I spent several days last month participating in the Plant Engineering and Management sector of the National Manufacturing Week conference and trade show in Chicago. I liked the new show layout with enterprise resource planning software, automation software and systems, enterprise asset management software, and plant equipment and systems in the same hall. However, I didn't get to see much because developers of maintenance information systems were much more aggressive and successful this year in their bids for my attention. Most of their discussion revolved around features associated with the Internet or Web.

A common theme was the Web browser interface that benefits ordinary users by providing an interface similar to what they use at home to surf the Web. They can easily enter a work request or access information without training. Power users such as planners would continue to use the standard interface with a full range of features. Also new was the online approach to CMMS in which the software resides on the supplier's server and the user operates the system via the Internet.

As far as the conference was concerned, attendance seemed low, at least in the sessions I attended. Good information was presented on managing equipment reliability and maintenance, but few people were there to receive it--a situation that makes a good case for business-to-business publications such as Maintenance Technology.

Perhaps the most significant event was an ad hoc meeting that included several professional societies: The Society for Maintenance & Reliability Professionals, the Association of Facilities Engineers, the Institute of Industrial Engineers, and the Plant Engineering and Maintenance division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Represented officially by officers or staff, or unofficially by regular members, they met to discuss the common objective of boosting the image of the equipment reliability, maintenance, and asset management profession.

The consensus: the profession's image needs bolstering to bring it up to the level of its contribution to the bottom line. The resolution: the image can be improved, and the group wants to meet again in the fall to develop an agenda to that end. The next step: better communications among the constituents. The need: input from practitioners about what is needed.

Where do we go from here? Is the committee's goal worth pursuing? MT

I dislike sounding like Chicken Little, but why is it that only a few leaders recognize that survival and prosperity through the storms of change battering the maintenance and reliability profession requires action outside conventional boundaries?

Most maintenance organizations are experiencing heavy pressures to reduce costs. Investments for improved methods and technology are becoming more difficult to justify. Many see the maintenance and reliability profession itself declining in numbers, stature, and recognition. Attendance at professional conferences seems to be declining. Expansion of condition- monitoring and condition- based maintenance, measured by instrumentation sales, has been slowing for at least 6 to 8 years. The perceived value of publicly held maintenance management system suppliers, measured by market capitalization, has declined significantly over the past 18 months.

But why talk in generalities? Do you as a maintenance and reliability professional feel that your stature and recognition has increased, remained about the same, or declined over the past several years? Do you believe that if free to pursue optimizing initiatives you could contribute greater value to your company, as well as reduce costs? Despite headlines proclaiming a booming economy and widespread prosperity, most of the people I talk to in the maintenance and reliability community feel unsettled and insecure.

During one recent discussion, I learned that a company long known for its maintenance and reliability improvement efforts was postponing some, canceling others. Why? Because executives who prioritize funds have concluded (perhaps more correctly, have been convinced) that there is higher return in building new capacity rather than optimizing what they have.

Although many will agree with these observations, few appear to recognize that what's happening to them is happening to everyone.

Suppliers are stating that the failure to meet expectations in 1998 will be corrected this year by making more contacts or sales calls and initiating more quotations. Perhaps this worked in the past. The question is whether it will continue to work as conditions change. Many maintenance and reliability professionals seem to believe that the solution is fine tuning what is already in place. In my opinion both are woefully misguided.

We are far beyond the stage where fine tuning will have much impact. How can we gain approval for investment in long-term improvements when many executives view maintenance as one of the first areas to cut when profits are squeezed? How many have been told that the reduction was only temporary? Have you ever seen a curtailed or canceled maintenance and reliability improvement program reinstated? Without awareness of the potential gains from improved maintenance and reliability, long-term value will be sacrificed for short-term cost reduction.

Returning to the earlier question, how does the return gained by improving the effectiveness of current production assets compare with the return from capacity expansion and other competitive investment opportunities? I suggest that the ability to answer this question with solid financial return for specific initiatives will have far more impact on the success, stature, and recognition of maintenance and reliability professionals than pursuing incremental improvements in methods and technology.

Maintenance and reliability professionals must learn a lot more about how investments are evaluated. For new capacity, what sort of product pricing assumptions are made? What about market conditions, foreign competition, project delay, and higher-than-planned operating costs?

Competing for resources without fully understanding and questioning all the assumptions used to demonstrate the superiority of alternates is playing a game without knowing the rules. Without any direct knowledge of the investment opportunities that compete with your proposals for maintenance and reliability improvement, I'd bet that all are slanted toward the most favorable economic assumptions.

John Mitchell, San Juan Capistrano, CA, a consultant in condition assessment who has experience as a maintenance professional as well as a supplier of vibration monitoring instrumentation, is president of the Machinery Information Management Open Systems Alliance.

American industry invests significant time and money performing precision alignment of rotating machinery. The basis for this expenditure is two assumptions: misalignment causes a decrease in motor efficiency, and misaligned machinery is more prone to failure due to increased loads on bearings, seals, and couplings. The Maintenance and Reliability Center, University of Tennessee Knoxville, has investigated both assumptions. Phase one of this research determined that there is no measurable decrease in motor efficiency correlated to motor misalignment when the tested couplings are operated within the manufacturer's recommended range. Phase two, reported in this article, determined the relationship between motor alignment, roller element bearing load, and predicted bearing life.

It is generally agreed that proper alignment is critical to the life of the machine, and coupling wear or failure, bearing failures, bent rotors or crankshafts, plus bearing housing damage are all common results of poor alignment. We also know that loads on mechanical parts, such as bearings, seals, and couplings, decrease with improved alignment. These reduced loads result in decreased noise and vibration, decreased operating temperatures, decreased wear on mechanical systems, and decreased downtime due to breakage. All of these result in a longer and more reliable operating life span of equipment.

Clearly, there is cost associated with a precision alignment maintenance program. Alignment equipment, personnel training, labor associated with alignment, and machinery downtime are all expenses associated with a program to assure proper alignment. All of these costs need to be weighed against any expected benefits. Thus, it is necessary to predict in real terms, and in a systematic and scientific manner, what these benefits will be. This research experimentally determined the reduction in bearing life for different alignment conditions.

These numbers can be used in a more sophisticated model to estimate financial losses due to machinery misalignment.

Methodology
Shaft misalignment can be divided into two components: offset misalignment and angular misalignment. Offset (or parallel) misalignment occurs when the centerlines of two shafts are parallel but do not meet at the power transfer point, and angular misalignment occurs when the centerlines of two shafts intersect at the power transfer point but are not parallel. Often misalignment in actual machinery exhibits a combination of both types of misalignment.

Testing was performed at The University of Tennessee's Mechanical Engineering Engine Laboratory using a fully loaded 60 hp ac induction motor running at about 3562 rpm and driving a dynamometer. Load sensors were positioned at both the inboard and outboard bearing locations. The load was measured at a rate of 6000 Hz for 5 sec from seven load-sensing locations. A tachometer signal was measured at the same rate on the eighth channel. This resulted in recording approximately 100 data points per revolution for about 300 revolutions for each channel for each misalignment condition.

The electric motor was bolted to a steel plate with ground and polished pads. The smooth and flat contact surfaces between the midplate and the base plate facilitated accurate movement of the motor during changes of alignment and also eliminated soft foot.

The vertical alignment of the motor was held constant at less than 1 mil offset and 0.1 mil/in. angular misalignment, and all changes in alignment during testing took place in the horizontal plane. Changes in alignment were made while the motor was fully loaded; both dial indicators and laser alignment systems were used to monitor the alignment condition.

Fig. 4 Force (rate) balance equation was used to determine the force and moment rates (spring constants) of the flexible couplings. Pure offset case is illustrated.

Bearing load measurement
Several load-measuring device designs were considered, including measuring strain in the rotating shaft, refitting the motor with load-sensing end bells, finding actual bearings with load-sensing capabilities built into them, and trying to measure loads at the motor feet and extrapolating these measurements to forces at the bearings. None of these options appeared to satisfactorily fulfill the experimental design requirements.

A final design concept was chosen in which a sensing interface (sensor ring) was placed in the motor between the shaft bearings and the supporting structure of the motor. However, this configuration required that some space be created between the outside of the bearing and the inside of its housing. This was provided by replacing the original motor bearings with ones having a smaller outer diameter.

Fig. 5. Three Dimensional plots of observed and calculated data show relationship between misalignment and bearing load (left) and bearing life (right).

Experimental procedure
All changes in alignment were made to the horizontal plane with the motor operating under full speed and full load conditions. The system was run 1 to 2 hr so that constant operating temperatures were attained. For each of the four coupling types, misalignment conditions were varied in the following order:

1. Pure positive offset misalignment up to maximum
2. Combination of positive offset and positive angularity
3. Pure angular misalignment up to maximum positive
4. Combination of negative offset and positive angularity
5. Pure offset misalignment up to maximum negative

For each of these cases, data was taken at four or five evenly spaced interim alignment conditions between the aligned and maximum misaligned conditions.

Fig. 6. Contour plot of bearing life expectancy for a given misalignment condition (same data as the bearing life plot in FIg. 5.)

The measured forces show that the couplings can be accurately modeled as a combination of several linear and torsional springs. This means that any misalignment between two coupled shafts can be considered to be either a linear or angular displacement, and the coupling is a spring, which generates a force and moment proportional to this displacement. The ratio of the force or moment induced by the coupling to the displacement is the spring rate k for the coupling:

Both offset and angular misalignment are shown to result in the generation of a combination of a transverse force and a moment at the coupled end of the shaft. Therefore, there are four spring rates needed to describe the functioning of a given coupling:

k_o,f – spring rate relating force to offset misalignment, lbf/mil
k_o,m – spring rate relating moment to offset misalignment, lbf-in./mil
k_a,f – spring rate relating force to angular misalignment, lbf/(mil/10 in.)
k_a,m – spring rate relating moment to angular misalignment, lbf-in./(mil/10 in.)

If these four constants are known for a specific coupling, the bearing loads induced by misalignment can be calculated for any size motor and for any given misalignment condition.

The force rates for the inboard and the outboard bearings were experimentally determined and a simple force (rate) balance equation for the system was used to determine the force and moment rates (spring constants) of the flexible coupling. A diagram of this force balance for the case of pure offset is shown in Fig. 1. The same approach is used for determining the two spring rates for angular misalignments. In this case, the equations would be changed so that k_o,m and k_o,f would be replaced by k_a,m and k_a,f.

Roller element bearing life
The information presented to this point has related shaft misalignment to bearing load. A further relationship can be developed to determine bearing life for roller element bearings as a function of the additional load caused by shaft misalignment. Bearing manufacturers provide load capacity ratings C which can be used to estimate bearing life H for a specific bearing operating under a specific load L and rotational speed V (rpm). The equation relating capacity, load, and life is:

More complicated bearing life expectancy equations that utilize vibrations and masses can be found but are not needed for this problem. A ratio between the estimated life of a bearing in a perfectly aligned case (with load L_a) and a misaligned case (with load L_a + Lo) can give a description of the reduction of useful life of a bearing operating in misaligned conditions:

This factor will be a positive value that is less than or equal to 1. The product of this factor and the maximum estimated life of the bearing (under perfectly aligned conditions) will give a new estimate on the life of the bearing under a misaligned condition. For instance, if the remaining life factor was calculated to be 0.6, then one could expect that the bearing would last only 60 percent as long as a bearing in an aligned condition. In such a case, 40 percent of the operating life of the bearing was lost due to misalignment. This factor accurately shows the impact that improper alignment can have on bearing life and thus on the intended operating life of machinery.

Link Coupling	Elastomeric Coupling
Grid Coupling	Gear Coupling
Fig. 7. Contour plots reflected about the zero offset line show alignment operating regions for a given bearing life expectancy for the four coupling types tested.

Using this equation, the measured loads, and an initial load of 500 lb, we can plot the remaining life factor versus the different alignment conditions. Since the alignment condition is defined by two variables, offset and angular, this is a three dimensional plot. Fig. 2a is a plot of the load measurements for the link coupling. The angular and offset misalignments are varied over the horizontal axes, and the vertical axis plots the bearing load at a given misalignment. Only about 100 of the data points shown in this graph were measured directly; the remainder were generated via spline interpolation between the known points. The remaining life factor equation was used then with the data from Fig. 2a to determine what percentage of inboard bearing life can be expected for a given misalignment condition and plotted in Fig. 2b.

Fig. 3 is a contour plot of the information in Fig. 2b. The contours trace lines of constant percent life expectancy. One striking feature of this plot is that there are no closed regions specifying a finite range of operation enclosing a specific life expectancy range. This map, for instance, predicts the same life expectancy (100 percent) for a bearing operating in a perfectly aligned case as one operating with an offset of +5 mils and an angularity of +80 mils/10 in. This means that for a specific bearing and coupling there exist certain combinations of angular and offset misalignment which cause bearing loads induced by angular misalignment to cancel those caused by offset misalignment.

It may be somewhat impractical to use the data in Fig. 2 to establish standards for machine alignment. A simple way to use that data is to take a reflection of the data around the zero offset misalignment point. This serves to create clear suggested operating regions for machinery for a given desired level of bearing reliability. Fig. 4 shows these operating regions for the four different types of couplings used in this research.

Note that in the plot for gear coupling in Fig. 4, the regions are not as linear as those of the other couplings. This is probably due to the gear coupling having two planes of force transfer. Because of this the gear coupling also gave the least repeatable results.

Consideration of misalignment in the vertical plane
All of the results in this study were determined exclusively by examining the effects of misalignment in the horizontal plane. But, by exploiting the radial symmetry in rotating machinery, these results can easily be extended to encompass misalignments in the vertical direction as well as combined horizontal/vertical components. This is performed by simple vector addition as shown in the following equations:

The values for the combined offset and angular misalignments from these calculations can be used in all of the bearing load and life calculations presented. In order for the above equation to be used properly, the angular misalignment must be given in units of length/length (for instance mils/10 in.) and not in radial units such as degrees or radians.

Conclusions
The results from this research show that, for the couplings used in this testing, moderate shaft misalignments induce bearing loads that are large enough to have a significant impact on the life of the bearings. These increased loads are apparent in increased vibration and increased bearing and coupling temperatures.

The addition of load-measuring bearings to commercial motors may be useful as an on-line measuring system to detect rotational imbalance and misalignment. This could assist in moving from periodic maintenance strategies to condition based maintenance strategies and also could assist in the diagnosis of problematic equipment.

This research shows that angular misalignment has a much smaller impact on bearing life than offset misalignment. Angular misalignment may, in fact, play a more significant role in reducing bearing and coupling life than this study suggests. This is due to two points: (1) axial forces that were not measured may reduce bearing life, and (2) angular misalignment may be a major factor in reducing coupling life. Neither of these two assumptions was studied in this research.

It is a commonly held belief that a flexible coupling operating in an angular misaligned state will induce an oscillatory axial load on the coupled shafts. This belief is substantiated by practical experience–angular misalignment in rotating machinery is commonly diagnosed by detecting excessive axial vibration. The bearing load sensors used in this research project could not detect this axial loading (only transaxial bearing loads were measured in this research), and, therefore, could not be used to measure the oscillatory thrust loads on the bearings.

It is suspected that the transaxial load measurements alone do not fully describe the degrading impact that angular misalignment has on bearings. It is likely that angular misalignment can decrease bearing life further by inducing an additional load in the axial direction. The results in this project which estimate the adverse impact that angular misalignment has on bearing life should be considered a minimum estimate.

The effect of angular misalignment on the couplings would be to increase forces in the coupling. These forces are oscillatory in nature due to the successive compression and expansion of the coupling materials. These oscillatory forces grow with increased angular misalignment, accelerating fatigue failure of the coupling components. Therefore, we suggest that offset misalignment unnecessarily loads and degrades the bearings while angular misalignment primarily degrades the coupling.

General rules
The results from this study can be further condensed and generalized into a convenient set of rules. Table 2 shows the amount of offset misalignment that can be tolerated in order to remain within certain regions of maximum possible life expectancy. These tolerable offset magnitudes then are normalized by the coupling manufacturer's specified maximum offset. MT

The results presented in this article are part of a research project conducted for the Maintenance and Reliability Center at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. This research was funded by Computational Systems, Inc. and Duke Power Corp.

J. Wesley Hines, Stephen Jesse, and Andrew Edmondson are all on the staff of Maintenance and Reliability Center, College of Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996. Dan Nower is product champion with Computational Systems, Inc., 835 Innovation Dr., Knoxville, TN 37932. The authors can be contacted by email: Hines, hines@utkux.utcc.utk.edu; Jesse, sjesse@utk.edu; Edmondson, edmondso@ utkuxl.utk.edu; and Nower, nowerd@smtpg.compsys.com

Unfortunately, value is rarely created. Recent reports suggest that the average cost of implementing a software application exceeds the original estimate by a factor of six. Furthermore, less than 80 percent of the proposed functionality typically is delivered for that price. This can be compounded by a typical delay in the delivery cycle of two to four times the original schedule. In all, the excessive cost of implementation, the reduction in promised functionality, and the delay in delivery result in the suboptimization of necessary work management practices.

In achieving value from a CMMS, an organization must:

• Ensure that basic work management processes are clearly defined and implemented.
• Prepare for change.
• Appropriately select and design the CMMS.
• Create and track the economic value of successful implementation.

The use of a process-oriented methodology that assists maintenance and operations professionals to successfully implement a CMMS can enable an organization to achieve value.

Successfully implementing a CMMS
Reports suggest that many CMMS implementations create frustration rather than support of positive work management practices. Many organizations abandon their present CMMS in the hope that the next generation of CMMS technology will ease their frustrations. These organizations find themselves with a dif- ferent, yet similar, set of frustrations.

If the investment in a CMMS were simple and inexpensive, the effect of abandoning failed systems would be minimal. Yet the investment in selection, design, and implementation of a CMMS is significant and seems to be increasing. Consider the impact of failed systems on the work required to operate and maintain a facility, on an organization's attitudes toward technology, and on the missed opportunities for real improvement in equipment and human reliability. When coupled with software costs, maintenance fees, and implementation services, the cost of a failed CMMS quickly escalates.

Regardless of the choice of software, success hinges on the readiness of an organization including:

• The infrastructure supporting the CMMS.
• The clarity of work management practices and the alignment of these with the CMMS.
• The commitment of the organization to do what it takes to make the CMMS work.

This readiness must be reflected at all levels and functions within the organization. Successful selection, design, implementation, and optimization of a CMMS requires that operations, maintenance, and associated work management processes are in order; people, the organization, and their individual and collective experiences have been considered in preparing for change; the tool itself has been appropriately selected and designed; and the project and organizational economics are considered to create value.

Operations and maintenance work management processes
The awareness that product is a result of process is well established. Product improvement requires that processes be understood, documented, and implemented.

Even though organizations have invested hours mapping and documenting processes, many report little, if any, noticeable improvement in product quality. Because of this, some suggest that process improvements provide little value to organizations. Others suggest that these organizations have not effectively implemented work management processes. If an organization poorly defines and implements standard work processes, then the CMMS will provide little value.

A CMMS is a tool, an enabler to work being performed. Therefore, the work management process should be the driver for the selection and design of the system.

Customized software is developed specifically for nonstandard, industry-specific work processes that are highly proprietary and unavailable in any shrink-wrapped software package. If the application software is to be customized, operations and maintenance must work closely to carefully craft appropriate work management processes. The inclusion of the information services (IS) organization and other affiliated parts to the process definition is wise. The CMMS design must take into consideration the work management processes, especially the critical work to be performed and the key interfaces (for example, accounts receivable to stores).

For customized software, the specific work process requirements drive the design of the software. Clarity, consensus, and commitment to the organizational work management process then become imperative to the successful design, implementation, use, and optimization of the CMMS.

Shrink-wrapped software is designed for work processes that are common among industry groups. The main advantage of shrink-wrapped software over customized software is cost. Because a generic work management process is assumed, the organization's work processes must be modified to fit the software. The savings accrued in software development cost, post-implementation support costs, and ease of migration to subsequent releases makes shrink-wrapped software a preferred choice. Modification of the software (specifically the source code) to align with changes in the generic work process decreases the savings and advantages. Again, it is critical that maintenance and operations work together with other related parts of the organization to gain clarity, consensus, and commitment to the new generic work management process.

CMMS providers offer a significant number of shrink-wrapped software packages for almost every need in every industry. As basic operations and maintenance work management processes tend to be non-industry specific, most software provides the basic function required by organizations. Additionally, few organizations have developed the process sophistication that would require customization of a CMMS.

By its design, a CMMS requires process discipline. Clearly established work management processes must be agreed upon, implemented, and adhered to if the CMMS is to be successful. Successful organizations insist on this and ensure that representatives from maintenance, operations, IS, and other organizational areas be party to these process discussions from the outset.

The people and the organization
In addition to considering the work management processes, the organization's readiness must be managed. If the organization has successfully defined and implemented basic work management processes, then organizational readiness is probably working well.Organizational readiness is required to successfully perform work or create change.

Organizational readiness can be described as having the right people, focused on the right things, at the right time, with the right tools, performing the right work, with the right attitude, creating the right results. It is a reflection of the organizations culture. Although markets may demand change, people within an organization determine when and how their organization will respond. To ensure organizational readiness while implementing a CMMS, consider the following:

• Organizing and assessing current state information. This includes information on basic reliability work management practices, the readiness of the IS infrastructure, the state of the organizational culture, and the economic constraints.
• Creating what better looks like. Based on the business requirements of the organization and its strategic plan, the organization defines the preferred state for its work management processes and culture. Clarity, consensus, and commitment must be established, documented, and communicated in order to focus the organization on the result.
• Developing a tactical plan. A project plan must be carefully developed to ensure on-time, within-specification, and within-budget delivery of the CMMS. Then, the plan must be implemented as planned.
• Tracking implementation progress. During the CMMS implementation, plans must be carefully tracked, and changes to the plan must be carefully documented and implemented. Specific measures of project progress as related to the business value must be defined, tracked, and reported against.
• Structuring the organization. CMMS design, implementation, and optimization must be supported by an organizational structure with excellent communication, decision making, and cooperation. This sustains organizational clarity, consensus, and commitment.

Activities as simple as user preparation and education, open communication within and between organizations, and organizational structure that supports the decision making process describe organizational readiness. Ultimately, the organizational structure must support the selection, design, implementation, and optimization of the CMMS. When effectively selected and implemented, the CMMS can be used to support operations and maintenance. This creates reliability and availability, resulting in reduced cost, enhanced revenue, and opportunity for growth.

The tool
If a CMMS is poorly selected, designed, and implemented, then the CMMS will fail to meet organizational requirements. The CMMS itself may have little to do with the failure. It is well established that application software may contain defects. These defects can compound the challenges associated with implementation. Even if the CMMS is perfect, the organization will encounter difficulty if the system is poorly selected, designed, or implemented. Solutions to organizational problems are seldom relieved through technology. It is the appropriate use of technology within a given business context that provides solutions.

Some might argue that buying the newest technology helps. However, complications surrounding issues in the existing IS infrastructure can derail any computer system. The IS infrastructure includes items such as:

• The work processes that support the hardware, the software, and the network.
• The business processes required to make valid technology decisions.
• The competency and skills of the IS staff.
• The contractor support process.

Successful CMMS implementation and use requires that the IS infrastructure is designed, implemented, and supported so that the application software can operate within it.

Few IS organizations possess the knowledge, skills, abilities, and experience to successfully design, implement, and optimize a CMMS. This reflects the complexity of implementing technology and is compounded by the lack of IS organizations with well-defined and well-implemented business work management and support management processes. Many organizations attempt to compensate by supplementing their IS organizations with contract support from software vendors. But software vendors and their designated implementers may lack the integrated skills to successfully design, implement, support, or optimize the system. In some cases, the software vendor may have difficulty with the application software. This may be furthered by problems within the IS infrastructure.

These basic questions can lead to additional questions, revealing the readiness of the IS infrastructure:

• Are desktop computers configured to support the application?
• Are networks appropriately configured for the application?
• Are servers, midrange, or mainframe computers configured to support the application?
• Do IS processes (e.g., disaster recovery, systems configuration, and project management) exist that will support the installation and operation of the application software?
• Does the present level of performance from the IS organization consistently provide levels of reliability, availability, and serviceability as required by the organization?

When failed IS projects are examined, organizations often report that infrastructure readiness was a major contributor to the failure. This discovery reflects the complexity and the importance of managing an IS infrastructure.

For those who throw out the old and bring in the new, frustration will likely arise unless the application software is truly mature; the implementing organization has the required knowledge, skill, ability, and experience; and the IS infrastructure is well defined, well implemented, and well managed.

As the tool and the required infrastructure is designed, implemented, and optimized, the work management processes gain renewed focus. If poorly designed and implemented, work processes will contribute to the failure of the CMMS. Work management processes must be well defined, agreed upon, and implemented if the CMMS is to be successful.

Project and organizational economics
If the CMMS supports work processes and the organization implements those work processes in a standard and habitual manner, the focus turns toward the production of economic value. Many organizations measure return on investment. As an example, some organizations do so by calculating the economic value added (EVA). Whether measuring by EVA or other means, trends reflect that the contributions made by the CMMS must reflect cost reductions, increased revenue, and growth.

Experience suggests that few organizations measure, and even fewer do it well. Even if measures exist, many would suggest that linking process and performance measures to profit is an even greater challenge. Although economic justification is a well-established practice, few organizations demonstrate a consistent ability to produce the kinds of economic results that most CMMS projects propose. If improvement is to become a reality for organizations, measurement linked to profit must become real.

Ultimately, maintenance and operations professionals must demonstrate the true value of reliability through economic return. If reliability is to flourish, then these professionals will ensure that the CMMS is designed, implemented, and optimized to produce value. The work management processes, the organization, the tool, and the economics must be individually optimized and collectively integrated to achieve this.

On-time, within-specification, and within-budget CMMS implementation requires a process-oriented implementation methodology. This methodology must integrate people, process, technology, and economics and must operate under a project management umbrella. Lowest cost reliability results when the CMMS is implemented to support effective and efficient work management.

This happens when the organization gets ready to change by assessing itself, sets itself to be successful by building a foundation for the change it is going to undergo, and goes into implementation with the courage and willingness to change as planned.

Organizations choosing to enhance their operations and maintenance reliability by implementing a CMMS must carefully consider:

• The operations and maintenance work management processes and those other processes that interface with the work management process.
• The organization's readiness to generate and maintain clarity, consensus, and commitment to a new way of managing work.
• The technology itself, including the application software and the IS infrastructure supporting that software.
• The management and tracking of the project to the on-time, within-specification, and within-budget delivery of overall CMMS performance.

When organizations consider these factors and are held accountable, they maintain a credible claim to successful CMMS implementation. The journey requires an organization to invest considerable time, energy, and money. The true challenge to successful CMMS implementation is reflected in implementation that leads to cost reduction and revenue enhancement. MT

Ernie Autin is associate principle, vice president of business development, at Reliability Management Group, Minneapolis, MN 55337; telephone (612) 882-8122. He may be reached at eautin@rmg.com

A 1998 survey of corporate purchasing decision-makers to identify key issues in maintenance, repair, and operating (MRO) supply procurement and management revealed that:<

• The consistent availability of replacement parts is one of the most critical issues for most companies when looking for a supplier of MRO products.
• Large companies are taking a closer look at integrated supply practices to improve their indirect materials management function and provide total costs savings.
• Companies purchasing MRO supplies via the Internet plan to use it more, citing its speed and convenience as major advantages.

Survey procedures
This was the third annual survey commissioned by W.W. Grainger, Inc. A total of 600 telephone interviews were conducted among MRO purchasing decision-makers. The sample represented approximately 150 companies in each of four industrial groups: manufacturing; construction; transportation, communications, and utilities; and hotels/lodging, health services, and educational services.

The total sample was cross tabulated into three groups of approximately 200 companies each as defined by the number of employees: 10-99 employees (small), 100-499 employees (medium), and 500 or more employees (large).

Replacement part availability
The MRO purchasers reported that the availability of replacement parts for repair is critical in their selection of MRO suppliers. When asked to rate the importance of 13 supplier services, representatives across each industry segment consistently listed availability of replacement parts as very important (76 percent). Other services rated very important in selecting a vendor include just-in-time delivery (61 percent), technical support for products (52 percent), having a wide variety of product lines (51 percent), and emergency same-day or evening service (46 percent).

Additionally, when asked to compare business-to-business vendors and consumer retail outlets, more than two out of three respondents (68 percent) indicated business-to-business suppliers are a more reliable source for replacement parts.

Other categories in which business-to-business suppliers were rated superior to retail outlets include more knowledgeable technical support (77 percent); better product quality and selection (74 percent); a larger inventory of products in stock (61 percent); prompt, hassle-free service (60 percent); and the lowest prices (59 percent).

The study shows that regardless of size, all businesses want essentially the same things, availability of replacement parts; broad product selection; prompt, dependable delivery; and technical support, without having to run from vendor to vendor, Wes Clark, group president, Grainger, said.

Integrated supply for large companies
In their efforts to improve overall operations, many large companies, according to the survey, plan to improve their indirect materials management through a combination of product standardization, supplier consolidation, and outsourcing arrangements, three practices associated with integrated supply.

Nearly 8 out of 10 (78 percent) large companies said they plan to implement some type of product standardization in the next two years to improve indirect materials management. In addition, almost half (48 percent) plan to consolidate the number of MRO suppliers they use, and a quarter (25 percent) of the respondents plan to outsource at least a part of the MRO purchasing or management function.

Large companies are recognizing that integrated supply management practices can provide a significant reduction of total indirect materials costs, improved productivity, and the ability to redirect resources to other activities, said Pete Torrenti, vice president and general manager, Grainger Integrated Supply.

Jeff Baden, with Chicago-based marketing consulting firm Frank Lynn & Associates, added, For some companies, outsourcing MRO supplies and services can offer long-term savings of 3 to 15 percent, resulting in savings of up to $300,000 or more annually.

The survey suggests the number of companies with an integrated supply relationship is likely to grow in the next few years. While only 16 percent of the large businesses surveyed currently have an integrated supply relationship with an MRO provider, more than one-third (35 percent) said it is very or somewhat likely that they will initiate one within the next year.

Furthermore, the survey indicates purchasers are becoming more familiar with the elements of an integrated supply solution. Those with at least some familiarity (59 percent) with the term integrated supply describe it as: consolidation of MRO supply ordering, billing, and delivery functions; standardization of supplies; electronic ordering and billing; reduction in the number of suppliers; vendor responsibility for a reduction of total MRO costs; cost-plus pricing; and outsourcing some or all MRO supply functions.

Online ordering to increase
Just 8 percent of companies in the survey currently order MRO supplies via the Internet, with no change seen in the proportion using since 1997. But among current users, 85 percent expect to increase their use of the Internet for MRO ordering over the next two years.

And increasingly, larger companies will be using the Internet to order MRO supplies. Almost 4 in 10 (38 percent) large-sized companies expect to start ordering online within the next year. Smaller companies are less ready to make the jump online, just 14 percent of small-sized companies and 26 percent of medium-sized companies expect to start ordering online in the next year.

When asked about reasons for purchasing MRO materials via the Internet, two out of three respondents (64 percent) cited speed and convenience as the major advantages. Accessibility and accuracy of product information also were frequently mentioned as additional benefits of online ordering (25 percent and 20 percent, respectively).

Those experienced with it find it an effective and efficient way to purchase MRO supplies, said Daniel Hamburger, vice president and general manager, Internet commerce for Grainger. He believes use of the Internet for purchasing MRO supplies will increase as Internet access becomes more prevalent, the workforce becomes more computer literate, and more companies make the Internet an everyday tool for ordering supplies and services.

Lack of access, mainly to the Internet, but also simply to a PC, is the key reason most companies have not ordered MRO supplies online. According to the survey, 49 percent of those not purchasing MRO supplies online lack access to the Internet, with 10 percent lacking access to a computer. Other barriers to online ordering cited most often by non-users include perceived lack of convenience (15 percent) and the current inability to fit with policies and processes (9 percent).

The survey makes it clear that lack of access is a major barrier to the growth of online ordering, Hamburger said. But we believe the Internet is fast becoming a superior solution. Barriers will fall as companies gain Internet access and conduct their first transaction. Once they try it, they like it. MT

Information supplied by W. W. Grainger, Inc., 455 Knightsbridge Pkwy., Lincolnshire, IL 60069-3639; telephone (847) 913-7378; Internet www.grainger.com