Reliability Archives - Conscious Asset

Stop doing too much maintenance

September 2, 2018November 20, 2018

Even if you have excellent planning and scheduling, you may still experience excessive downtime. Some consultants will promise that you’ll save a great deal of money with good P&S simply because planned and scheduled work is less expensive to execute. They are partially right too! But that’s only part of the picture. That excessive downtime you are still experiencing has nothing to do with P&S skills and schedule compliance. In fact, even with good P&S, if you are doing the wrong proactive maintenance, then you will have difficulty achieving high levels of schedule compliance. You need to put the other piece of the puzzle in place – reliability – start doing the right maintenance. Read more “Stop doing too much maintenance” →

Reliability

10 Myths about RCM

December 8, 2017November 20, 2018

Despite its well-documented successes, Reliability Centered Maintenance has always drawn a lot of discussion and controversy. Much of it is because of a lack of understanding and ‘myths’ generated to discredit RCM as a viable business solution. Here I will fill in some of those gaps in understanding and debunk some of the myths.

RCM is a type of maintenance (wrong)

What is Conscious Reliability

May 25, 2017November 20, 2018

In 2015, Jesus Sifonte invited me to be a speaker at a client and business partner congress that he was holding in San Juan, Puerto Rico. We did not know each other, nor did we even know much about each other. I was recommended to Jesus by a mutual friend, Dr. Andrew Jardine at the University of Toronto. At the San Juan congress we presented our respective topics and in the evenings we shared a few drinks while speaking about maintenance, reliability and asset management. We realized that we both had a shared passion for excellence and we learned about each-others’ experience. Read more “What is Conscious Reliability” →

Reliability

Uptime – Managing failures before they occur

May 16, 2017November 20, 2018

Being proactive with your assets is all about managing failures before they occur. You can reduce or eliminate the consequences of failure by forecasting what is likely to happen and deciding in advance about what to do about it. The advantage to doing this is that major business impact due to equipment breakdown can be avoided. High performing companies manage proactively – they foresee and avoid problems. It’s good for business! Read more “Uptime – Managing failures before they occur” →

Asset Management

Re-engineering Reliability Centered Maintenance

April 10, 2017November 20, 2018

Reliability Centered Maintenance methods compliant with the SAE standard JA-1011 (“Evaluation Criteria for RCM Processes”) all have common features – they must, or they won’t comply with the standard. Those requirements are “minimum” requirements, as they are with any standard. RCM-R complies. But what makes it different and why?

The RCM standard and most, if not all, of the established RCM methods are firmly rooted in the past as it was defined by those few individuals who wrote the SAE standard. The standard and those methods have stood the test of time because they work, but we asked, “Can they work better?” Answer – yes. Read more “Re-engineering Reliability Centered Maintenance” →

Reliability

Authors’ Note – RCM Re-engineered

March 31, 2017November 20, 2018

RCM-R® goes beyond what RCM alone can do. The basic successful method as defined in SAE JA-1011 remains intact. RCM-R® enhances that method, linking it to international standards for risk management and adding a degree of technical rigor rarely seen outside of the military, nuclear and aircraft industries. It adds a great deal of emphasis on what it takes to implement the method successfully – not only as a project (as has so often been done with other RCM methods), but as a sustainable program, and on leveraging the analysis results to maximize value generation and align closely with the intentions and precepts of the new international standard for Asset Management, ISO 55001. Read more “Authors’ Note – RCM Re-engineered” →

Asset Management

Cost Control or Value Generation

March 29, 2017November 20, 2018

If you can’t sell all you can produce, then reducing costs is often the only way to improve margins, but that simplistic accounting perspective is not always the case. Cost control is often thought to be key to attaining profitability but it the case of maintenance it can get you into trouble. Cost control can have a big opportunity cost if you don’t take advantage of the opportunities you have.

Figure 1 shows the basics – as production increases, revenues and costs both increase. Revenue is zero at zero production and increases to 100% at 100% output (if you can achieve it). Read more “Cost Control or Value Generation” →

Consulting

RCM Facilitation and effective Maintenance

November 2, 2016November 20, 2018

Most of us would agree that there is a new global econo

my being forged in the manufacturing sector today. Inevitably, this translates to a renewed focus on transferring more business value to the customer. Driving value in maintenance translates to high reliability and central to this will be linking RCM (Reliability Centered Maintenance) facilitation with effective maintenance program implementations. Read more “RCM Facilitation and effective Maintenance” →

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