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M-News Edition 21
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M-News - the Maintenance Newsletter

Edition 21, January 2001

Contents

In this edition...
Feature Article - Calculating the Savings from Implementation of CMMS
Feature Article - Regaining Control of Controls
Feature Article - Increasing Reliability through Oil Analysis
Feature Article - Measure Field Reliability with Statistics
Survey Results - Maintenance Budgeting and Cost Control
Current Survey - Maintenance Salaries
Recommended Books
On the Lighter Side - Engineering Humor

If you wish to receive notification of future copies of this newsletter by email, please register at www.plant-maintenance.com/registration.shtml. If you have any feedback on the newsletter, or have something to contribute, please send me an e-mail.

Feature Article - Calculating the Savings from Implementation of CMMS

With the advance in the market place of CMMS systems various questions are arising more and more frequently. For example:

  • What is the goal of our CMMS implementation?
  • How will it assist us?
  • What are the real expectations of a CMMS implementation?
This article from Daryl Mather attempts to answer these questions, and can be read at http://www.plant-maintenance.com/articles/CMMS_savings.shtml.

Feature Article - Regaining Control of Controls

Compressor control systems are a common cause of wasted energy. However, it takes more than an understanding of controls to correct the problem and recover the energy savings. This article, from Dan Wise of CompressorWise.com provides a case study of how an air audit assisted one organisation to reduce their energy consumption on their air compressors by over 20%, and can be read at http://www.plant-maintenance.com/articles/control.shtml.

Feature Article - Increasing Reliability through Oil Analysis

Oil Analysis can be a powerful tool to improve equipment reliability - but only if you ensure that the correct oil analysis test are performed, and only if you then take the appropriate corrective action. This article from Ray Garvey of Emerson Process Management / CSI discusses these issues, and can be read at http://www.plant-maintenance.com/articles/oil_analysis.shtml.

Feature Article - Measure Field Reliability with Statistics

Misunderstandings about what reliability is and which data is necessary to measure it limit the value of reliability statistics. This article from Larry George (reproduced from the ERI News newsletter issued by the Equipment Reliability Institute (www.equipment-reliability.com) describes reliability prediction and estimation from data required by generally accepted accounting principles. You can read the full article at http://www.plant-maintenance.com/articles/field_reliability.shtml.

Survey Results - Maintenance Budgeting and Cost Control

This survey was concluded on January 15, and results are currently being compiled and will be reported in next month's M-News newsletter. Thanks to all who participated.

Current Survey - Maintenance Salaries

This survey returns for its fourth year, and we are asking as many Maintenance people as possible to let us know what they earn. All results are completely confidential, and the more people that respond, the more accurate the results will be. Ask all your friends and colleagues to participate! The survey closes on March 15, 2002. You can complete the survey, or view the results to date at http://www.plant-maintenance.com/survey.shtml.

Recommended Books

Some of the books that have previously been reviewed on this site, and which we strongly recommend are listed below. Ron Moore's book, Making Common Sense Common Practice is particularly recommended as representing excellent value for money. Support the Plant Maintenance Resource Center by purchasing these books from amazon.com through our website.

For details on all of these books, and many more, visit http://www.plant-maintenance.com/maintenance_books.shtml.

On the Lighter Side - Engineering Humor

From Maintsmart (www.maintsmart.com):

You might be a plant engineer if

  • You're the designated plant jailee for all environmental compliance problems
  • You're the first person the plant manager calls whenever anything goes wrong
  • You're on call 24 hours a day and are required to live within 15 minutes of the plant
  • You're in a meeting and you instinctively reach for your belt whenever someone else's beeper goes off
  • You can balance the office temperature to everyone's satisfaction
  • You're on a first name basis with the OSHA inspector
  • You spend more time out of your office than in it
  • You're the only person that really knows where the pipes are buried, regardless of what the drawings show
  • Your son or daughter is the only kid on the block that knows that a transformer isn't just a toy advertised on Saturday morning TV
  • You're the one that gets chewed out for a leaky roof, even though your boss wouldn't authorize the repair expenditure last year
  • You're the only member of plant management that doesn't take vacation during the annual shutdown
  • You think "holidays" are a management scheme to give you time to perform overdue maintenance
  • There aren't enough days in a year to take all the compensatory time off your boss has been promising
  • You know the difference between a motor and an engine
  • You know that "power transmission" isn't the opposite of a stick shift in your car
  • You can explain that "busway" isn't the routing of public transportation past your plant
  • You have actually developed an emergency preparedness plan
  • You are responsible for keeping everything in the plant running at or beyond design capacity, even though you have neither the authority nor the budget to make it happen
  • You have to be able to climb higher and crawl lower than any other executive in your plant
  • You're the only plant executive that thinks PMS stands for Preventive Maintenance System

Wishing you all a prosperous 2002. All feedback, comments and contributions to future editions are very welcome (as are enquiries about sponsorship of this newsletter).

Alexander (Sandy) Dunn
Plant Maintenance Resource Center
webmaster@plant-maintenance.com
http://www.plant-maintenance.com

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