Continuous Improvement
Brewery Saves Big by Extending Compressor Oil Life
With regular oil analysis to ensure oil quality and cleanliness, the drain intervals for all four air compressors were extended up to eight times the OEM-recommended interval of 8,000 hours. Total cost savings – on oil alone – was $71,000. Environmental impact was reduced as well, with 1,035 fewer litres (273 fewer gallons) of waste oil. Fewer oil changes also meant less downtime, maintenance and labor. The overall effect for the company was significant cost savings on oil, maintenance time and disposal.
- Preston Rubottom
- Lubrication Engineers
Complicated Versus Complexity in Maintenance
I’ve always thought that knowing when something was going to fail was unknowable. Of course, predictive maintenance vendors shout from the rooftops about the effectiveness of their technology. Even the onboard computers tell you to replace components, somehow knowing when the failure will occur.
But really, most failures are not related to wear or aging, so how can we know what is going to happen and when? This discussion leads me into the sales pitches for AI (Artificial Intelligence). Can we ever get to the point where there is so much data that we can really predict the future?
- Joel Levitt
- Springfield
THE IMPORTANCE OF GETTING IT RIGHT
Machine Learning, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Digital Twins. Without a doubt, it’s an exciting to witness the evolution and to envision the potential future state of manufacturing and maintenance. The reality however is nearly every post conveniently leaves out the requirements one must have in place to make the advancements work for you.
- Chris Pepin
- Progressive Reliability
Preview the 2021 SMRP Annual Conference!
The Society for Maintenance and Reliability Professionals (SMRP) is preparing to welcome attendees for its 29th Annual Conference. Hear from SMRP Executive Director Erin Erickson about what's in store for attendees at this year's event.
- SMRP
7 Steps to Assess Your Organization’s Readiness for Industry 4.0
In the ideal world of Industry 4.0, organizations will have better equipment with wireless connections and sensors linked to a system that can visualize and control the entire production line and make autonomous decisions. Industry 4.0, in other words, describes the ever-increasing trend towards automation and data exchange.
- Tom Rombouts
- I-care Group
How Motion Amplification® Fits into a Reliability Program
If you want the equipment and assets in your industrial facility to stay up and running, you’ll need a good reliability program. Reliability programs are designed to increase and maintain the performance of a plant’s equipment by identifying potential failures and eliminating their causes and reducing the possibility of production failures and stalls while enhancing safety.
- Jeff Hay
- RDI Technologies
The Industry 4.0 Roadmap and How I-care’s Approach Is Different
Industry 4.0 is what organizations are all striving for, but it’s not something that can be fixed overnight. To achieve sustainable results, a long-term mindset is needed. It is therefore essential to choose a strategic approach taken in stages. And, of course, the right partner to help you guide all facets of your organization through this major transition.
- Tom Rombouts
- I-care Group
Condition Monitoring Technologies – Pros and Cons of the Top Five
There are several different technologies that can be used, alone or in combination, to monitor the condition of your machinery from a predictive maintenance (PdM) perspective. The criticality of the machine affects the number of such inspection-type technologies that are applied to a given failure mode. The more critical the machine and the more critical the failure mode, the more redundancy you will want in the inspections.
- Timothy Weilbaker
- Allied Reliability, Inc.
Root Cause Analysis of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig Disaster and the Texas City Refinery Explosion
The Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig Disaster and the Texas City Refinery Explosion had many things in common. Both companies had been recently recognized for high safety standards, but reliability failures caused environmental and safety disasters…
- Alan Ross
- Electric Power Reliability Alliance EPRA