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M-News Edition 30
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M-News - the Maintenance Newsletter

Edition 30, November 2002

Contents

In this edition...
Welcome
Feature Article - Using Speech Recognition To Increase Maintenance Management Efficiency
Feature Article - Business Based Maintenance - The way to maintenance effectiveness
Feature Article - Solution Oriented Asset Reliability
Feature Article - Failure Information Survey Results
Special Offer 1 - Free Ticket to Strategic Asset Management for Optimal Power Plant Operations conference
Special Offer 2 - Free Machinery Lubrication Magazine subscription
Survey Results - Design for Maintainabiility/Reliability
Next Survey - Maintenance Salaries
Book Review - Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents
Recommended Books and Holiday Gifts
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.


Welcome

It must be the holiday season approaching, but we have a couple of special giveaways for you in this issue. First, and available to all subscribers in the USA, Canada and Europe, we are delighted to be able to offer you, in conjunction with Noria Corporation, free subscription to Machinery Lubrication magazine. Second, we have, thanks to marcus evans, one free ticket to give away to the Strategic Asset Management for Optimal Power Plant Operations conference being held in St Louis, MO next January, 2003. And, as usual, we have the usual high quality articles for you to read.

Finally, if you are looking for gifts to give this holiday season, don't forget that if you purchase any item from amazon.com (including books, videos, CDs, software, toys and games, apparel, electrical appliances and more) by following any of the links from the plant-maintenance.com website (or by clicking here), the Plant Maintenance Resource Center earns a small commission, which assists us in keeping our services free of charge. See later in this newsletter for a list of our recommended books, plus other gift ideas.


Feature Article - Using Speech Recognition To Increase Maintenance Management Efficiency

Advances in speech-based technologies have emerged to provide computers with the capability to cost-effectively recognize and synthesize speech. Additionally, wireless communications have ascended to where the number of mobile phones will eclipse land-based phones and the Internet has become a commonplace communication mechanism for businesses. The confluence of these technologies portends interesting opportunities for maintenance management. This article, contributed by Michael Dougherty of Crossbar Solutions, outlines some of these opportunities, and the current "state of play" in voice recognition technologies. You will find it at http://www.plant-maintenance.com/articles/speech_recognition.shtml.


Feature Article - Business Based Maintenance - The way to maintenance effectiveness

Manufacturing people repeatedly communicate a need for improved maintenance, while maintenance managers complain about the lack of funds, the lack of access to equipment in order to perform maintenance, and an overall lack of manufacturing cooperation. It is obvious the production and maintenance agendas don't match up. What's missing is a way to get the two groups working together for a common purpose. This article, from Brad McCully of ATS, suggests an answer - manage maintenance as a business. It is available at
http://www.plant-maintenance.com/articles/BusinessBasedMaintenance.pdf. You will require the free Adobe Acrobat reader to be able to view this file.


Feature Article - Solution Oriented Asset Reliability

This article, from Terrence O'Hanlon of reliabilityweb.com outlines an approach to Maintenance Improvement called Solution Oriented Asset Reliability, where "complaint talk" is shifted into "solution talk", problems are mapped and goals are specified. You can read the article at http://www.plant-maintenance.com/articles/SOAR2003TPM.pdf. Once again, you will require the free Adobe Acrobat reader installed to be able to view this file.


Feature Article - Failure Information Survey Results

This article outlines the results of a survey on failure information that was conducted by Jorge Juliao & Richard Greenough of Cranfield University in the UK. The survey was conducted between July and August 2002 and, mainly addressed the following issues:

  • Use of failure history records to assist maintenance;
  • Current maintenance trends in managing failure histories;
  • Relationship between machine users and vendors with regard to maintenance.

You can read the article at http://www.plant-maintenance.com/articles/FailureSurvey.pdf. Yet again, you will require the free Adobe Acrobat reader installed to be able to view this file.


Special Offer 1 - Free Ticket to Strategic Asset Management for Optimal Power Plant Operations conference

Thanks to marcus evans, the conference organisers, we have one free ticket to give away to an M-News subscriber to attend the Strategic Asset Management for Optimal Power Plant Operations conference being held in St Louis, MO between January 28 and January 30, 2003. This ticket is valued at US$1995. Note that travel to and from the venue, as well as accommodation and all other expenses, other than those covered by the conference fee, are the responsibility of the winner. To enter the draw for this prize, please send an email containing your name and email address to powerplant@plant-maintenance.com to arrive on or before Sunday December 15, 2002. The winner will be drawn at random from those entering, and will be notified via email.


Special Offer 2 - Free Machinery Lubrication Magazine subscription

we are delighted to be able to offer you, in conjunction with Noria Corporation, free subscription to Machinery Lubrication magazine. This offer is open only to subscribers from the US and Canada. To sign up for your obligation-free subscription, at no charge, simply complete the special form at www.machinerylubrication.com/pmaint.asp.

Machinery lubrication is now more than just a mundane activity - it's a profit center. Skilled-up maintenance technicians are trained to execute their jobs with surgical precision. They know the value of managing lubricants with care - from delivery to disposal. When well done, reliability goes up and costs go down.

Machinery Lubrication Magazine delivers expert advice on ...

  • selecting lubricants that last
  • solutions to reliability problems
  • money-saving ideas

Each issue of Machinery Lubrication is designed to be a mini-workshop on proper machinery lubrication. No fluff, only relevant information that readers understand and appreciate.

To sign up for your obligation-free subscription, at no charge, simply complete the special form at www.machinerylubrication.com/pmaint.asp. Due to postage expenses, unfortunately this offer is open only to subscribers from the US and Canada.


Survey Results - Design for Maintainability/Reliability

What standards and processes does your organization have that lead to reliability and maintainability issues being considered in the design/configuration/procurement of new or modified equipment? This survey closed recently, with 20 responses. Owing to the small number of responses, we will not perform any detailed analysis of the results, but you can view the raw results online at http://www.plant-maintenance.com/cgi-bin/survey_dfm.cgi?action=VIEW&filebase=dfm_survey


Next Survey - Maintenance Salaries

With the exception of our annual Maintenance Salary survey, the surveys that we have been running recently have had extremely low participation rates, even though overall site traffic is higher than it has ever been. As it takes considerable time and effort to compile and analyse the survey results, in future, we plan only to run one annual survey - on Maintenance Salaries. This survey will open on January 15, 2003, and notification will be given in the January issue of M-News. In the meantime, results of all of our past surveys can be accessed from http://www.plant-maintenance.comsurvey.shtml. Thank you to all those who have participated in the surveys that we have run for the past 4 years.


Book Review - Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents

This book should be compulsory reading for all engineers (whether maintenance engineers, design engineers, production engineers, mining engineers, chemical engineers or whatever) working in heavy and hazardous industries. The book is founded on Professor James Reason's work for the last 25 years in the area of human error and the way people and organisational processes contribute to the breakdown of complex, well-defended technologies such as commercial aviation, nuclear power generation, process plants, railways, marine operations, financial services and healthcare institutions.

The book is written for readers with a technical background, and is aimed at those who are responsible for ensuring that adequate defences (such as maintenance policies, PM programs and procedures) are in place to prevent "organizational accidents" - those incidents which, in Reason's words are "those comparatively rare, but often catastrophic events that occur within complex modern technologies, such as nuclear power plants, commercial aviation, the petrochemical industry, chemical process plants, marine and rail transport, banks and stadiums".

Of particular interest to Maintenance people is Chapter 5 of the book, entitled "Maintenance can Seriously Damage your System" which outlines the results of a number of maintenance-related research studies. Compilation of research from the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) in Atlanta and the Central Research Institute for the Electrical Power Industry (CRIEPI) in Tokyo, indicated that 60% of Nuclear Power Plant "significant event reports" were associated with maintenance, testing and calibration activities. In addition, a Boeing study indicated that of 276 inflight engine shutdown events on Boeing aircraft, various forms of faulty installation accounted for over 70% of all contributing factors. And these statistics occur despite the existence of rigorous repair and maintenance procedures. All Maintenance personnel should read this chapter, and be scared - very scared.

To read the full review of this book, click here.


Recommended Books and Holiday Gifts

If you purchase any item from amazon.com (including books, videos, CDs, software, toys and games, apparel, electrical appliances and more) by following any of the links from the plant-maintenance.com website, by clicking here, or by following any of the links below, the Plant Maintenance Resource Center earns a small commission, which assists us in keeping our services free of charge.

Here are ten Maintenance-related books that we have read recently, and strongly recommend:

Get more information on these and other books at http://www.plant-maintenance.com/maintenance_books.shtml.

To see the current amazon.com deals on a range of gift suggestions, including computer gear, digital cameras, DVDs, CDs, DVD Players and more click here. These deals change daily, but the last time I checked, amazon.com were offering up to 35% off top-selling DVDs, over 8,000 CDs for $12.98 or less, 33% off selected DV camcorders, up to $75 off Palm handhelds, and up to $200 off selected cell phones. And there is free shipping on all orders of over $25.

Remember, every time you purchase an item from amazon.com by following any of the links from the plant-maintenance.com website, by clicking here, or by following any of the links above, the Plant Maintenance Resource Center earns a small commission, which assists us in keeping our services free of charge. Your support is greatly appreciated.


On the Lighter Side - Engineering Humor

Real Engineers...

  • consider themselves well dressed if their socks match
  • buy their spouses a set of matched screwdrivers for their birthday
  • wear moustaches or beards for "efficiency", not because they're lazy
  • have a non-technical vocabulary of 800 words
  • think a "biting wit" is their fox terrier
  • know the second law of thermodynamics - but not their own shirt size
  • repair their own cameras, telephones, televisions, watches, and automatic transmissions
  • say "It's 70 degrees Fahrenheit, 25 degrees Celsius, and 298 degrees Kelvin" and all you say is "Isn't it a nice day"
  • give you the feeling you're having a conversation with a dial tone or busy signal
  • wear badges so they don't forget who they are. Sometimes a note is attached saying "Don't offer me a ride today. I drove my own car"
  • politics run towards acquiring a parking space with their name on it and an office with a window
  • know the "ABC's of Infrared" from A to B
  • rotate their tires for laughs
  • will make four sets of drawings (with seven revisions) before making a bird bath
  • briefcases contain a Phillips screwdriver, a copy of "Quantum Physics", and a half of a peanut butter sandwich
  • don't find the above at all funny


I hope you have enjoyed this newsletter. All feedback, comments and contributions to future editions are very welcome (as are enquiries about contributions to, and sponsorship of, this newsletter).

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


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