M-News Edition 31
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M-News Edition 31
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Edition 31, December 2002 ContentsIn this edition...
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. WelcomeA couple of items of website news in this month's newsletter. First, thanks to cooperative arrangements with TWI Press and Newstandardinstitute, you can now purchase Maintenance-related Training Aids and materials through the Plant Maintenance Resource Center. Visit www.plant-maintenance.com/training_store.shtml to view a few of the products on offer. Second, I hope you all enjoy the holiday season, and wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year. Regards...
Feature Article - Reducing the Cost of Preventive MaintenanceLean Manufacturing and Lean Maintenance target the identification and elimination of waste through continuous improvement. The problem of under-maintaining assets is often addressed through loss elimination and continuous improvement programs. The problem of over-maintaining by comparison receives little attention. Left unattended the over-maintaining of assets silently and continuously squanders precious maintenance resources. This paper from Deryk Anderson of Oniqua Enterprise Analytics explores the impact of frequency on the over maintaining problem and proposes, with the use of a case study, low risk methods for reducing Preventive Maintenance costs. You will find it at http://www.plant-maintenance.com/articles/PMCostReduction.pdf. Note that you will require the free Adobe Acrobat reader to be able to view this file. Feature Article - CMMS Templates for Effective ImplementationsThis paper from Daryl Mather of Klaron covers a wide range of issues relating to Maintenance Management today, but specifically discusses the Templating process for Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) implementations, and outlines seven steps for more rapid CMMS implementations. It is available at Feature Article - Cost Risk OptimisationMost engineering, maintenance and operating decisions involve some aspect of cost/risk trade-off. Such decisions range from evaluating a proposed design change, determining the optimal maintenance or inspection interval, when to replace an ageing asset, or which and how many spares to hold. The decisions involve deliberate expenditure in order to achieve some hoped-for reliability, performance or other benefit. We may know the costs involved, but it is often difficult to quantify the potential impact of reduced risks, improved efficiency or safety, or longer equipment life. Not only are the benefits difficult to quantify, but the objectives often conflict with each other (we could clean the heat exchanger more often to achieve better performance, but the cleaning may damage the tubes and shorten their life). Finding the optimal strategy is difficult, therefore, but the wrong maintenance interval will result in excessive costs, risks or losses. This article, from John Woodhouse of The Woodhouse Partnership outlines a set of procedures to make sure that the right questions are asked, and sophisticated "what if?" analysis tools to calculate the optimum combinations of equipment reliability, performance, lifespan and cost. You can read the article at http://www.plant-maintenance.com/articles/Costriskop.pdf. Once again, you will require the free Adobe Acrobat reader installed to be able to view this file. Feature Article - Maintenance Method For Critical Equipment Of Coal Handling PlantAnother article from Makarand Joshi. Developing a special method for maintenance of Critical Equipment is necessary for improving maintenance quality and reducing operating costs. The correct combination of corrective, preventive and condition-based maintenance is required for Critical Equipment. This paper discusses the concept of Maintenance Method for Critical Equipments (MMCE) for Coal Handling Plants. It focuses on condition monitoring of bearings and gearboxes of Critical Equipment. The paper also discusses guidelines for implementation of MMCE in CHP. You can read the full article at http://www.plant-maintenance.com/articles/Critical_Equipment_Maintenance.pdf. Yet again, you will require the free Adobe Acrobat reader installed to be able to view this file. Next Survey - Maintenance SalariesWith 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.com/survey.shtml. Thank you to all those who have participated in the surveys that we have run for the past 4 years. Book Review - The Logic of Failure by Dietrich DornerSubtitled "Recognizing and Avoiding Error in Complex Situations", and featuring a graphic photograph of a steam train lying on its side next to a railway track, I was looking forward to reading this book. I was especially keen to read it because it received high praise from James Reason, who's book "Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents" I highly recommend to all engineers - read my review at www.plant-maintenance.com/books/1840141050.shtml. Reason wrote of this book - "An especially important book that deals with the nature and origins of mistakes in a way that has no precedent". And it is indeed an important book. To read the full review of this book, click here. Recommended Books and Holiday GiftsIf 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 HumorEngineers hate risk. They try to eliminate it whenever they can. This is understandable, given that when an engineer makes one little mistake the media will treat it like it's a big deal or something. Examples of Bad Press for Engineers
The risk/reward calculation for engineers looks something like this: RISK: Public humiliation and the death of thousands of innocent people.
Being practical people, engineers evaluate this balance of risks and rewards and decide that risk is not a good thing. The best way to avoid risk is by advising that any activity is technically impossible for reasons that are far too complicated to explain. If that approach is not sufficient to halt project, then the engineer will fall back to a second line of defense: "It's technically possible but it will cost too much." I hope you have enjoyed this newsletter, and once again, Seasons Greetings to you all. 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
Copyright 1996-2009, The Plant Maintenance Resource Center . All Rights Reserved.
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