collected baseline vibration data. The decision was made to start aligning machines that required maintenance and this was a wise choice to ensure failure modes were not inserted into equipment during routine maintenance activities. Unfortunately, this facility had not performed a criticality assessment on their machinery! It turns out that the plant had a catastrophic failure on a piece of equipment that was vital to the overall production processes of the plant. The first comment made was “why did we have this failure when we recently invested in alignment and vibration equipment?”

You must fully understand the risks to safety, production, environment, and profits that your equipment imposes on your facility. As you can see from the example above, not understanding these factors may lead to continued equipment failures and their undesired consequences. To ensure that you do not continue to experience maintenance failures requires that you fully comprehend the risks that each piece of equipment entails. Had this facility understood the failure modes and the (criticality/risk) impact each machine posed, they would have been able to focus their maintenance efforts where they were most needed to keep the plant efficiently operational.

As part of this endeavor, it is important to apply condition monitoring (vibration analysis and properly targeted alignment, among other things) on the equipment within your plant, because it is extremely difficult to be reliable without doing so. However, you must understand how and where to direct those efforts to ensure that unwanted risks are reduced. Understanding how your equipment can fail (FMEA), the consequences of those failures (RCM or risk assessment), and what equipment is most important to keep your plant operational (criticality assessment) are all important to ensure that your maintenance efforts are properly focused. These efforts may avoid the experience this facility had and prevent your plant from experiencing the same unwanted effects.

A hidden failure is not obvious under normal circumstances. Hidden failures can expose your facility to increased risks that may have serious consequences. The sources within your facility for hidden failures may be many. A good reliability program will give special consideration to these types of potential failures and their associated risks.

Have you considered that the software used within your facility may lead to hidden failures in a sense? Your software may lack documentation,  reporting, and analytical capabilities. Data may be hidden,  improper diagnostics made, or corrective action not taken based upon the information, etc., all of which can lead to equipment failures. Intentional misuse of the information may be possible as well without the ability to apply proper oversight.

Make sure the software you use properly collects, stores and reports information of value that can be used to drive your maintenance and reliability efforts. Make sure that the information is correctly analyzed and appropriate action is taken. Otherwise, your software tools may give you indications of problems that go unmitigated until costly failures occur.

I have traveled to various industries throughout the United States and recently to Australia to educate reliability technicians,  engineers, and maintenance groups in the area of reliability. I have found that almost all are experiencing the same challenges with regard to sustaining programs. The only thing that’s different is the accent. Although I have encountered a variety of issues during my travels,  a few always seem to be at the top of the list:

• Communication
• Not our “first go round”
• Opportunity to implement some of the lessons learned
• Not taking the “first step”

It is said that the majority of all programs fail. If this is true, then what is/are the reason(s)? What’s the common denominator? Many times it comes down to creating a shared goal and communicating effectively with our groups. As simple as this may sound, many among the group are driven in different directions and do not work as a unit to reach the common goal.

Without a specific, clearly communicated goal we are destined to become another bad statistic. Without a goal, there’s no passion and without passion no drive for success.
The following guideline may be helpful to create a better effective goal.

Let’s be S.M.A.R.T when establishing a reliability program.

• S – Specific (be specific). If it’s a reliability program, what does it need to be successful? Correct parameters, alarms, reporting, etc.
• M – Measurable. You must be able to see if you’re making progress toward the goal.
• A – Action Steps. What can you do (first step) to launch your program in the right direction?
• R – Realistic. Stretch yourself, don’t let limiting beliefs prevent you from setting a goal. But don’t be unrealistic. You can always stretch out a little farther later.
• T – Time period. Set a specific time period. Your expectations toward achieving your goals cannot be open-ended.

One of the first rules of good engineering practice is the KISS principle. KISS is an acronym for “Keep it simple stupid”. Basically,  this means that most things function best if they are kept simple. It is often believed that expensive complex activities/functions are required to improve equipment reliability. Improving equipment reliability can be complicated and expensive in certain situations. Thankfully,  this can be the exception and not the rule within your facility. Don’t focus excessively on the complex and expensive reliability functions you cannot complete and thereby overlook the fundamental things that are required to keep your equipment reliable.

What reliability improvements can you make in your facility that do not require expensive or complicated actions? Start with the “basics” such as:

• Align (shaft, coupling, etc.)
• Balance (rotating components: fan blades, impellers, rotors.)
• Tight (eliminate looseness and excessive vibration.)
• Lubricate (correctly—not too much or too little!)
• Inspect
• Apply condition monitoring
• Understand where your efforts should be focused

Don’t wait until the equipment has been installed and is operating. The basic functions listed above must be included in the specification, design, purchase, and routine operation of your equipment. Failure to address these vital aspects from the beginning through the operation of your equipment will result in higher maintenance costs and reduced equipment reliability.

Often fundamental reliability functions are not completed due to a lack of resources, understanding, time, funding, etc. Ensure that your engineering, maintenance, production, purchasing, and management teams understand and routinely employ these fundamental maintenance practices to keep your equipment reliable from the beginning.

Watch video tutorial about Reliability Basics

Education and responsibility go hand in hand. Leaders of reliability programs should expect their employees to return from a training course with a better idea of how Condition Monitoring can effectively increase equipment reliability and be willing to provide the support to take full advantage of the education gained.
Indeed,  there is a narrow window of opportunity to maximize this enthusiasm. Even the most passionate reliability professional eventually will fall captive to the stagnant grind of doing the same tasks over and over, especially when he or she has realized that the status quo is not changing.

Leaders must continuously provide their team with the necessary tools and support to improve their program, while those who are performing the tasks must use what they have learned to effectively increase equipment reliability.

Is the window of enthusiasm closing on your Condition Monitoring program? Have you maximized your staff’s education and opportunities? Reliability Excellence can be achieved when your team collectively contributes and applies the knowledge that has been obtained.

Learn about The Reliability Leader Certification

Guest post by Mitch Stansloski,  P.E., PhD., Founder and President of Pioneer Engineering

I find that in today’s economy, many of our clients have added, or are attempting to implement, an effective condition-based maintenance program. These clients understand the value of this type of program over and above the traditional time-based maintenance strategies. However, it is important to note that if a program stops at this step, it is unlikely that there will be a significant improvement in overall reliability or a large reduction in maintenance costs.

This may sound a bit shocking, but based on my 26 years of maintenance and reliability experience, it is absolutely true. Think about it this way: Using condition monitoring to find defects early will not reduce the number of malfunctions that would have occurred if the technology had not been applied. It will give the user time to prepare for the repair, which will save some unplanned downtime, and it will likely reduce the severity of the failure resulting in less repair cost as well. However, decreasing unplanned downtime doesn’t improve reliability, it only improves availability, which is not as valuable. In addition, the cost savings that result from a more minor repair will be offset by the costs of implementing the technology (e.g. instrumentation, software, computers, maintenance fees, etc.) and the manpower to operate it.

In order to improve reliability, the program needs to add steps that focus on reliability improvement. Rather than stopping at diagnosing and replacing a defective bearing, for instance, the user needs to identify a root cause for the premature failure. Then the user needs to change how the asset is managed in order to prevent a recurrence.

If these steps aren’t completed, the replacement part will likely see the same shortened life. Changes to asset management could include revisions to:

• Installation and setup procedures
• Maintenance procedures
• Operating procedures
• Purchasing specifications
• Spare parts requirements

Taking these next steps can move a “parts swapping program” facilitated by high-tech condition monitoring into a true reliability improvement program.

Just because you pour syrup on it don’t make it a pancake!

Certain ingredients are required to make a reliability program that is desirable,  meaningful, and sustainable. The minimum ingredients are:

1. Equipment criticality rankings to recognize where to correctly apply maintenance and reliability efforts.
2. Understanding what components (bearings, valves, switches, etc.) lead to functional failures in the equipment.
3. Applying the proper mixture of inspection-based, time-based, and condition monitoring-based efforts to mitigate conditional changes before they result in unwanted equipment failures.
4. Make sure equipment is installed correctly to start with so equipment reliability issues are not introduced from the get-go.
5. Ensure that equipment is designed to be reliable.
6. Create proper metrics to verify performance.
7. Do the work!

Unfortunately, many facilities often apply incorrect methods that do not result in the desired reliability results.

Basically, they pour syrup (do the wrong fundamental things) on their equipment and call the result a pancake (reliability). Make sure your facility is applying the correct mixture of efforts to create the real result desired.

The scenario: You have just been informed that a corporate reliability initiative has begun. Your new assignment is to implement a vibration analysis program. You are disconcerted because you are not sure how to implement this new assignment or where to seek help. Many organizations implement a reliability initiative because their competition has already done so or management has become convinced of the financial value that can be gained from it. Unfortunately,  as with most things in life, the devil is always in the details.

Company culture plays a critical role in the successful implementation of a reliability program. This shouldn’t be underestimated. Some companies implement program after program, each with the best of intentions. The objectives are always to increase operating efficiencies, achieve cost reductions, capacity improvements, shrink required manpower, etc. Many of these efforts fail after a few months because the program is replaced by something new, key management individuals did not support it, inadequate funding was provided, proper awareness was not instilled, and many other reasons. The new initiative falls into an abyss and is quickly forgotten.

Most seasoned employees who work in these organizations have seen this happen time after time over their careers.

Many employees and managers thus adopt a “wait and see” approach. This trait is learned after years of seeing efforts start and quickly fail. Why join the “flavor of the month” club and devote focus to something that will soon be replaced? It requires less energy to wait and see if the new program will remain a company priority and become successful. The financial value to your business is clear, but will only be realized if the program is correctly implemented and sustained. Senior management has to ensure that everyone understands this effort is not a passing fad. Key signs of support must be given with results-driven implementation.

Don’t let the vibration analysis program and other reliability efforts become a “flavor of the month” effort.

Become the champion that promotes the value of these efforts and helps to ensure the results are implemented.

Doing so can reap great rewards for yourself and pay great dividends for your company. Seek support and advice from technology vendors, co-workers, and the many resources available. You are not alone! Many individuals have been where they are now or faced the same challenges within their organization.

The road to success can be long and difficult to traverse. However, with proper implementation, persistence, and senior management support you can get there. Persevere!

Every engineer,  CM analyst, mechanic, manager, etc. is faced with solving complicated reliability issues from time to time. These issues usually occur at an unpropitious time. Often, the advice of a “subject matter expert” is sought to provide a solution.  The first task of the “subject matter expert” is to seek information from the employees that installed, maintain and operate the equipment because they understand that this information often leads to the solution.

Do you ask questions and pursue information from your coworkers and employees? Do you seriously consider the answers you receive? Unfortunately, the answer to both of these questions is usually “no”. Don’t overlook the wealth of knowledge that may be standing in front of you that you work with daily. Operators and mechanics can provide a lot of insight and historical knowledge on equipment. They may be able to help you identify, explain and resolve complicated equipment problems.

Asking a few simple questions like the examples below may provide a wealth of information:

• Has the machine been running normally?
• What do you feel is wrong with the machine?
• What is the history of this machine (recent maintenance completed, operational issues, etc.)?
• What materials have been used to repair the equipment (shaft materials, bearing information, etc.)?
• What would you do to resolve this issue?

The expensive “subject matter expert” you hired to resolve the issue understands the value of this knowledge! They ask your employees questions, provide you with a solution that works, and charge you high fees for doing so.
Ask questions of those around you and genuinely consider their responses. Doing so may save you money, and time and help you solve that complicated reliability issue.

It has been said that if you think education is expensive,  try ignorance. The high cost of ignorance can affect all aspects of life. In industry,  this includes maintenance, machine reliability, safety, and lost production.

Unexploited opportunity is lost opportunity—a costly consequence of ignorance.

The financial impact suffered from unplanned/unscheduled maintenance can be huge. You should strive to make the investment to properly educate and train your group so they become empowered to drive change, improve equipment reliability, reduce costs and improve MTBF. Education can transform the group into game-changers in the area of reliability and cause them to question everything that is currently occurring within the program, recognize the opportunities and strive to improve.

Most of the time focusing on reliability issues or improvements is placed on maintenance. Good equipment reliability requires that detailed attention be placed on several factors beyond your maintenance department and efforts. Good reliability processes and sustainability requires that focus be placed upon design,  purchasing,  stores (warehouse), installation, startup, operation, and finally the maintenance of the equipment. Design, installation, startup, and operation of the equipment are responsible for a very large percentage of reliability issues.

However, these areas are commonly overlooked for equipment reliability improvements. For example, a reliability issue designed into equipment will require repeated maintenance of that equipment. Your maintenance department may have many equipment reliability issues that have been introduced into your equipment by these other sources. This will result in repeated efforts to maintain that equipment and the resulting expenses. Do not overlook these other areas of improvement in your reliability efforts.

Watch our Video Tutorial RELIABILITY BASICS for an overview of basic concepts to improve rotating equipment reliability and machinery health.

Some of the best engineers start out as technicians,  operators, and mechanics. The reasons should be obvious but are not always understood.  These individuals know how to install, operate and maintain equipment. A good manager, engineer, or Condition Monitoring (CM) Analyst should always seek the advice of equipment operators and maintenance employees. The value obtained from a simple conversation can be enormous. They can help with critical things that may otherwise have gone overlooked. This can help improve the design, installation, operation, or maintenance of equipment.  The information they are capable of providing but isn’t being exploited may explain why routine reliability problems continue to occur. Never overlook the wealth of information that may be sitting next to you at lunch or working next to you each day!

Watch our Reliability Matters videos

Some studies have shown that 70% of reliability efforts fail. Some of the main reasons for this are changes in key individuals responsible for the implementation,  support, and management of these efforts. Individuals become frustrated and leave,  are moved into other positions, terminated by management that does not see the value of their efforts, assigned other tasks and not allowed to complete their primary goals, etc. Don’t just sniff around, find ways to mark your territory, and then leave. Set clear obtainable goals, make sure that the value of your efforts is understood, provide support to those trying to improve equipment reliability, be patient and see things through to the end. Do not become part of the negative statistics.