MARTS 2008: Realities In Reliability

In industry today, it’s as important as ever to stay up-todate on the latest technologies, products and practices. This year’s Maintenance & Reliability Technology Summit (MARTS) provides an opportunity to do just that. The fourday summit—geared toward maintenance and reliability mangers, engineers, technicians and other capacity assurance professionals—offers a wealth of technical and business sessions, workshops, value-added products and services and not-to-be-missed professional development and networking opportunities.

Must-attend pre- and post-conference opportunities 
MARTS 2008 kicks off with pre-conference workshops on Monday, April 14. There are six 7-hour workshops to choose from, with topics such as lean maintenance, reliabilitycentered maintenance, lubrication and CMMS.

New to MARTS this year, the Fluid Sealing Association (FSA) and the Hydraulic Institute (HI) are co-sponsoring a special pre-conference workshop on the Fundamentals of Mechanical Seals. Topics to be covered in this powerful all-day session are: mechanical seal designs and arrangements, basic operating principles and application limits, seal chamber design and pressures, installation of mechanical seals, environmental controls and piping plans, pump commissioning and everybody’s favorite, TROUBLESHOOTING. This basic, yet comprehensive course also provides participants with the first cost analysis tool specially designed for evaluating the life cycle costs of mechanical seals. Each attendee will receive a free copy of the 300-page HI/FSA book Mechanical Seals for Pumps: Application Guidelines (a $195 value).

Similarly, on Thursday, April 17 MARTS will wrap up with five post-conference workshops covering topics such as asset management, cause mapping and IR thermography.

All workshops, pre- and post-, are presented by recognized industry gurus and contributors to Maintenance Technology and Lubrication Management & Technology magazines. Instructors include Contributing Editors Bob Williamson and Ken Bannister, as well as notables like Ed Stanek, Mac Smith, Kim Pease, Mark Galley, Jim Seffrin and technical experts from member companies of the Fluid Sealing Association, among others.

Two professional development courses—with the separate option of certification exams—also will be held during the conference.

• For those who want to become certified in the maintenance management area, Dave Krings will present an invaluable Professional Certification Review Tuesday, April 15 through Wednesday, April 16. President of Nobreakdowns, a 20/20 Foresight Company, Krings has two key objectives in mind for the participants in his sessions: 1) you’ll be better prepared to take a maintenance management certifi- cation exam; and 2) you’ll be better prepared to develop a systematic maintenance program when you return to your operations. As Krings notes, there are several different certification exams available for maintenance professionals. On Thursday, April 17, though, you will be able to sit for your CMRP (Certified Maintenance & Reliablity Professional) exam, offered by SMRP (the Society for Maintenance & Reliability Professionals). If this is one of your important professional development goals, you won’t want to miss this convenient opportunity.
• For those wishing to pursue their CLS certification, Contributing Editor Ray Thibault, CLS, OMA I & II, MLT & MLA I, will conduct a Certified Lubrication Specialist review course Monday, April 14 through Wednesday, April 16, followed by the Certified Lubrication Specialist certifi- cation exam on Thursday, April 17. Retired from Exxon- Mobil after 31 years of service, Thibault is a lubrication powerhouse. His review is one of the best opportunities you’ll ever have to prepare for the CLS exam, which, again is being offered at MARTS through auspices of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE).

Both certification exams, the CMRP and CLS, are scheduled for Thursday morning, April 17.

(IMPORTANT NOTE: Space is limited in all of the popular preand post-conference workshops and certification opportunities. Don’t be left out this year. Your professional development is too important for you and your employer. Register now to ensure your seat in the workshop(s) and/or certification exam of your choice.)

Must attend regular conference 
MARTS 2008 Regular Conferences sessions are scheduled over two days—Tuesday and Wednesday, April 15 and 16—and include up to four concurrent sessions in each time slot. All sessions are led by practitioners, experts and other industry leaders who will be offering advice based on their own proven successes in their respective fields. (For a full schedule of speakers and topics, go to www.MARTSconference.com) Each day of the Regular Conference will begin with a keynote session, both of which focus on reliability.

• The first keynote, on Tuesday, April 15, features Contributing Editor Bob Williamson. In his 1-hour session, Williamson tackles the question of relating profits—even corporate survival—to reliability and maintenance.
• In Wednesday morning’s keynote, Peter Martin of Invensys will explore how to make the business case for reliability, from selling ideas to management, to getting approval for projects and furthering reliability objectives.

The Regular Conference wraps up on Wednesday evening with a discussion led by a panel of North American Maintenance Excellence (NAME) award winners. In this session, panel members will divulge how their plants came to be recognized as best practice maintenance operations and give tips on how others can emulate their successes.

Solving your problems
Don’t forget that more than 50 industry leading companies— including Emerson Process Management, PdMA Corporation and Ludeca, Inc.—also will be exhibiting at MARTS 2008, on both Tuesday and Wednesday during session breaks. Here’s your chance to visit face-to-face with key suppliers to industry in a comfortable, no-pressure networking venue. As in years past, these exhibitors will be demonstrating state-of-the-art technologies and services for the very types of improvements your organization is seeking. We all look forward to seeing you at MARTS 2008!