Proactive maintenance is more Covid, how “covid” is yours?

2020-08-232021-05-04

Proactive maintenance requires fewer people and is more suited to physical distancing, yet cost-savings measures are driving more reactive work and workplace crowding than necessary. Proactive maintenance is more “Covid”. You have laid-off workers, contractors, and reduced spending on maintenance and parts. In fact, Covid-19 presented you with a great savings opportunity! Have you done anything to make sure those costs stay down though? Short term maintenance cost savings are easy to achieve. but they bite hard later! Read more “Proactive maintenance is more Covid, how “covid” is yours?” →

Asset Management

How to keep the boss out of jail

2020-07-162021-05-04

Here’s a case where they didn’t know how to keep the boss out of jail! In Jan 2019, a mine tailing dam (the structure used to contain waste from mining operations) collapsed. The video below shows the event. 259 people were confirmed dead and 11 declared missing. Cause – liquefaction – a commonly occurring phenomenon, and one that this particular mine had been warned about. Outcome – fatalities and associated human cost, suspended operations (for a brief period), company reputation, criminal charges (executives and engineering consultants). Risk management is an often neglected part of our job. Read more “How to keep the boss out of jail” →

Management

What I’m learning about Online Training

2020-06-262021-05-04

Online training is actually a pretty good way to go! For me, that’s a revelation. The isolation and distancing measures being imposed due to the Corona Virus pandemic have been a game-changer in our business and personally. In the process of shifting training content to online formats, I’ve learned a lot.

My conclusion is that online training isn’t just an alternative to the “real thing”, it can actually be a better experience. Read more “What I’m learning about Online Training” →

Condition Monitoring

Understanding Conditional Probability is Key

2020-06-102021-05-04

Understanding conditional probability is key to determining the right maintenance and how it impacts your reliability. This article is to address the difference in the conditional probability of failure patterns, and the impact on how best to maintain assets based upon those differences.

Definition: Conditional probability of failure is defined as the likelihood an item will fail in the next period, assuming it has not yet failed. Editor’s note: for a bit more information on Conditional Probability of Failure and Hazard rates, please refer to this article by our colleague, Mr. Murray Wiseman. Read more “Understanding Conditional Probability is Key” →

Asset Management

Maintenance and Reliability Maturity – 1

2020-06-032021-05-04

Maintenance and reliability maturity provides an understanding of both how well we do maintenance and how good is our maintenance program. One delivers a major business result, the other is a big part of how you get there. Doing maintenance with precision and care, so the job is done once and done well by the right people and without delay is what maintenance organizations strive for. Some achieve it, some struggle to do so. If they can achieve that, then they are being efficient.

That achievement pays for itself in completed work at the lowest cost to the organization in terms of spending and time to execute. On the graph below, that takes them up the vertical scale. Read more “Maintenance and Reliability Maturity – 1” →

Business case

Emerging Stronger from Crisis

2020-04-222021-05-04

Emerging stronger from crisis – that’s our current challenge. We know we can do it. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. Our businesses can emerge stronger too, but that won’t happen without leadership and choice.

Capital asset-intensive industries that have had a chance to pause have been wise if they used the opportunity to catch up on deferred maintenance and review their proactive maintenance programs for effectiveness. Read more “Emerging Stronger from Crisis” →

Management

Uptime Insights – 8 – Asset Reliability

2020-04-162021-05-04

You can wait for something to break, then fix it, or you can be proactive and manage the failure before it causes you problems. Being proactive is all about managing failures and their consequences before they occur. The failure itself, in some cases, is unavoidable, but how you manage consequences is entirely within your control.

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. Major business impacts are the consequences of risks and those are manageable. Read more “Uptime Insights – 8 – Asset Reliability” →

Asset Management

Why do you let your budgets hold you back?

2019-11-112021-05-04

The “no brainer” opportunity

Let’s say that you run your own business. You have an opportunity to invest some money and get a payback that is more than your total investment within the first year (payback is more than 100% in the first year). Moreover, that payback will continue for many years. Would you invest? Read more “Why do you let your budgets hold you back?” →

Change Management

Should we outsource

2019-10-142021-05-04

Outsourcing is a form of alternative service delivery where one company hires another to perform some of its functions. It’s fairly common in some fields, such as accounting, manufacturing, human resources, procurement and IT, but not as common when it comes to maintenance and asset management. It has it’s advantages and risks and must be approached carefully.

Myth busting 27: RCM is only for new assets

2019-05-272021-05-04

Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) was developed in the airline industry to be used for developing maintenance programs for new aircraft. There’s no doubting it – originally RCM was intended for new designs and arguably where the results of failure could be catastrophic, specifically the loss of life and where costs of maintaining had grown ridiculously high. Read more “Myth busting 27: RCM is only for new assets” →

The “no brainer” opportunity

Experience, Insight, Honest Advice