If you really want to solve problems, you have to understand the causes. It also helps to create solutions in the context of your specific goals. Root cause analysis (RCA) is used extensively by maintenance and reliability professionals to eliminate recurring problems. According to Mark Galley of Think Reliability, "to improve reliability we must identify and control the causes of unreliability."

Root cause analysis is a disciplined methodology for discovering causes by using available information without prejudice. Lucky for us there is a plethora of free RCA information accessible on the Internet to guide our efforts and to teach us more about this valuable concept.

A great site to begin with is www.rootcauselive.com. There is an active RCA threaded discussion forum where people can post questions, share experiences and stories, and learn about real applications of RCA. Past discussions are archived for easy access.

Apollo RCA offers a free download of RealityCharting software for problem definition, cause and effect charting, and solutions. It also offers a free chapter from Dean Gano's book, "Apollo Root Cause Analysis" for download in a pdf format.

From the "your tax dollars at work department," the U.S. Department of Energy has published a comprehensive and free 69-page "Root Cause Analysis Guidance Document" (DOE-NE-STD-1004-92).

The HPRCT (the Organization for Human Performance, Root Cause and Trending) site offers PowerPoint and pdf downloads from past RCA conferences. Follow the links to the Root Cause area, then click the links for past conferences.

ThinkReliability.com offers an on-demand web-based training course for cause mapping and uses the Titanic incident as an example. Owner Mark Galley also offers to e-mail an Excel spreadsheet template that steps you through the cause mapping process. E-mail info@thinkreliability.com to request a copy of the template.

MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY's web site offers several excellent articles in its archive area. Justifying Root Cause Analysis (Make the Business Case with a Significant Calculated Return on Investment) by Robert Latino is available.

Fighting Failure (Steps to Change a Plant's Culture to the Mindset Where Failure is No Longer Accepted or Tolerated) by Ken Latino is also available.

The Reliability Center offers one of the deepest resource sites for RCA, offering an extensive selection of RCA articles, online training tutorials, and software downloads. It also offers a comprehensive page of links to other related web sites.

It would have been nice to find a web site that allowed us to run an actual RCA on the Internet using some of the available software; however, no vendors have set up such a system yet.

Please visit these useful RCA web sites and let us know what you think about them and the information they offer. You are also invited to e-mail us about any useful sites that you would to share with other MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY readers. MT

One of the major concerns haunting every corporation is how to capture human knowledge, experience, and expertise before it walks out the door. When employees retire or accept employment elsewhere, they leave with detailed information or "history" that is often difficult to transfer to their replacements.

This knowledge or human interpretation of people, processes, products, services, and client relationships is undoubtedly invaluable to determining future actions for those that carry on the legend and continue the practices of any organization. Although a wealth of data is stored in computer systems, even the most sophisticated computer systems cannot reveal human interpretation for potential action, also known as interpretive thinking: "the ability to do more than recite what was said; going further than parroting information; adding one's own opinion to the information being displayed."

Crossing the barriers of interpretive thinking can occur only in environments where human beings are recognized as having the central role of knowledge creation, where information is gathered and recorded continually, hence the term knowledge management.

What items should be included in the knowledge management process? Key elements are the company's history, specific procedures and processes an employee follows, and the working environment.

A company's history
Vast amounts of useful information can be found in a company's history including changes in corporate hierarchy, policy changes, product success and failures, and process revisions. This information provides assistance in determining plans for products and/or services, without repeating unnecessary costly errors or wasting time.

More importantly, this information can assist new hires, regardless of position, in learning the company's history, such as what individuals were behind the greatest successes, the creation of products, the design of the infrastructure, growth, losses, and changes in the organization. Many individuals refer to the company history as the "treasure map" because of the opportunity for uncovering valuable information.

Procedures and processes
Consider the wealth of information you have been exposed to, and multiply that by the number of years you remained in any organization or position, and imagine trying to convey that to someone following in your footsteps. You have mastered many processes and procedures and are likely able to perform some of them robotically or subconsciously at times. Transferring that information requires becoming consciously aware of every thing you do and know.

Identifying the elements is a good place to start. These elements include:

• Specific procedures you follow
• Written documentation included in your role
• Key activities you perform
• General outline of daily, weekly, and monthly duties
• Minimum skills needed to perform the job
• Educational requirements
• Experience necessary such as key technology systems, processes, etc.
• Skills and abilities as related to mathematical needs, verbal and written requirements, reasoning/troubleshooting skills, and physical requirements
• Key relationships such as direct contacts, direct reports, and people you communicate with regularly and sporadically

Working environment
To transfer the picture fairly, you also must include information related to the working environment, keeping in mind that you probably have become immune to some of these items:

• Amount of stress related to this position
• Level of noise that is present daily
• Exposure to hazards, regardless of how safe the environment is
• Factors related to isolation, if any
• Resources available including materials, people, and infrastructure

It also is important to document commitments you make to meetings, teams, and projects.

Establish a documentation trail
Creating a documentation trail is the next step. Some organizations have created their own "yellow page" type of directory to assist employees in knowing the skills and backgrounds of the organization's human assets. In this directory, each employee is listed along with a picture and biography that includes education, work history with the current organization, previous employers if valuable to the current organization, career highlights, special skills, and unique project knowledge or experience. This database then can be sorted to aid in locating a person best suited for internal needs as they arise.

A similar database can be created for processes, strategies, objectives, organizational culture, and core values.

Role of communication
The documentation trail is dependent upon your ability to identify details. The following unrelated question demonstrates this point:

Question: How has the Internet affected the young adults of today? Write your answer on a piece of paper in bulleted points. Now, take a look at your answer. How much of your answer was based on fact vs opinion?

Opinion might include the following:

• Young adults use the Internet only to play games and chat in chat rooms.
• All young adults using the Internet will eventually isolate themselves from society and become depressed and introverted.
• The Internet is breeding a generation of nonsocial robotic people.

Fact would include the following:

• 67 percent of Americans ages 18-24 live in households that use the Internet to access essential information
• Almost 83 percent of new freshmen at American colleges (4 out of 5) say they are using the Internet for research and homework.
• 47 percent said they would consider taking an educational course through the web.

According to Webster's dictionary, the following definitions exist for opinion and fact: Opinion = view, judgment or appraisal formed in the mind; Fact = something that has actual existence, reality, or truth.

The point of this exercise is to help you see the value of documenting only the facts related to your role, not your opinion of the duties, role, responsibilities, etc.

Separate fact from opinion
To separate fact from opinion, you need to remove the emotion from your commentary, remain objective, and think outside the box.

Stored information can be turned into useful and valuable tools when an individual is challenged to begin looking at the same picture a different way. This is similar to the drawing many of us have seen where viewed one way, a young beautiful woman is visible, and after studying the picture for a few seconds, an image of an old, witch-like woman appears. Taking an objective look at the same information can produce different perspectives.

Employees are people, and people become immune to maintaining greater perspectives on those functions they perform routinely. The synergy needed between data and people can come from the person least likely to come across the data in any other part of his job.

I was working as a consultant in an organization and happened upon some information related to the sales and marketing department. The information included clients, products sold, and total sales dollars. The information was provided to me as a matter of record, but I chose to inspect it for new insight into the overall picture to enhance my effectiveness on the project. Looking at this information objectively, I began to draw unbiased conclusions and shared those conclusions with the sales/marketing department. In doing so, I presented information that influenced future product decisions. Unknowingly, I had assisted them through my objective view.

Beyond the job description
How objective can you be in describing your job beyond the job description? Let's try another exercise to demonstrate this point. We will use the role of a receptionist since most individuals are familiar with this role. A job description for this position might be as follows:

Essential duties and responsibilities: Answers phone, greets visitors, handles walk-in job applicants, maintains an inventory of front office supplies, and restocks supplies when needed. Hours: 9 to 5 Monday-Friday

Qualifications: Extroverted personality, good phone skills, and able to perform basic mathematics

Duties NOT mentioned: Proficient with computer and e-mail, multiple task expert, flexible on work hours, exceptional organizational skills, stress free/positive attitude, jack-of-all-trades.

The point is this: in order for you to transfer what you know, you have to look at the overall picture, not just the job description.

The pertinent relationship is 50 percent collecting and recording data and 50 percent interpreting what has been collected. Then document what you have collected.

Using a knowledge transfer journal
You can purchase an existing journal or create one yourself. Either way, you should have both a manual version and an electronic version, using the manual version to jot down thoughts or comments as they arise, eventually entering the data into the electronic version. See accompanying section "What To Include in a Knowledge Transfer Journal."

On an ongoing basis, send out questionnaires and surveys periodically to document and assess knowledge. Share these results with everyone.

Train your replacement
The shadowing process is the best method for training a replacement because it provides a direct opportunity to transfer knowledge from one person to another through actions as well as words. Side-by-side study allows for more observation vs explanation, and makes the tasks or duties being observed more easily understood. Once the observation is completed, a debriefing process should take place in order to determine what questions remain unanswered. Assessing the learning experience then becomes the last step in which the new hire, or person new to the position, can actually apply what was observed, and uncover where assistance may still be needed.

In the shadowing process, the objective is to capture the "who, what, when, where, and why" of the job. It provides for an opportunity to share solutions that help solve everyday work issues, and to focus on useful bits of information that can be easily digested and retained.

During this interactive process where participative training takes place, the employee conducting the training can assess the variables in the new hire's skill set, and adjust as needed to fit those variables.

It is imperative, however, to monitor the saturation level—the point at which it becomes apparent that your protégé exhibits less energy and interest than witnessed prior to this time. Keep in mind that a new hire, or person new to the position, is not likely to openly share when he or she feels overwhelmed or saturated with information. It can be difficult to learn as well as decipher what value each observation has while taking notes, especially when trying to make a positive impression.

The communication process
In training any replacement, the communication process or "effectiveness of the communications" is what determines the success of the training itself. One of the greatest challenges in communicating what you know is recognizing that your perspective, mind set, and expectations have likely been skewed by your experiences.

In addition, your personal feelings, past experiences, and values also have played a role along with degrees of respect related to title, authority, and credibility. Freedom to respond and environmental issues such as noise, interruptions, and privacy, along with cultural barriers, all can affect your ability to drive the communication process. These factors coupled with the trainee's own communication barriers can easily spell disaster.

See accompanying section "Ensuring Communication" to see the steps you can take to ensure positive communications during the training experience.

Attitude sells it all
Maintaining a positive mindset during the training process is critical to the success of the experience as well as the transferring of knowledge. Two critical points include:

• Incorporate the truth. Be honest about co-workers, vendors, and customers. Avoid making excuses.
• Set up for success. Eliminate complaining and/or negative commentary. Keep personal matters out of the equation, and take initiative. Be the motivator.

Remember that individuals perform at their best when their surroundings are positive and non-threatening. Those who are the most involved with each process are the most likely to create the greater product. Establish a solid procedure for the utilization of new ideas.

Keys to ongoing success of knowledge management
Managing and sharing knowledge will occur naturally in organizations if the following practices are applied:

• Create groups of internal and external networks. Socialization of relative interests can create innovative ideas and opportunities for information sharing. Strengthen networking groups by using facilitators who can encourage and massage ideas into reality.
• Establish synergy between data and people. Human interpretation of information is where the synergy begins. Opinions will enable organizations to add value to the bottom line.
• Generate ideas from stored data. Challenge your staff to use recorded information to create new ideas. Break the routines of patterned thinking—doing things the same way. Objective parties should periodically review data. Objective perspectives can add insight.

Employees viewed as human assets are the center of knowledge creation. Every employee has a wealth of knowledge to offer, and systems must exist where this knowledge can be shared. Rigid rules and limited parameters will keep the thinkers in the box. Above all, remember that information is worthless without interpretation. MT

Nancy Mercurio is co-owner of Training Systems Network, producers of The Professional Development Channel providing training to corporations and government agencies via satellite. She is a globally televised author and trainer and specializes in human relations and organizational behavior, providing consulting and coaching services. She can be reached at 11266 E. Hillsborough Ave., #180, Tampa, FL; (813) 818-1883

Despite the best efforts to precisely align rotating machinery shafts, dynamic movement (commonly believed to be due to the thermal growth of the machine casings) has resulted in machines operating at less than optimum alignment conditions. This vexing problem has plagued machine reliability professionals for decades.

What is shaft alignment?
Shaft alignment is the positioning of the rotational centers of two or more shafts such that they are co-linear when the machines are under normal operating conditions. Proper shaft alignment is not dictated by the total indicator reading (TIR) of the coupling hubs or the shafts, but rather by the proper centers of rotation of the shaft supporting members (the machine bearings).

There are two components of misalignment—angular and offset.

Offset misalignment, sometimes referred to as parallel misalignment, is the distance between the shaft centers of rotation measured at the plane of power transmission. This is typically measured at the coupling center. The units for this measurement are mils (where 1 mil = 0.001 in.).

Angular misalignment, sometimes referred to as "gap" or "face," is the difference in the slope of one shaft, usually the moveable machine, as compared to the slope of the shaft of the other machine, usually the stationary machine. The units for this measurement are comparable to the measurement of the slope of a roof (i.e., rise/run). In this case the rise is measured in mils and the run (distance along the shaft) is measured in inches. The units for angular misalignment are mils/1 in.

As stated, there are two separate alignment conditions that require correction. There are also two planes of potential misalignment—the horizontal plane (side to side) and the vertical plane (up and down). Each alignment plane has offset and angular components, so there are actually four alignment parameters to be measured and corrected. They are horizontal angularity (HA), horizontal offset (HO), vertical angularity (VA), and vertical offset (VO).

Shaft alignment tolerances
Historically, shaft alignment tolerances have been governed by the coupling manufacturers’ design specifications. The original function of a flexible coupling was to accommodate the small amounts of shaft misalignment remaining after the completion of a shaft alignment using a straight edge or feeler gauges. Some coupling manufacturers have designed their couplings to withstand the forces resulting from as much as 3 degrees of angular misalignment and 0.075 in. (75 mils) of offset misalignment, depending on the manufacturer and style of the coupling.

Another common tolerance from coupling manufacturers is the gap tolerance. Typically this value is given as an absolute value of coupling face TIR (as an example, a specification migh read "face TIR not to exceed 0.005 in."). This number can be deceiving depending on the swing diameter of the face dial indicator or the diameter of the coupling being measured. In fairness, it should be noted that the tolerances offered by coupling manufacturers are to ensure the life of the coupling with the expectation that the flexible element will fail rather than a critical machine component.

If this angular tolerance was applied to a 5 in. diam coupling, the angular alignment result would be 1 mil/1 in. of coupling diameter or 1 mil of rise per 1 in. of distance axially along the shaft centerline. If the coupling was 10 in. in diameter, the result of the alignment would be twice as precise (0.5 mil/1 in.). This would lead one to conclude that an angular alignment tolerance based on mils/1 in. would be something that could be applied to all shafts regardless of the coupling diameter.

Harmonic forces are dangerous
When shafts are misaligned, forces are generated. These forces can produce great stresses on the rotating and stationary components. While it is probably true that the coupling will not fail when exposed to the large stresses as a result of this gross misalignment, the bearings and seals on the machines that are misaligned will most certainly fail under these conditions. Typically, machine bearings and seals have small internal clearances and are the recipient of these harmonic forces, not unlike constant hammering.

Excessive shaft misalignment, say greater than 2 mils for a 3600 rpm machine under normal operating conditions, can generate large forces that are applied directly to the machine bearings and cause excessive fatigue and wear of the shaft seals. In extreme cases of shaft misalignment, the bending stresses applied to the shaft will cause the shaft to fracture and break.

Bearing life expectancy
The most prevalent bearings used in machinery, ball and roller bearings, all have a calculated life expectancy, sometimes called the bearing’s L-10 life— a rating of fatigue life for a specific bearing. Statistical analysis of bearing life relative to forces applied to the bearings has netted an equation (see "How Bearing Life is Affected by Misalignment") describing how a bearing’s life is affected by increased forces due to misalignment.

As the force applied to a given bearing increases, the life expectancy decreases by the cube of that change. For instance, if the amount of force as a result of misalignment increases by a factor of 3, the life expectancy of the machine’s bearings decreases by a factor of 27.

Quite a bit of research in shaft alignment has been conducted over the past 20 years. The results have led to a much different method of evaluating the quality of a shaft alignment and to increasingly accurate methods of correcting misaligned conditions. Based on the research and actual industrial machine evaluations, shaft alignment tolerances are now more commonly based on shaft rpm rather than shaft diameter or coupling manufacturers’ specifications. There are presently no specific tolerance standards published by ISO or ANSI, but typical tolerances for alignment are shown in the table "Typical Tolerances for Alignment."

Another common method of determining shaft alignment tolerances is to ensure the machine feet are within a specified distance from what is considered "zero". This method also can be misleading. If a machine is considered to be aligned when the foot corrections are less than 2 mils at both the front feet and back feet, serious misalignment can sometimes be present. As a general rule, the smaller the machine footprint (distance from front feet to back feet), the worse the alignment condition based on these criteria for alignment tolerance.

In Fig. 1, the motor foot distance front to back is 10 inches. The distance from the front feet to the center of the coupling is 8 inches. If the front foot of the motor is left 2 mils high and the back feet are left 2 mils low, the shaft alignment results will be as follows: vertical angularity of 0.4 mil/1 in. open at the top of the coupling, and a vertical offset of 5.2 mils high at the plane of power transmission. If this machine operates at 1800 rpm, it would be outside the acceptable shaft alignment tolerances. Again, this reinforces that a set of shaft alignment tolerances based on shaft rpm would apply to all machines regardless of their footprint. MT

Contributors to this article include Rich Henry, Ron Sullivan, John Walden, and Dave Zdrojewski., all of VibrAlign, Inc., 530G Southlake Blvd., Richmond, VA 23236; (804) 379-2250; e-mail info@vibralign.com

Misalignment Using Machine Feet Distances

Fig. 1. Using machine feet distance to align a machine to acceptable tolerances can give misleading information.

 

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By any objective standard, manufacturing plants and facilities have wide-ranging and deep-seated problems with computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS):

• Surveys indicate that 90-95 percent of all CMMS users feel their systems fail to deliver desired results.
• Fewer than 10 percent of the 300,000 commercial, industrial, and institutional organizations in North America have ever achieved demonstrable, positive results from a CMMS implementation.
• More than 50 percent of CMMS implementations are abandoned in less than 6 months.
• According to a 2000 CMMS survey conducted by the Plant Maintenance Resource Center, only 20 percent of responding organizations attempted to formally quantify the benefits obtained from their CMMS implementations. In the same survey, the percentages of respondents who reported significant savings in the areas of labor, materials, and other costs were 9.2 percent, 11.5 percent, and 10.3 percent, respectively.

What is wrong with CMMS? According to Terry Wireman, a widely published author in the field of facility and plant management, when the failures of strategic maintenance initiatives are closely analyzed, the root cause usually falls into one of two main categories: lack of understanding of the strategy or lack of measurable or quantifiable results.

Wireman also says that measurable financial indicators drive executive managers. Whether measured by return on net assets, return on fixed assets, stock price, shareholder value, some other indicator, or a combination of indicators, their performance is judged in financial terms. This measurement system in turn drives how their organizations are managed. Unless departments within a company can link to a financial measurement system, their performance will not be measured correctly.

Study the accounting cycle
What is a financial measurement system and why is the failure to link to it so lethal to the success of a CMMS implementation? The problem may be seen graphically in Table I.

When you examine the 10 steps in the accounting cycle, note that drafting the financial statements is Step 8. A CMMS will carry only through Step 3. The obstacles this presents when trying to draft high-quality management reports are painfully obvious—you cannot get there from here.

CMMS software has a fatal flaw in its conceptual design and real world implementation because the software creates transactions journals for labor and materials, components, and inventory, but never posts them to a general ledger. CMMSs are unable to capture the true cost of work, and/or measure the true benefits of the CMMS implementation, because they lack a general ledger roll-up structure (Step 4 in the accounting cycle). Managers cannot balance the books because they literally do not have any books to balance. As a result, the high-quality management reports (Step 8) that characterize other types of business organizations are virtually impossible for the overwhelming majority of plants.

Problems with reports
Some of the most intractable problems—including incoherent reports and the lack of standard costs—may be attributable to the lack of a general ledger roll-up structure in CMMS. For example, in the area of reports:

• The May 2002 issue of MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY magazine (Extracting Specialized Information from Your CMMS/EAM, by Christopher N. Winston, HSB Reliability Technologies, p 13) noted that CMMSs come with a set of standard reports. Generally, the number is increased with each major release of new software. Still they never seem to be enough.
• Leading CMMS vendors advertise that their software comes packed with reports, and invite their users to expensive training classes on how to build reports.

Packed with reports but they're never enough? Can a CMMS really be this complicated?

During World War II, General Eisenhower ran the war based on a two-page report that his staff prepared before breakfast. The business world has an Eisenhower-style, two-page report, too—the balance sheet and the income statement. While the terminology for plants might be different, the plant manager is responsible for a balance sheet and income statement, too. Instead of cash, the plant manager might have an asset called budget appropriation on his balance sheet, and instead of sales, he might have a revenue item called budget appropriation used on his income statement.

Without the right tool for the job—a general ledger—plant managers cannot accurately track their costs and measure the benefits of their CMMS implementation. Ignoring the imperatives of double entry accounting will result in the kind of operational muddle and financial confusion that plagues CMMSs and plant management today.

Under the circumstances, it is no surprise that 90-95 percent of plants cannot accurately measure their costs; the real mystery is how the other 5-10 percent do it. The answer is that their CMMS is integrated to a general ledger.

Work order processing and contract accounting
From an accounting point of view, the proper handling of a work order is a relatively complex process because work order processing bears a very strong correlation to contract accounting. A work order may be thought of as a miniature contract—a contract in a microcosm. (See accompanying section "Contract Accounting and Work Order Processing Analogies.")

For example, when preventive maintenance work orders are scheduled, the job should be bid by estimating the time and materials costs. Otherwise, you will never know your proper staffing levels. How many people are needed, and when are they needed? What is in the backlog, and how long will it take to catch up?

At the end of an accounting period, the plant manager must make some adjusting entries to his general ledger to accurately track his costs. For example, some uncompleted work orders will have some charges to them, and accordingly, they should not be closed out. Similarly, what is the change in the backlog? If the backlog grew from two to four weeks, the liability should be provided for currently. Both of these situations call for adjusting entries to be made in the general ledger.

Despite the analogies between new construction and plant management, the plant manager has a harder job than the construction supervisor. By the nature of a work order, a plant manager has many more "contracts" to administer than a construction supervisor. In terms of pure number crunching, there is no comparison. The plant manager has many more "transactions" to process because costs are allocated over many more cost centers—the work orders and the components—than construction accounting where the contractor will have relatively fewer contracts to track and administer.

An ice storm can shut down a construction project for a day. Relatively speaking, this is no big deal, the crew gets a day off. However, an ice storm can shut down the critical and indispensable operations of a hospital or a university. Accordingly, the plant manager must perform under time pressure on another order of magnitude compared to a construction supervisor.

The construction supervisor is given the most sophisticated computer tools that capitalism can envision and technology can provide. In contrast, however, the over-worked and under-appreciated plant manager, while saddled with accounting problems similar to a construction supervisor, must try to make financial sense without even the most basic and essential tool of the business manager: a general ledger.

Do I have to do this?
Just how much number crunching does the plant manager need to do? There are various levels that can be done in a CMMS and someone needs to do it. However, that does not mean it has to be you, and in fact, it probably should not be you.

Remember, your accounting issues—your income measurement problems—are very similar to a construction company's, only more difficult because they are more abstract. The construction company has compliance issues that drive the accounting process, and at the end of the year it needs accurate information for financial statements, tax returns, bonding, insurance, and credit purposes.

These compliance issues are powerful motivators to get the job done—but these factors are not in play in the plant manager's world. The construction industry employs legions of accountants, and although the accounting industry may be blind to the needs of manufacturing plants, an accountant should lead your efforts in gathering the appropriate financial information.

Since you are reading this article, you probably have been very disappointed with your CMMS. It must be galling to know that, in some respects, your job was Mission Impossible; without a general ledger, you never had a chance. The CMMS lies at the intersection of three powerful and complex technical disciplines: functional engineering, computer, and accounting technology. It cannot be easy to summon new enthusiasm for something that disappointed you so badly in the past, but if you fix your general ledger problem, your CMMS can finally start to deliver on its promise.

In order to accurately track your costs, measure the benefits of your CMMS implementation, and produce high-quality management reports, your CMMS must be integrated to a general ledger. The good news is that the payoff for a successful CMMS implementation can be substantial. According to the January 2002 issue of MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY magazine (Reaping the Benefits of CMMS, by Derold Davis and Joe Mikes, Westin Engineering, p 13), a successful CMMS implementation may reduce overall maintenance costs 20-40 percent and inventory valuation may be reduced by 20-30 percent; other authorities cite savings and benefits that are just as compelling. To get there, however, you need the time-honored, singular, and imperative tool of the business manager—a general ledger. MT

Frank P. Ward, CPA, is the controller at QBIC III Systems, Inc., 22-D Montgomery Village Ave., Gaithersburg, MD 20879; (301) 330-6812

There are some very good reasons why this happens:

1. Due to growing healthy appetites for better and more, the expectations of consumers (that's us) for products and services continue to rise.

2. The suppliers of these products and services continue to try to differentiate themselves, in competing for our demands, by coming up with not only more products and services, but also different and new ones.

3. All things being equal, we will always prefer to purchase the lower priced product or service.

4. While this market frenzy continues, the regulators of the world will make sure that growth in materialism does not compromise the sustainability of the earth and its people. This will be accomplished by increasing environmental and safety requirements of the providers of goods and services.

As long as these factors continue to hold true, the companies where we work will always be looking for ways to improve output, quality, cost, safety, and the environment. Hence the never-ending flow of improvement initiatives which deal with the common idea of defect elimination. Defects are like bugs eating away at the value an organization is trying to create. Unquestionably, these historical improvement initiatives have been successful in achieving some degree of result, within certain time periods.

Unfortunately, these common initiatives all have adopted a top-down rather than bottom-up approach to improvement. A top-down approach is reactive, in that it assumes the existence of a problem that requires a solution.

A bottom-up approach makes no assumptions; it proactively identifies all potential defects before they occur and ensures corrective steps are taken.

This latter approach has been articulated best by Winston Ledet, the visionary behind "The Manufacturing Game."

His research uncovered a case where an asset that generated 6500 repair work orders in a year had 20,000 underlying equipment defects, culminating in 10 substantial business losses and one major catastrophic incident.

We can conclude that in order to avoid major incidents at the top, defects at the bottom must be eliminated. Any defects at the bottom that go unchecked could become a more severe problem at the top, with greater ramifications. In fact, in order to reduce the incident rate by 50 percent at the top, 10,000 defects must be eliminated from the bottom.

Most organizations that adopt a top-down approach to improvement initiatives can, at best, target only a few hundred defects. These organizations, by nature, continue to be vulnerable and hence continue to experience major incidents and business losses.

Ledet's findings support other research that relates to failure modes. Having been involved in reliability improvement for 20 years now, I have found that for every $1 million in equipment value there are at least 100 failure modes. Similarly, for every $100 million in equipment value, there are as many as 10,000 equipment conditions that need to be monitored regularly to avoid the business consequences associated with potential failures.

Many improvement initiatives stall because of the requirement to manage this data-intensive process. Most organizations have not put in place the competencies and the reliability information systems required to manage the condition data and to thereby avoid the many potential failures.

A Canadian brewery has been successful in implementing both reliability practices and technology to collect, analyze, and respond to condition data. This company educated its employees with a broad range of practices. As a result, the company made a sustained shift to a reliability focus within maintenance. Additionally, it provided plant floor employees with the technology to perform failure mode identification and conduct equipment condition inspections. This combination has allowed the company to reduce downtime by 50 percent and increase throughput by 10 percent, saving millions of dollars a year.

By continuing to look at problems from the top-down, and only dealing with them after they occur, organizations and their employees will forever experience an ongoing series of recycled improvement programs.

Robert C. Baldwin, CMRP, Editor

What practices are they installing? To find out, we tacked on a question to our annual salary survey (see page 30) asking a representative sample of Maintenance Technology readers to tell what they are doing in this area.

Respondents were provided a list of performance improvement initiatives and asked to indicate those that have been implemented at their plant in the past 18 months. Here they are in decreasing order of popularity:

• Preventive maintenance (PM) analysis and improvement, 59 percent
• Reliability centered maintenance (RCM), 38 percent
• Operator performed maintenance tasks, 36 percent
• Total productive maintenance (TPM), 27 percent
• Outsourcing specialized maintenance, 27 percent
• Supplier consolidation, 21 percent
• Knowledge transfer, 20 percent
• Lean manufacturing, 18 percent
• Kaizen initiative, 10 percent

Jersey City-based New Jersey International & Bulk Mail Center (NJI-BMC), one of the largest United States Postal Service facilities, was concerned about effectively maintaining its aging grounding system for 26kV, 5kV, and 600V primary, medium, and low voltage power distribution systems. The safety and security of employees and equipment in the 1.7-million-sq-ft facility were primary goals.

We have been collecting harmonics and power factor data for the past three years, using Power Measurement Ltd. (PML), Saanichton, BC, meters at the 5kV bus. Data showed that voltage total harmonic distortion (THD) varied from 35 to 1 percent. The current THDs displayed a drastic variation from 727 to 3 percent. The power factor varied from 53 to 93 percent. These figures concerned us.

Background of the facility
NJI-BMC, the largest among 21 bulk mail centers, is located on 142 acres of marshland; its three main buildings—bulk, foreign, and administration—occupy approximately 1.7 million sq ft. The bulk and foreign buildings contain about 1100 conveyors, parcel sorting, and sack sorting machines that, if placed end-to-end, would stretch up to 25 miles.

These conveyors and machines sort and distribute sack and parcel mail on a 24/7 basis. Mail then is distributed to various postal facilities and international shipping docks via 2000 trailers. These trailers are dispatched on a daily basis from 296 truck bays.

How the electrical system is grounded
The high and medium voltage system comprised of 26kV primary high voltage and 5kV medium voltage switchgear is grounded to an underground grounding grid located in the fenced-in outdoor switchyard. The low voltage distribution, 480/277V load centers, power lighting, and receptacle panels, etc., are ultimately grounded to the building's steel columns. The existing building steel columns are grounded to 46 newly installed ground rods located throughout the outdoor building perimeter. A new main ground-loop cable that runs inside the building perimeter was installed to connect these columns.

The high voltage 26kV system includes main and ground disconnect switches, bus work, two oil circuit breakers, two 10 MVA transformers, surge suppressors, bushings, and connecting bus work. The medium voltage system contains eight 5kV breakers, meters, relays, controls, batteries, chargers, cables, and connecting bus work. This equipment is housed in the outdoor switchgear cubicle. The low voltage distribution system comprises eight load centers (LC). Six contain double-ended 1000 kVA, 4160-480/277V transformers, 12 main breakers, and six tie breakers. Two LC are rated at 1500 kVA, 4160-480/277V transformers, four main breakers, and two tie breakers. The eight LC contain 126 subfeeder breakers that distribute power to various power, lighting, and receptacle panels. These load centers are located in the penthouses of the bulk, foreign, and administration buildings.

Examining the system
In 1997-98, the facility was considering replacing the aging (1972-73) high, medium, and low voltage equipment because of several operational and maintenance problems with the breakers. We also were concerned about the overall grounding scheme of the facility. To find out the existing status of the grounding system, we procured architect/engineer (A/E) services to check and confirm the overall validity of the facility-grounding scheme. The A/E reports indicated:

• 46 percent of the building's steel columns lacked adequate grounding and bonding.
• Inspections in July 1999 showed that the 26kV and 5kV grounding system was acceptable.
• Several of the building steel columns' grounding and bonding connections were missing.
• Some of the steel columns' grounding cables were disconnected, lost, or had disappeared.

The primary reasons for this situation were ground settling over the past two to three decades that dislodged the ground cables' connections, and failure of the facility to keep adequate records/data and to maintain the grounding system.

Correcting the situation
Option 1 was to use a traditional grounding scheme of laying the ground cable outside the building perimeter, approximately 6000 ft. This work would require digging trenches, laying the ground cable, and restoring the site to its original status. Digging trenches around our significantly long building perimeter would hamper our routine mail processing operations.

Scheduling and coordinating active bay outages in a safe and secure manner would need additional resources and manpower. Furthermore, prior to authorizing digging around the 30-year-old buildings, we needed to validate that contractors would not inadvertently damage any underground utility lines (water, sewage, electrical, fuel, drains, etc.).

In the past 30 years, the plant had gone through various changes and improvements including the underground utility lines. The as-built drawings retrieved from the library did not represent actual underground topography and piping layout. Checking and validating the underground utility lines layout would also add to the final cost estimate. Any inadvertent breakage in the water, sewage, fuel, or electrical lines would jeopardize safety and security of employees and equipment, and the environmental impacts of breaking these lines could be costly. Subsequently, any one of these incidents could result in shutting down the plant.

Plant shutdown is costly. One USPS contractor, not associated with this project, in the summer of 1999 was billed, and subsequently reimbursed NJI-BMC, $75,000 per hour for an unintentional shutdown. Considering these critical issues, we concluded that this option would be significantly costly, disrupt the plant operation, and might jeopardize safety and security of employees and equipment.

In spite of these grounding problems, the majority of the electrical equipment was working satisfactorily. Somehow, neither operations or maintenance noticed any obvious electrical problems with the plant electrical equipment. The facility kept on processing mail as usual.

Option 2: cable installation inside
When we found out that the overall grounding of the 26kV and 5kV equipment was in acceptable condition, we decided to revitalize the building steel columns' grounding system. The unique option that we selected for our site was not to use the traditional outdoor building perimeter grounding scheme, but instead install the ground cable inside the building.

Selecting this option saved us digging the trenches, scheduling and coordinating outages of working bays in a safe and secure manner, and restoring the ground. This concept was the key contributor to the faster, less costly, less risky installation of the grounding cables at the NJI-BMC.

Revitalizing the grounding system
In the spring of 2001, we revitalized the grounding system by installing 20-ft-deep ground rods at 46 locations. A bare, 4/0 copper cable was installed that bounded the perimeter steel columns inside the building. This copper cable was located approximately 20-30 ft high to provide adequate access for mail tow truck trafficking and mail processing operations.

As mentioned earlier, we were very much concerned about the safety of employees and equipment, and any adverse impact on mail processing operations. Since this option of laying ground cables inside the building had not been tried on such a large scale, we were slightly apprehensive. To this end, we procured the services of a specialized electrical engineering firm that verified the installation and supervised the overall work and this project.

Unforeseen problems
Of course, we encountered several unforeseen problems in revitalizing the old system. The underground utility as-built drawings were questionable and we were apprehensive when driving 20-ft-deep ground rods without clarifying and validating exact ground rod locations. The contractor faced unique problems in finding adequate manpower (electricians) resources because of the market conditions. We had to delay the overall schedule by several months.

Acorn connections that connect the ground rods to the grounding cable were found to be unacceptable because of the limited contact-surface area. The set screw that grabs the ground cable and rod did not provide adequate connections. CAD-welding these connections was the correct remedy and best solution for this problem. In spite of all issues, the contractor, electrical firm, and NJI-BMC personnel were very resourceful and proactive in resolving major hurdles. The project schedule was extended because of various scheduling issues with the manufacturer, the supplier, the shippers, and our operations department.

Estimating shutdown costs
Since our facility operates 24/7, any shutdowns, regardless of whether intentional or unintentional, impact our revenue. Minimizing the number of shutdowns was extremely critical. Initially, we estimated several major shutdowns for revitalizing the grounding system. However, we successfully completed the project without any shutdowns.

It is difficult to estimate the actual cost of each shutdown because of several factors that directly or indirectly impact total business costs. Some of these factors are: the manpower resource allocation at the time of power interruption, equipment availability, loss of business, type of mail to be processed on that day, customer service impacts, etc. The absence of shutdowns for this project minimized the overall impact on mail processing operations and improved total budgeting allocation for this facility.

Recommendations
Based on our limited experience, we recommend considering the following key items:

• Strongly suggest completing proactive PMs of the existing grounding system.
• Measure and record power quality parameters: harmonics, power factor, etc.
• Install new ground cables inside the building perimeter to save capital cost and resources.
• Perform extensive testing of existing equipment and grounding system.
• Assess need for an on-site standby-by power source if shutdown is inevitable.
• Emphasize CAD welding when necessary.
• Prepare detailed planning and step-by-step procedures to minimize operational impact.
• Review safety and environmental issues with an on-site expert prior to initializing the project.

After revitalizing the grounding system, addressing the power panels, and retrofitting low voltage circuit breakers, our present electrical readings have improved significantly. The voltage THDs vary from 2 to 3 percent, the current THD varies from 11 to 15 percent, and the power factor fluctuates from 74 to 99 percent. At present, we do not know, or have any records, of equipment malfunctioning directly related to power quality issues.

In general, our equipment operated satisfactorily in spite of drastic variations in THDs. We believe that our limited exposure or know-how of power quality issues might have unknowingly impaired some equipment operation or life expectancy. Nevertheless, our site offers opportunities for diagnosing, testing, and validating power quality products and their impact on the existing electrical distribution system.

Checking, testing, and revitalizing this aging grounding system did improve overall electrical parameters. At this stage, we do not know or do not have the expertise to assess and validate if these improvements, in fact, had any impact on our daily mail processing operations. MT

Joseph C. Pearson has been the manager of maintenance at the United States Postal Service's New Jersey International & Bulk Mail Center for the past 12 years. The facility's maintenance department consists of approximately 500 managers, engineers, and craft employees. Dilip A. Pandya has been an electrical engineer at NJI-BMC for the past four years; he manages electrical requirements for the plant and is responsible for investigating and implementing innovative cost-effective technologies. Pandya can be contacted at (201) 714-6727

Acknowledgments
The authors appreciate the support they received from the following organizations and U.S. Postal Service personnel. Without their timely efforts and assistance the project could not have been completed as successfully and within the allotted budget:

• USPS NJI-BMC: Joe Russo, MMO; Ed Pfeiffer, PM engineer; all electricians, senior supervisors, and managers of maintenance and operations; and Plant Manager Frank P. Tulino
• Hoboken FSO: Ashok Verma, project coordinator, and Ralph Champa, manager
• New York Area Maintenance Support: Nick Borg and Guy Miata, manager
• Sunmar Electrical Contractors: Joseph Caciano and Mark Wright
• Triad Engineering: Paul Witwick and Ron Regan
• Lockwood Greene: Ben Yazbek and Simon Cattan
• Longo Industries: Joe Lebar and John Ziomek
• Public Service Electric & Gas Palisade Division: Paul Durak, Reggie Jones, Bill Critchley, Andy Gleichmann, and Arthur Dolacke
• Public Service Enterprise Group-Energy Technology: Mike Halsey and John Sloan

Taken together, all three systems did not exactly fit with the container cranes, tractors, paving equipment, dredging barges, reach stackers, and railroad tracks that are used to move more than 30 million tons of cargo through port facilities every year.

Because it was faced with serious Y2K computing problems, Port management decided to take the opportunity to research available computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) and enterprise asset management (EAM) systems. The goal was to find a single system that could handle the immediate needs in the marine facilities and equipment maintenance departments, as well as the future needs of the dredging operations, management, and aviation facilities maintenance at Portland International Airport.

Team selection
A team that included representatives from the equipment maintenance, IT, marine facilities, and purchasing departments reviewed request for proposal responses from 12 suppliers. It selected Avantis.PRO from Avantis, a unit of Invensys Production Management, Foxboro, MA, because "it offered all the bells and whistles we needed and they proved with their demonstration that the system could be tailored to fit the multitude of uses we wanted," according to Robert Maracle, general superintendent of marine equipment maintenance for the Port of Portland.

"Efficient operation of the port facilities is critical for two reasons," Maracle said. "First, we need to be able to move a lot of cargo expeditiously so that we provide cargo handling services that enhance our customers' productivity in distributing goods. Second, we need to be able to provide high-quality service with great cost efficiency so we can maximize the business benefit to the Port of Portland. We now have the ability to manage infrastructure maintenance in such a way that we're making the best use of our physical assets-and we're providing a growth path that can allow us to use one central set of enterprise applications to service our EAM needs for such a diverse array of facilities."

Port of Portland staff worked with an EAM consulting firm to develop overall plans for the system. Planning was critical, Maracle noted, because no computing system could ever be efficient without well defined application requirements. "We spent considerable time designing and building the foundation of our hierarchy, which has never been changed," Maracle noted. "It has worked extremely well for us. I cant emphasize enough the value of spending the up-front time in planning and designing and thinking your way through some of these things. It really pays off because you end up with something that you can put to work with confidence. And you don't have to keep fixing it. It's well organized."

In-house implementation
The staff did all its own planning input, using three teams representing maintenance, inventory, and purchasing. They built the system on a theoretical basis in a conference room pilot program, creating most of the asset hierarchies in an Access database, for subsequent transfer into the EAM. Working for five weeks, 10-12 hours a day, they produced a list about 6000 lines long and about 20 columns wide.

"We started in July 1998 and went live with this system on April 19, 1999," Maracle said. "The first three months were spent learning what an entity was, what the terminology meant, how to build the hierarchies so the costs would roll up, and how to create value lists. Once we had everything defined, IT could then implement it. Our IT project manager, Jenni Lipscomb, had the unenviable task of keeping things on track and coordinating efforts from multiple departments. She was marvelous because she's been with the Port for many years and knows what applications are being automated."

Application knowledge was critical because of the scope and diversity of equipment assets to be maintained. "We have more than 17,000 entities identified right now, including applications for marine equipment maintenance, facilities maintenance, navigation (dredging) operations, and our electrical shop," Maracle said. "While that may not be a lot by some standards, it's certainly far more than we ever anticipated we'd have when we started using this system.

"We have 15 workstations spread around the site, with about seven users in Terminal 6 and eight in facilities maintenance," he continued. "That doesn't include the administrative people who do requisitions for purchases outside of the maintenance area. All of these people have workstations of their own. We're also now using the program to do time card data entry for payroll."

Data input and trending
Maracle does a PM schedule run for the electric shop and for the equipment shop every Thursday morning. These runs are tied in with the inventory and purchasing systems as well. "Our purchasing manager's logic was that maintenance generates more purchase orders than any other area of the Port," he said. "Dollarwise, it's not the most, but in quantities of POs it is, so it makes sense to have a system where maintenance, inventory, and purchasing are integrated in one system."

Bar code systems are used for tracking service parts inventories, in both the electric and equipment shops, which results in major cost savings for the Port. "Our parts inventory, frankly, was in horrendous shape; it was easy to let inventory get out of control because we really had no controls," Maracle explained.

"We had parts sitting here for years that we had thought we were going to need, and didn't. They might have been useless by the time we got around to needing them. To compound our own problems, we built a new maintenance shop and moved our entire inventory. All the bin locations changed, so we lost track of a lot of items."

Port staff is now in the process of reducing inventory by at least 65 percent in both the electric shop and the equipment shop. More parts are now ordered for just-in-time delivery. A key to achieving this reduction was identifying replenishment levels so that only as many parts were purchased as were needed.

"Our purchasing people love automatic replenishment because they can now simply press a key and generate a purchase order for everything that's on the list," Maracle added. "We're now more efficient about identifying replenishment groups as well, and it has reduced inventory significantly, which translates into major savings.

"It was a real eye opener to run usage reports and discover that out of the 11,200 line items we have, we may be using only about 2500. That's just 22 percent of our inventory, which tells us that we had accumulated a lot of in "X" period of time, so we'll just buy four of them.

"If they don't get stored in the same place, however, the next time you go looking for one, you may not find it so you buy another one. But we'll probably use some more, so we'd buy another two or three extra ones. Now we might have seven or eight in inventory and not even realize it. Also, when we got rid of old equipment, spare parts were still hanging around taking up shelf space. It was a vicious circle, but the system has eliminated that problem," Maracle said.

The new system now permits Port departments to track the time it takes for a technician to go out and do a maintenance or repair job, including what equipment and parts are taken, how long the employee is there, and what tasks are performed. In the old equipment shop system, only one "employee" was identified, as number 9998. When supervisors went to a work order to see what was done and who performed the work, it was always number 9998. There was no accountability, a problem that plagued the work force for years.

"That's all changed. We identify every employee in the shop and everything he works on. Individual names go on every work order," Maracle noted. "All time during the day is accounted for and the time entered for work orders is matched to payroll records. We can even compare the time tracked with what a contractor bills for a job, since the work order is now a specific entity in the system.

"Our identity structure is quite detailed and it allows us to look at all data related to a piece of equipment and spot trends to discover what kinds of problems we're having. We've identified entities right down to engine components, transmissions, and tires."

Realizing potential savings
When Port of Portland staff set up new preventive maintenance programs, they were able to do some things that they were not able to do in the past. Handling PMs on container cranes represented a huge expense in the past because each crane was serviced in total for every PM. Today's new generation of cranes has indicators that tell exactly how many hours each drive motor has actually run, as a percentage of the crane "on" hours.

"With the new system, we can input that data directly so that when the power is turned on to the crane, we know what percentage of hours the hoist runs or the trolley runs or the boom operates or the gantry operates," Maracle explained. "We've studied actual drive usage and have found that the hoist operates 65-67 percent of the time and the trolley operates 63-65 percent of the time. But the boom motor operates only about 5 percent of the time and the gantry operates only about 3 percent of the time.

"My question was," Maracle explained, "if the boom and the gantry operate less than 5 percent of the time that the hoist and the trolley operate, why do we PM them as often?" Now, each has its own PM schedule based on the "power on" time. "Because the equipment shop labor billing rate is so high, currently $132/hr, this change in approach to crane PMs has probably saved us about $250,000 in routine maintenance in the first year alone," he said. "Plus we're not out of service as long."

"Environmental issues are a major concern here at the Port and we've cut down the waste volume of the oil and filters that we have to dispose of," he added. "The beauty of the system is that we have the information we need to review trends like this. We can retrieve any data that's been input and can slice and dice it any way we want in order to do theoretical planning, the what-ifs. This is something I now use every day."

Success reflected in ROI
While the crane PM changes already have saved a quarter of a million dollars in the first year, they are just one measure of return on investment for Port of Portland staff.

"When we were doing the justification for this, each department did its own cost justification as far as savings we expected to see," Maracle said. "When we sat down together to add it all up, we figured nobody would ever believe the numbers so we cut our expectations.

"None of our conservative financial models got the payback to be more than two years, and it's turned out to be much better than that. The project ended up costing us about $2.1 million, which was about 8 percent over our projected budget. But we've more than made that back in ROI already, so the project has paid for itself," he added.

Work procedures in general are much more efficient now, which is reflected as much in work that is not being done as it is in how people do their work.

"We have a much better analytical tool to examine how we go about things, so we're no longer doing PMs on things like bathroom fans anymore," he added.

"Another example: we have welders up in the cranes that we use once every 5 years. To be sure they were always ready, we were doing PMs on them every 90 days to 6 months. We don't do those anymore. We figured in some cases it would be more effective if we just let things fail. Sometimes you can buy a brand new piece of equipment and still be ahead of the game, just because of the money you don't spend on PMs. We were able to cull out a lot of that stuff only by using the new system.

"The EAM system has been so successful that we now get requests for visits and demonstrations from other port facilities around the country who are looking for a system that will help them achieve the same benefits," Maracle concluded. MT

Information supplied by Avantis, a unit of Invensys Production Management, Foxboro, MA 02035. Avantis is located in Burlington, ON L7N 3V6; (905) 333-2257

Best Practices. These two words represent benchmarking standards—nothing is better or exceeds a Best Practice. The words are most often applied to the quality of management. There is a broad range of opinions from executives in successful companies regarding what constitutes the best business practices, management styles, and corporate philosophies. Unfortunately, in some people's minds, Best Practices conjure up some obscure, ever-changing, and unachievable goal.

The following discussion will outline real, specific, achievable, and proven standards for maintenance management and show the expected results from targeting and reaching the performance levels of best maintenance practices. It also will provide methods, strategies, and actions to help develop a plan for executing best maintenance practices that can make maintenance departments more efficient, reduce plant maintenance and operating costs, improve reliability, and increase morale.

If everyone at a facility is satisfied with the existing maintenance program, why should they be interested in best maintenance practices? Studies show that most maintenance departments in the United States and Canada operate at between 10 and 40 percent efficiency and that nearly 70 percent of equipment failures are self-induced. These statistics should not be acceptable—not to upper management and certainly not to maintenance managers.

These facts should generate some amount of interest. Where does your maintenance department stand in relation to these figures? Do you measure and track maintenance efficiency? Do you accumulate and analyze data on equipment failures? If not, then you probably have no idea if you are the same as, better, or worse than these averages.

What are best maintenance practices?
Best maintenance practices are defined in two categories: standards and methods. Standards are the measurable performance levels of maintenance execution; methods and strategies must be practiced in order to meet the standards. The combination of standards with methods and strategies provides the elements of an integrated planned maintenance system. Achievement of the best maintenance practice standards (Maintenance Excellence) is accomplished through an interactive and integrated series of links with an array of methods and strategies.

Before defining the standards for best maintenance practices, it is a good idea to make sure that there is common agreement on the definition of maintenance: To keep in its existing state; preserve; continue in good operating condition; protect.

Surprisingly, there are a number of people who do not know the meaning of maintenance—at least the way they practice maintenance would indicate this. In practice, the prevalent interpretation of maintenance is to "fix it when it breaks." This is a good definition for repair, but not maintenance. This is reactive maintenance. Proactive maintenance is the mission.

To change the organization's basic beliefs, it must identify the reasons why it does not follow these best practices in maintaining its equipment. Two of the more common reasons that a plant does not follow best maintenance repair practices are: Maintenance is totally reactive and does not follow the definition of maintenance, and the maintenance workforce lacks the discipline to follow best maintenance repair practices or management has not defined rules of conduct for best maintenance practices.

Proactive or reactive
The potential cost savings of best maintenance practices may be beyond the understanding or comprehension of some managers. They do not believe that repair practices directly impact an organization's bottom line or profitability. More enlightened companies have demonstrated that, by reducing the self-induced failures, they can increase production capacity as much as 20 percent. Other managers accept lower reliability standards from maintenance efforts because either they do not understand the problem or they choose to ignore this issue. A good manager must be willing to admit to a maintenance problem and actively pursue a solution.

How can you actively pursue a solution? Be proactive, disciplined, accountable, manage to maximize available resources, and manage based on information. Adopting a proactive approach to maintenance will improve its effectiveness dramatically and more rapidly than instituting an aggressive program of maintenance effectiveness improvement within the confines of the organizational and cultural environment of an existing, predominantly reactive maintenance program.

Equipment level best practices
The standards for best maintenance practices at the maintenance management level flow down to equipment-specific practices that are benchmarks for performing preventive maintenance. You may find that these practices are not achieved in your organization, and they are not targeted as maintenance department objectives. In order to fix the problem, you must understand that the culture of the organization is the cause.

Changing the culture is a major challenge; it is basic human nature to resist change. Salesmanship plays an important part in moving from a reactive to a proactive maintenance organization, which is essential if you are to succeed at the best maintenance practices strategy.

There has to be shift in mentality to allow the planning and scheduling process to work. It has been shown that when maintenance is planned and scheduled, a 25 person maintenance force operating with proactive planning and maintenance scheduling can deliver the equivalent amount of work of a maintenance crew of 40 persons working in a reactive maintenance organization. Selling this concept before making the needed changes can go a long way toward easing the transition. The compelling aspects of the proactive approach to maintenance include improved employee effectiveness, fewer "extended" work days, increased personal pride, and the resulting improvement in employee morale.

Strategic attributes of proactive maintenance
Planning for the implementation of best maintenance practices is essential. Timelines, personnel assignments, documentation, and the other elements of a well-planned change must be developed before changes begin to take place. Proactive maintenance organization attributes fundamental to success include:

• Maintenance skills training
  
• Work flow analysis and required changes (organizational)
  
• Work order system
  
• Planned preventive maintenance tasks/procedures
  
• Maintenance engineering development
  
• Establishment, assignment, and training of planner-scheduler
  
• Maintenance inventory and purchasing integration
  
• Computerized maintenance management system
  
• Management reporting/performance measurement and tracking
  
• Return on investment (ROI) analysis
  
• Evaluate and integrate use of contractors

An amplification of each of these considerations follows.

Maintenance skills training
Performing a job task analysis (JTA) will help define the skill levels required of maintenance department employees. The JTA should be followed with a skills assessment of employee knowledge and skill levels. Analyze the gap between required skills and available skills to determine the amount and level of training necessary to close the gap.

Instituting a qualification and certification program that is set up to measure skills achievement through written exams and practical skills demonstration will provide feedback on training effectiveness. It also will assist in resource allocation when scheduling maintenance tasks.

Work flow
One element of the transition planning process that can be a major stumbling block is analyzing existing work flow patterns and devising the necessary work flow and organizational changes required to make use of a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS). This process can be difficult for the employees involved. When work flow shifts from a reactive to a proactive posture, planned and scheduled maintenance will replace the corrective maintenance style. The CMMS will provide insights into organized, proactive work flow arrangements through its system modeling.

Although you can tailor work flow and organizational attributes to match your plant's requirements, they still must work within any constraints imposed by the CMMS. Of primary importance is keeping focused on the ultimate objective—a proactive maintenance organization that will assist in reaching the standards of best maintenance practices.

Work order system
There probably is an existing work order system that is at least loosely followed. Again, the CMMS will help in defining changes to, or complete restructuring of, any existing work order system. The work order will be the backbone of the new proactive maintenance organization's work execution, information input, and feedback from the CMMS. All work must be captured on a work order—8 hours on the job equals 8 hours on work orders.

The types of work orders an organization needs will need to be defined. They will include categories such as planned/scheduled, corrective, emergency, etc. The work order will be the primary tool for managing labor resources and measuring department effectiveness.

Planned, preventive maintenance activities
Developing maintenance task documentation most likely will be one of the most time-consuming requirements of the proactive maintenance approach, unless the procedures are already written and in-place. Procedural documentation should include standardized listings of parts, materials, and consumable requirements; identification of the craft and skill level(s) required to perform the task; and stated frequencies (or operating time-based period) of performance. Categories of maintenance procedures that will be included in planned maintenance documentation include:

• Routine preventive maintenance (lubricate, clean, inspect, minor component replacement, etc.)
  
• Proactive replacements (entire equipment or major components, time-based or operating hours)
• Scheduled rebuilds or overhauls
• Predictive maintenance
  
• Condition monitoring/performance based maintenance

Maintenance engineering development
If your facility or plant does not have a Maintenance Engineering section, one should be established. The functions and responsibilities of new or existing maintenance engineering groups should be reviewed and revised to integrate and enhance the proactive maintenance organization. One of the alarming statistics mentioned earlier indicated that up to 70 percent of equipment failures are self-induced. Finding the reasons for self-induced failures, and all failures, is a responsibility of maintenance engineering.

Reliability engineering is the primary role of a maintenance engineering group. Its responsibilities in this area should include evaluating preventive maintenance action effectiveness, developing predictive maintenance techniques and procedures, performing condition monitoring, providing planning and scheduling, conducting forensic investigations of failures including root cause analysis, and evaluating training effectiveness.

Establishment, assignment, and training of maintenance planners
Whenever maintenance is performed, it is planned. It is a question of who is doing the planning, when he is doing it, to what degree, and how well. Separation of planning from execution is a general rule of good management and good organizational structure. The responsibilities of the planner-scheduler are diverse, and although he must be familiar with the maintenance process, he also must be a good administrator and have the appropriate level of authority to carry out his role as labor usage scheduler and interface between many departments within the organization. The following are typical responsibilities of the planner:

• Establish equipment numbering system and number all equipment
• Develop PM program for each piece of equipment
• Ensure accuracy of equipment bills of materials
• Maintain equipment history in the CMMS as detailed and complete as possible
• Review equipment history for trends and recommend improvements
• Provide detailed job plan instructions (PM procedures)
• Determine part requirements for planned jobs
• Provide necessary drawings for jobs
• Ensure drawings are revised and kept current
• Arrange for special tools and equipment
• Coordinate equipment downtime with production
• Inform production of job progress
• Provide cost information from equipment history
• Assist with development of annual overhaul schedule
• Publish negotiated weekly maintenance schedules

The function of the planner-scheduler is a pivotal position in a successful proactive maintenance approach and therefore vital to attaining the standards of best maintenance practices. The planner-scheduler assignment must be critically evaluated, and specialized in-depth training should be provided if required.

Maintenance inventory and purchasing integration
The cost of (parts) inventory is almost always an area where cost reduction can be substantial. With the help of suppliers and equipment vendors, purchasing usually can place contracts or basic order agreements (BOA) that guarantee delivery lead time for designated inventory items. It just makes sense that your facility should shift the bulk of the cost of maintaining inventory to the suppliers.

Begin by identifying your facility's parts, material, and consumable requirements. All the inventory requirements data should be entered into the CMMS. If you do not already have this data, equipment vendors can be very helpful because they usually maintain parts lists by equipment type and model. It may even be formatted such that it can be directly downloaded to your system.

The parts requirements of planned preventive maintenance tasks should then be used (your CMMS should perform this function) to generate a parts list for the planned preventive category of work order. These are items that do not need to be in your physical inventory through your use of just-in-time vendor-supplied BOAs.

Barcoding, continuous inventory, and demand and usage data can be integrated through the use of the CMMS to minimize on-hand inventory and still avoid stock-outs.

Computerized maintenance management system
The discussion to this point has assumed that your facility has a computerized maintenance management system in-place. If not, or if your CMMS does not have some of the capabilities we have discussed, it is certainly time to think about upgrading. A CMMS is critical to an organized, efficient transition to a proactive maintenance approach.

Even if your CMMS has all the capabilities needed, the transition process is an ideal time to validate the completeness and accuracy of the various CMMS module databases, particularly the equipment database. GIGO (garbage in, garbage out) is a phenomenon that can impede or prevent you from achieving the standards of Best Maintenance Practices. It is also a good time to refine your work control system and to determine that the output data (report generator) is adequate to meet each user's individual requirements.

Management reporting and performance measurement and tracking
Hand-in-hand with the CMMS review (upgrade) is the "report generator" function just mentioned. The CMMS output should be providing maintenance, engineering, operations or production, purchasing, and upper management with accurate and effective reports for evaluation and management. The types of reports and data tracking you should obtain from your CMMS include:

• Open work order report
• Closed work order report
• Mean time between failures
• "Cost per" reports
• Scheduled compliance report
• PM overdue report
• Labor allocation report
• Parts demand and usage report

Return on investment (ROI) analysis
Justification of anything in business today is based on cost. You will need to accumulate data on productivity (total plant costs per item produced), maintenance labor costs, maintenance material costs, inventory carrying costs, and reliability/availability data for at least 2 years prior to transition to the proactive maintenance organization. Once you begin the planning and implementation of the changes, upgrades, etc., you will need to separate the development costs from the routine and normal operating costs of your facility to determine the total cost of implementing best maintenance practices.

When transition has been completed, accumulate the same cost and performance data that you obtained for the period prior to implementation. Obtaining this information must be planned for ahead of time so that you do not end up comparing apples and oranges and that you determine your real ROI.

Evaluate and integrate use of contractors
A final item to consider when incorporating best maintenance practices is integrating the use of contractors into your facility maintenance and maintenance engineering. Again it is necessary to determine costs for in-house performance and compare them to the costs of contracting out selected efforts. This likely will be a function of total facility size and operating costs.

Some of the maintenance or maintenance engineering efforts that may be considered as potential candidates for contractor performance include performance of maintenance, capital improvements, expansion programs, predictive maintenance, and condition monitoring.

Any maintenance activities that do become a contractor function still must have relevant information and data collected and entered into the CMMS. All requirements that will be contracted to outside providers must be completely defined and should include a listing of the contractors responsibilities and expectations prior to awarding any contracts. Formatting data for direct input to the CMMS is an example of a requirement that a contractor would not routinely provide services for.

Where to begin
Industry not only is failing to achieve best maintenance practice standards but, on the average, is not even approaching acceptable maintenance practices. You should answer two fundamental questions:

• Where does our facility or plant stand relative to best maintenance practices?
  
• Can we accept our existing maintenance effectiveness?

You must determine your acceptance level for performance. If you think it is time to bring you and your facility out of ineffectual practices and into cost saving, reliability enhanced, and recognizable distinction, you will need to establish best maintenance practices as your standards of performance. Hand-in-hand you must make a transition from a reactive maintenance organization to a totally proactive structure.

The process is not an overnight project. It will take time, effort, and planning to accomplish. Above all, the transition requires commitment from all levels of your organization. The tools and planning strategies presented here will help tremendously once that commitment is made. MT

Ricky Smith is executive director, maintenance solutions, at Life Cycle Engineering, Inc., 4360 Corporate Rd., Suite 100, North Charleston, SC 29405-7445; (843) 744-7110

ASCI is a nonprofit company owned by DSM Chemicals North America, Inc. and PCS Nitrogen Inc. DSM is the world's largest merchant supplier of caprolactam monomer for Nylon 6 polymer, which is used in carpets and textiles. PCS Nitrogen is the world's largest producer of nitrogen fertilizers and its Augusta facility is the largest nitrogen fertilizer producer on the East Coast. Two other production facilities owned by DSM and one owned by W.R. Grace also operate on the 150-acre site in Augusta served by ASCI.

To serve all of these facilities, we maintain a maintenance shop with 25-person electrical and instrumentation (E&I) crews on site at each company's main facility. A back-shift crew and several utility shops assist in providing preventive and predictive maintenance. A maintenance-engineering group provides engineering support to the parent companies through assigned area-maintenance engineers, as well as base support through its mechanical and pipe groups and E&I.

Certification and compliance top priority
ASCI purchased its automated system, DocuMint Solution, in 1992 from Loveland Controls Co., which later became part of Honeywell. Our goal was to develop a test history database to help DSM and PCS attain ISO 9000 certification.

In addition to providing a means of compiling, storing, and organizing test histories, the automated information management system captures crucial details for certification, including "as found" and "as left" test points, environmental conditions at time of calibration, NIST traceable test equipment, and out-of-tolerance specifications on field instruments and test equipment.

DSM now holds ISO 9000 (2000) certification. DSM Resins US, Inc. earned QS-9000 certification and PCS earned ISO 9002 (1994) certification. We expanded our use of the system in 1997 to address the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Process Safety Management (PSM) standard 1910, particularly to document compliance with the standard's mechanical integrity rule.

Organizing and managing data
The organization of ASCI's database reflects our need to manage assets for two separate companies, document history on instrumentation loops, and maintain records on individual instruments and equipment. The database hierarchy is Cost Center (a group of equipment in a particular area of the plant), Loop (all instrumentation related to a single function), and Tag ID (each instrument or piece of equipment).

Currently, the database includes 83 cost centers, more than 8600 loops, and more than 38,500 tags. It holds more than 30,000 test results—each linked to specific tag IDs and specific pieces of test equipment.

Test equipment is tracked as well. ASCI maintains three-point, one-point, and certification histories on all 340 pieces of test equipment. Prior to use, each piece of test equipment receives a one-point check for accuracy. The database also designates which test equipment ASCI should segregate for use on ISO 9000 devices. We maintain check standards for one-point and three-point checks in each instrument shop.

Each process calibrator has a test setup for every function it performs, which means ASCI tests a total of 687 functions. We maintain a test equipment function database, which designates each function of each calibrator as an individual record with a test setup assigned.

Creating shortcuts for routine tasks
We also use the software to create quarterly reports for each facility's production staff. These reports reveal specific deficiencies related to past-due or untested instrumentation. Production staff also may use reports to plan for shutdowns, audits, and daily schedules. To expedite these and other routine information needs, we use the Fastask function of the system. Reports include:

• Production update report: Issues a list of all delinquent or untested devices by cost center to update a specific area of the plant.
• Cost center performance: Searches all ISO cost centers to determine the number of devices untested or past due based on date guidelines.
• Scheduler report: Searches for tag IDs or test equipment between chosen dates to allow reports to cross reference with maintenance schedules.
• Plant structure for ISO: Searches and displays only ISO tags, in only ISO loops, in only ISO cost centers, instead of all tags in all loops in all cost centers, which may include instruments that are not ISO quality critical instruments.

By using the program's options, ASCI further customized the information management system to meet its needs.

Equipment group searches are simplified. We assign all OSHA PSM loops separate equipment groups for location, rank values for catastrophic failure risk, and rank orders of importance and FMEA numbers, which help calculate ranking values. The loop database stores and indexes these values and orders in a searchable format. When ASCI blocks off equipment groups for calibration, technicians can search for the equipment group number, load the calibrations for all instruments in the group, and go to work.

Calibration sheets expedite turnaround maintenance. During a plant turnaround, technicians must perform hundreds or thousands of tests in a short time period. ASCI also must manually record much of the maintenance information due to the number of temporary technicians on site. To ensure collection of consistent information, we use the information management system to create calibration sheets that can be printed and attached to work orders.

Reverse trace ensures correction of inaccuracies. When we find out-of-tolerance test equipment, we can trace which process control devices the out-of-tolerance equipment calibrated. Technicians then can check and correct affected devices, if necessary.

The payback
Using this information management system, we have been able to ensure our parent companies and their subsidiaries comply with ISO certification and OSHA PSM compliance. Our ability to customize the system and manage the database effectively has also increased profitability.

In addition to supporting routine preventive maintenance, the system also helps increase the efficiency of work performed during turnaround periods.

We have more efficient maintenance schedules. Using the system to track test history such as failure rates of specific models or specific loop configurations, we can use re-engineering to protect equipment and prevent early failures, re-evaluate the tolerance specifications, or adjust the calibration intervals. The evaluations can help determine the appropriate frequency for preventive maintenance.

We can identify specific equipment makes and models that failed repeatedly or frequently drifted out of tolerance. Maintenance histories stored in the information management system provide the rationale for specifying new instrumentation or a wholesale change-out of a particular make or model. This single benefit saves production downtime and contributes to ASCI's ability to maintain a record of 0.5 percent average production loss of maximum capacity.

The use of the information system as an interlock database has allowed ASCI to identify inoperable and out-of-tolerance interlocks, which are tested during plant outages. It is ASCI's answer to OSHA 1910 PSM instrumentation documentation requirements for its safety interlocks. The ability of the system to track failures allows engineers to focus on technical requests with a solid historical basis for engineering changes. MT

Information supplied by Tina Spivey, an associate equipment specialist in instrumentation at Augusta Service Co., Inc., 27 Columbia Nitrogen Rd., Augusta, GA 30901; (706) 894-6147. For information on DocuMint, visit www.acs.honeywell.com

The secret to making and keeping reliable electrical connections is contained in two elements: start with clean contact surfaces, and apply high force.

Clean contact surfaces are a function of cleaning procedures, including joint compounds, and will be covered in a future article. Application of high force is the subject here.

The trouble comes about because the terms "torque" and "force" are incorrectly used interchangeably. Force is NOT torque. Force is a function of torque. The expression which describes the relationship is

F = T/K

Note that the equation has a variable, K, that includes the coefficient of friction. The higher the friction, the lower the force for the same torque. Torque is a convenient way to get at force and is usually specified in making an electrical connection. Force is considered inconvenient to measure.

Torque can be misleading

Consider the following. Suppose you are given a torque value for an electrical connection and suppose that the connection is frozen due to corrosion, arcing, etc. Obviously, the recommended torque will not assure a good connection. Thus, relying on torque to judge the quality of an electrical connection can be misleading.

Levels in uncertainty in the accompanying section "Force Variations by Methods of Tightening Connections" are taken from mechanical engineering sources and represent a rough estimate of the percent variation encountered when trying to tighten a connection using different methods.

You can see there is a wide variation in accuracy depending upon the method and that many of them are fairly inaccurate. In fact, when considering life safety, torque values are rarely mentioned.

What is the correct force? When a connection is tightened, the joint electrical resistance drops as the force increases, up to a certain point. Beyond that certain amount of force, a marked decrease in resistance no longer occurs; the resistance remains fairly constant even with increased force. That certain amount of force is the minimum value of force needed.

In bolted connections, I have found that the forces associated with SAE Grade 5 hardware produce this correct value.

Applying proper force
To assure you are applying the proper force in a connection, there are a few methods which can be utilized:

•Low and consistent K factor by the use of lubrication. You can produce repeatable, high forces in the connection. To safely use lubricants, run tests in the shop before applying on the job.

A well-lubricated fastener is stressed to a higher force for the same torque than an unlubricated one. Check that the fastener does not fracture at the higher force. Having conducted tests, then apply the selected torque to the lubricated threads.

•Belleville washers. These are not always required in electrical connections and are often questionable. The washer must flatten at the proper force and many applications do not use a high enough force. In addition, since the bow in the washer is difficult to see, Bellevilles are sometimes installed upside down. If a proper high force is utilized in the connection, I have found that a Belleville is usually not necessary.

But a Belleville is an excellent force indicator and therefore can solve the force/torque dilemma. If you choose a Belleville that flattens at the desired force, you then can proceed with implementing the connections and not worry about a torque value.

•Direct tension indicators. As mentioned previously, in mechanical connections where life safety is a subject of concern (e.g., buildings, bridges, etc.), torque is not mentioned. Instead measurement of force is required.

A common procedure is the use of direct tension indicators. These are washer-like devices that feature protrusions (bumps) which flatten as a function of force applied to the connection. A feeler gauge is used to announce when the proper force is reached. Later inspection is simple through the use of a feeler gauge. Since the indicators are designed for use with steel, make sure the bumps are put against a hardened steel washer, not a copper or aluminum bus.

These devises are available for 1/2 in. hardware and larger. It is possible to use the 1/2 in. indicator with smaller hardware by requesting the force/gap characteristics from the manufacturer and then selecting the proper feeler gauge for the desired force. Make sure the gauge is narrow enough to fit between the bumps. MT

Norman Shackman, P.E., is based in Kent. CT. He conducts in-house seminars on electrical connections and can be reached at http://home.earthlink.net/~elecon/ or (860) 927-4067.

Proper planning and control of spare parts inventory is a critical component of an effective asset management program. If the right parts are not on hand when needed for routine maintenance or repairs, downtime is prolonged. If too many parts are on hand, the enterprise absorbs excessive costs and the overhead of carrying the inventory.

There are tried and true strategies to manage spare parts in support of effective asset management, along with some that can be considered questionable, and a variety of new and innovative practices. Advanced enterprise asset management (EAM) solutions support the proper implementation of these capabilities. Following are examples of each.

Proven strategies
Item search. It can be frustrating to a maintenance planner who is not familiar with item numbers to locate the appropriate part in a computer system. Nouns and qualifiers are a way of simplifying a search. A noun is a simple, meaningful name for the item, for example "pump." The qualifier adds more detail, such as "hydraulic." A search on this combination will bring up all hydraulic pumps in the stock item master file.

An assortment of captions and a detailed item description can provide an increasingly narrowed search that considers make, model, size, formulation, capacity, etc. If the part can be substituted with an alternate or equivalent part, that reference also should be stored in the stock record.

ABC and XYZ analyses. The generally accepted 80:20 rule illustrates that approximately 80 percent of any storeroom’s volume is associated with only 20 percent of the items in inventory. It is important to pay extra attention to that critical 20 percent.

ABC and XYZ codes are commonly used to identify those parts. The codes are assigned based on value or quantity of stock movement, and each code will have an associated "upper limit." Highest value parts, for example those that cost more than $5000 each, can be assigned the ABC code of "A," and fastest moving parts can be assigned an XYZ code of "X."

Automatic replenishment. Automating the thought process related to reorders has generated proven savings. Suggested reorder functionality creates requisitions based on reorder points (ROP) and reorder quantities (ROQ) that are stored in the inventory record. Once inventory levels for a part fall below the reorder point threshold, a suggested reorder is placed for the reorder quantity, which in turn creates a requisition. This saves time and prevents the delays and errors that can occur with manual purchasing processes.

When a simple ROQ value is not enough, an economic order quantity (EOQ) algorithm can be used to calculate the right quantity of a spare part to purchase when replenishment is needed. The EOQ can consider volume discounts, the cost of placing an order, carrying costs, and other factors.

Vendor service levels. Capturing supplier service level data within the inventory record helps bring to light the most efficient, dependable, and cost-effective vendors. Preferred suppliers can be identified based on historical lead times, pricing, quality, number of short- or over-shipments, how often goods are received damaged, frequency of backorders, and other criteria. Preference can be given to these vendors in the procurement process.

Where used. A view of where a part is used, for example on which assets a certain ball bearing is installed, provides benefits to both the plant floor and storeroom. This view enables inventory personnel to understand how extensively a part is used throughout the operation, and helps the maintenance planners to determine the item number and quantity of parts installed on an asset.

Multi-stores capability. Taking where-used one step further, a multi-stores capability enables an enterprise-wide view of spare parts inventory that is stored at more than one warehouse or off site by a third party. In a multi-plant environment or when maintenance departments are distributed, visibility into inventory at the various storerooms permits monitoring of parts availability and service-level agreements across the enterprise as a whole or on an individual basis.

Controversial methods
Just-in-time (JIT) replenishment is a popular but sometimes controversial concept of storing minimal inventory in the warehouse and replenishing it only when and as needed╛just in time. Although enabling significant carrying cost savings, there are risks involved. The best replenishment formulas cannot predict an emergency breakdown, a vendor going out of business, a carrier going on strike, or a sudden shortage of raw materials. Being too conservative in stocking levels can result in the inability to repair equipment in a timely manner or to keep the production line running.

In asset management, the criticality of a part determines whether it is a candidate for JIT. A criticality code in the EAM inventory record can be used to identify these items.

Lean manufacturing is a similar concept with a broader scope. Lean manufacturing means doing more with less, cutting time to market, and eliminating unnecessary processes. This impacts maintenance and the storeroom by stressing improved efficiencies, better planning, and reduced costs╛and running an operation with far less inventory.

A comprehensive lean manufacturing program can be costly to implement, but a number of steps can be taken to support lean inventory levels. EAM inventory analysis tools, catalog management, and automatic replenishment can be used to reduce on-hand inventories, track where individual items are used, how they are used, and where they are stored, so that inventory maintained is matched to inventory needed.

New approaches
Purchasing through the Internet is an effective means of acquiring indirect items and hard-to-find, inexpensive, or short-notice spare and replacement parts. Almost all OEMs, brokers, distributors, manufacturers, and machine shops have Web ordering capabilities. Most companies are now purchasing indirect materials online, about half are purchasing direct materials online, and about a third use industry exchanges and e-marketplaces such as Pantellos and Enporion for utilities and ChemConnect for chemicals and plastics.

An e-procurement solution that is tightly integrated with a company’s EAM system checks to see if the item is already in stock, automates the approval of purchase orders, and alerts the buyer to exceptions. By negotiating better prices and terms with e-sourcing, companies have been known to save 10-15 percent on direct goods and 20-25 percent on indirect goods and services, while slashing sourcing cycle times.

Mobile computing is becoming more sophisticated and is increasingly popular in the storeroom. Warehouse personnel can conduct cycle counts without halting operations by automating parts identification with bar codes. Wireless technology can capture inventory through bar codes and transmit the data in real time to the corporate network. Critical material availability is easier to track, resulting in timelier asset management.

With a wireless system, real-time information flows throughout each key process in the warehouse, including receiving, put-a-way, picking, issues/returns, and bin movement activities. For one energy company that implemented mobile asset management, errors were slashed, pick time was cut by one-third, on-time picks were improved from 64 percent to 98.89 percent, and overhead costs were reduced by 20 percent.

Key performance indicators (KPI) are increasingly popular decision support tools. For example, an EAM solution can calculate a KPI on inventory turns by dividing inventory expenditures by average inventory level. When problem areas are flagged, notification can be sent automatically to the plant and storeroom managers for escalation. Other supply chain KPIs can include vendor performance, obsolescence, items available but not used, supplier pricing, and more.

Supplier relationship management (SRM) is the newly branded concept of developing and managing long-term relationships with suppliers of specialized equipment and replacement parts. In asset-intensive industries, some suppliers enjoy a near-exclusive position because of the uniqueness of their replacement parts.

These relationships support the automatic electronic procurement of required parts, offsite storage of parts, or onsite storage with vendor ownership. SRM requires establishing the two-way visibility of parts requirements and availability, which is built into advanced EAM solutions.

Vendor-managed inventory (VMI), where suppliers own raw material inventory until needed, is a strategy that reduces inventory and administrative costs, while meeting the demand for parts and equipment. The collaborative capabilities within advanced EAM solutions support the two-way visibility and transaction flow required by this strategy.

Outsourced asset management and maintenance follows the trend of using partners for the execution of noncore businesses. In asset-intensive companies, the extensive infrastructure and deep knowledge base required to manage certain strategic assets can be beyond their capacity. Collaborative commerce (c-commerce) and Internet-enabled collaboration within enterprises now supports remote asset monitoring and proactive maintenance services. Advanced EAM solutions can support this business model by providing the ability to share the necessary real-time information within and outside the enterprise.

Clearly, effective spare parts management plays a critical role in asset maintenance, which in turn keeps the operation running. A combination of tried and true inventory and warehouse strategies, strategically aligned with new and controversial methods that are properly implemented, can result in tremendous benefits for the enterprise. MT

Sheila Kennedy is research director at Indus International, 3301 Windy Ridge Parkway, Atlanta, GA 30339; (770) 952-8444

Robert C. Baldwin, CMRP, Editor

Getting outside the fence to mingle with people in different or associated fields pays dividends. It is like benchmarking outside your field to find world-class processes that can put you ahead of your competitors. Remember: If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got.

I took some time recently to attend the conference and exhibition produced by ISA-The Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society. Although the event, held in Chicago October 21-24, 2002, touched on some asset management topics, I was most intrigued by some ideas presented in a couple of process control oriented sessions.

Dick Morley, best known as the father of the PLC, chaired a wide-open discussion with the audience and panel members Shuzo Kaihori, president and CEO, Yokogawa Corporation of America; Jim Pinto, JimPinto.com; Ken Crater, Control.com; and John Berra, executive vice president, Emerson Process Solutions.

One of the questions from the floor asked what could be done to stop the IT bulldozer from overrunning the process control field. One answer: it is probably inevitable. However, it was suggested that process control engineers prepare to take what they need from the change. The issue is not what department is in charge, but the results and value to the enterprise.

That exchange reminds me of the fear some in our community have about process control taking over condition monitoring and asset management. It really doesn't matter, in my opinion, as long as assets get managed to the level required by the enterprise.

In another session, Béla Lipták, author/editor of the three volume Instrument Engineers Handbook, told an intriguing story in his keynote lecture about being invited to a seminar at Harvard University to provide insight into process control techniques for participants who were dealing with social and economic issues. They were looking to process control for solutions. What Lipták imparted to the group is a fundamental tenet of his field—you must first understand the process before you can control it.

Which brings us to maintenance. There are too many people, inside and outside the profession, simply looking for answers to problems instead of trying to understand the process. MT

• Advertising, education, and living have ingrained in us to get the cheapest. I think almost everyone knows that the cheapest is not always the most economical.
• A lot of people want something that is quick and simple and do not want to be bothered with facts about adequacy for the job. This has contributed to manufacturers adding features to aid in analysis. These features may not be effective because they keep changing. Some examples are demodulation, high frequency methods, etc.
• Many people believe everything they see in print. Many articles and papers have been written that purport to explain the various features. The first two or three paragraphs indicate an explanation is forthcoming; however, around the fourth paragraph the subject is changed to something else and the explanation never occurs.
• In some cases, management has abdicated its responsibility to the bargaining unit.
• The large advertising budgets and sales forces of some bearing and instrument manufacturers have capitalized the market for their products.
• Most training courses spend too much time on how to operate equipment, software, setting alert and alarm levels, and how to set up and run a route. These courses spend very little time on actual diagnosis of problems. Some courses even teach things that are not correct. Once people have been trained in these methods, it is often difficult to change their minds.
• Certification testing is based on the above courses. Certifying vibration analysts when there is no consensus on what the data means creates a false impression for management, a sophomoric attitude in some of the certified, and improves the cash flow for the certifying organization.

Vibration analysis is the science of breaking down vibration into the various constituents to identify all problems in the machine. Constituents of vibration are the time signal; frequency spectrum; each frequency: harmonic, sub harmonic, side band; along with the phase relationship and amplitude of each. Some applied technology must be used.

For example, the FFT produces some frequencies that cannot be generated by the machine. This causes the amplitude in the frequency domain to be understated.

Engineers and technicians that have been trained in vibration analysis can, and have, developed rules to follow for accurately diagnosing machinery problems. When all problems are accurately diagnosed and the cause identified, priorities can be assigned. Then the worst problems can be repaired on a scheduled outage and the cause eliminated. Your machines then could operate until the next outage without a failure.

The next logical step is to develop rule-based expert diagnostic software that can, and does, diagnose problems 24/7 without human assistance. This also has been accomplished. The proven results of this type of vibration analysis program are increased run time, profits, and employee efficiency. Improved product quality and reduced down time also have been achieved.

The following recommendations may be helpful in achieving the above benefits:

1. Review the vibration course content before sending people to it. If the content does not include instructions on how to diagnose problems, the course should be avoided.

2. The importance of analyst certification should be downplayed until there is a consensus on what the data means.

3. If training on how to operate equipment/software is needed, the manufacturer may be the best source.

4. Evaluate the equipment you are using. If it is outdated, replace it.

5. Avoid being "locked in" to one manufacturer because there may not be a single company in the world that knows everything there is to know about vibration analysis.

Maintenance groups frequently are asked to perform numerous activities in addition to maintaining equipment and facilities. These activities are important to business functions, but often are not recognized by upper management as spending that is in addition to "maintenance spending."

It is important to identify these additional costs, and make management aware of their magnitude and impact on the maintenance function. Maintenance group spending can be separated into three categories: maintenance, improvement efforts, and inefficiencies.

Maintenance
Equipment maintenance is, by definition, those activities that keep the equipment operating at current capacity and quality levels. "Maintenance spending" is, then, the costs associated with keeping the equipment and facilities in operating condition.

The maintenance function is charged with accomplishing this at the minimum cost. Those costs include preventive maintenance tasks, repair tasks that return the equipment to operating condition, addressing safety issues, predictive activities, and administrative needs that are operational requirements (e.g., costs of employee vacations). The blend of these activities should be monitored and adjusted over time to minimize spending and optimize uptime and asset condition.

Improvement efforts
Improvement efforts fall into several different categories. Cost-reduction projects are focused on reducing the cost of manufacturing and often involve modifying the equipment or the production process. Upgrades usually are focused on increasing production capacity or product quality, and often are preceded by trials, which can involve spending for temporary installations.

Modifications to the equipment often are aimed at reducing the cost of maintaining or operating the equipment. These may be capitalized or expensed. Major capital projects often have an expense-spending component and usually require support efforts from the maintenance group. There are also some administrative choices made that are designed to impact the business—training, special projects, and communications efforts are examples.

All of these efforts are discretionary by definition and are not "maintenance spending." That is, the funds are not being spent to keep the equipment at its current level of performance. There is an expectation that spending on improvement efforts will improve the results of the operation through increased quantity, improved quality, or lower costs. So these types of spending are an investment in the future of the business.

As such, all modifications, upgrades, trials, cost-reduction projects, and administrative choices should be justified based upon their planned return on investment (ROI). This requires early identification of an improvement effort as such, and a different work approval process that requires detailing the planned benefit as well as the expected cost. A more stringent approval process that focuses more attention on justifying improvement activities, as opposed to in-kind repairs, is recommended.

Inefficiencies
Inefficient use of resources is likely to occur in all aspects of the asset management function. Overmaintaining equipment, waiting and travel time for employees, ineffective use of resources due to lack of planning, modifications and improvement efforts that have no payback, nonproductive meeting time, and many others will lead to poor utilization of resources. Managers should be sensitive to potentially wasteful activities and practices and work to eliminate them.

The potential causes of inefficiencies are, unfortunately, common in many workplaces. Poor work practices are a common cause of wasted resources because work practices, if not consciously reviewed and improved, can evolve into accepted practices that waste time and money on a daily basis. Lack of discipline in reviewing and approving upgrade, modification, and improvement efforts can cause many activities to take place that do not improve results, and sometimes lead to a negative business impact.

Finally, having too many maintenance or engineering resources can lead to inefficient and ineffective spending. These employees are going to stay busy and work to fill their time as usefully as they know how. This often means spending on activities that should not be done or are done more frequently than needed.

Management options
Capturing all asset care activities in a work order system will aid analysis efforts. Most work order systems will support categorizing work orders into work types. Capturing work performed into multiple work types that identify them as maintenance activities or improvement efforts will aid in understanding how the budget is being spent.

When these categories are identified, having approval processes in place based upon work order type and cost can lead to the appropriate scrutiny of the work being anticipated. Predictive, preventive, and administrative activities should be reviewed and approved annually to help establish the baseline for the budget. Repair-in-kind and safety issues are work types that should not require many levels of approval, unless the cost is quite high. All improvement efforts, however, should be subject to a disciplined approval process that ensures the spending will lead to a return.

At the same time, a closeout process should be established for modification work that ensures the equipment databases are updated at the conclusion of the work. Stores information, drawings, bills of material, and equipment histories should be updated when modifications occur to the equipment.

Establishing what is truly "maintenance spending" as opposed to other types can lead to understanding the cost of asset care for a particular production system. When a company has multiple systems that are similar in form and function, understanding these costs can lead to internal benchmarking as an improvement process.

Identifying and controlling discretionary spending can lead to better management of spending and staffing levels. It also can lead to better understanding of the demands on the maintenance group for all the activities that are in addition to equipment maintenance. MT

David E. Liddle is president of Liddle & Associates, 18210 Enchanted Rock Trail, Humble, TX 77346; (713) 204-7492

Not only is precise shaft alignment essential, but doing it in the least amount of time is also desirable. Machinery downtime will cost your facility money, especially if that piece of machinery is in the critical path of operation. In some situations, downtime could cost your company hundreds of thousands of dollars per hour.

There are many methods currently available for shaft alignment. They can range from "eyeing" it with a straightedge to using a state-of-the-art, five-axis laser-based alignment tool. Which tool to use will depend on your application, tolerances, and the time required to accomplish the alignment job. This article will explore what is required for precise alignment and what tools are available to accomplish the job.

Aligning shafts
Precise alignment occurs when the centerlines of rotation of two shafts are essentially collinear with each other. The degree to which two machines are misaligned can be determined by examining the amount of offset and angularity that exists between them. Offset is essentially the distance between the two rotational centerlines while angularity is the angle between the centerlines that is created by the misalignment of the two centerlines.

Is it necessary to get a perfect "zero" offset and a perfect "zero" angularity? The answer is no, because it is only necessary to arrive within the specified tolerance for offset and angularity. See table "Recommended Tolerances."

The higher the rpm of a piece of machinery, the tighter the tolerance must be. The tolerances table specifies an excellent and an acceptable (or fair) tolerance for both offset and angularity. The acceptable standard is used for re-alignments on noncritical machinery, or where time is of the essence. New installations and critical machines should always be aligned to the excellent standard. In fact, align all machines to the excellent standard if you are not extremely pressed for time.

For example, a machine turns 1800 rpm, and the shaft alignment measured 1.7 mils for the offset and 3.5 mils per 10 in. for the angularity. The alignment can be left as is because it falls within tolerance. The offset is within excellent tolerance and the angularity is within acceptable tolerance. It would be ideal to get the gap within the excellent tolerance, but if that is not possible, the acceptable tolerance would be OK.

Of the many methods available to measure shaft alignment, the two most popular are dial indicator alignment and laser alignment.

Dial indicator alignment
Alignment by dial indicator is an accurate method provided these potential problems that can adversely affect readings are dealt with correctly:

• indicator bar sag
• indicator hysteresis (internal friction causing the indicator to stick)
• low resolution
• reading errors (such as not following the indicator travel properly and misinterpreting the sign (+/) of the reading, or a parallax error from not having the indicator mounted perpendicular to the indicating surface)
• play in mechanical linkages
• components the indicator touches magnetized by an exciter
• shaft axial play (endfloat)
• vibration from surrounding running machinery

Provided that you can properly control or compensate for all of these factors, dial indicators can allow for accuracies of up to 1 mil (1/1000 in.).

Dial indicators are used in various methods to measure offset and angularity; the two most popular methods to be discussed will be the rim and face method and the reverse indicator method. These methods have their relative strengths and weaknesses in terms of convenience and accuracy.

The rim and face method takes an offset reading with a radial indicator and measures the angularity with an axial (or face) indicator. Measurement error increases if the rotational diameter at which measurement takes place is 8 in. or less due to decreasing measurement resolution of the angularity, or if shaft endplay exists. One advantage of this method is that it eliminates the need for the indicators to travel through the bottom, which is important where radial clearance is an issue, given that results can be obtained with only three out of four readings over a 180 deg rotation across the top.

The reverse indicator method measures offset at two different locations along the axis of the shafts, thereby allowing the angularity to be calculated. The advantage of this method is that it is less affected by end float. For acceptable accuracy, the distance between the dial indicators must be greater than 8 in. This method requires full rotational and radial clearance all the way around, since the indicators are mounted 180 deg apart from each other. Even a 180 deg rotation will always cause one indicator to travel through the bottom.

If used correctly, dial indicators can be an effective means of shaft alignment. In addition to the previously mentioned factors which can adversely affect indicator readings, do not forget that one still must calculate the offset and angularity values at the coupling center from the raw dial indicator readings at a different location on the shafts and then use this data to calculate the foot corrections to get them aligned precisely. Performing this in the field and then retaking measurements can be a very time-consuming and error-prone process.

Laser alignment
The other popular method for precision shaft alignment, laser alignment, offers the potential for much greater accuracy than dial indicators, with the added convenience of good time savings.

There are several laser systems available. Some use a single laser and detector configuration, one uses a reflected beam approach, and some use a dual laser configuration which works much along the same principle as the reverse dial indicator method. A good laser alignment system should have an accuracy of at least 0.0001 in. (1/10000 in.).

One system works by attaching a laser emitter to one shaft and a position detecting sensor/receiver to the other shaft. Both the laser and receiver are separately mounted to the shafts by means of a rigid bracketing system. Both shafts can remain coupled together. Measurement occurs by rotating the shafts in a continuous sweep as little as a quarter turn (or less), or by rotating the shafts to any desired positions, or to specific clock positions.

One important feature of the laser-based systems is that they will do the number crunching for you. This means foot corrections and alignment data at the coupling are provided instantly. Some systems even have a soft-foot function that allows users to check for a soft-foot condition, and one will even suggest corrections. Laser systems also let you accommodate much longer spans than dial indicators with great ease (which is necessary for cooling tower fans or cardan shaft drives, for instance) and one will even let you turn the shafts independently when uncoupled.

Choosing a laser system
Not all laser-based systems are the same. For accurate and repeatable measurements, quality is absolutely essential. The tool must withstand the rigors of the field and be flexible enough in its functionality and features to permit aligning the many combinations of machinery and coupled shafts that exist in the field. It also must be user friendly so the operator can concentrate on getting the alignment right, instead of working to figure out how to operate the system.

Choose a system that is compact, lightweight, but shock resistant, waterproof (at least IP-65), and very rugged. Excellent bracketing is a must. Flimsy or heavy bracketing could shift or distort during rotation. This could cause an inaccuracy in the measurements. Large laser and sensor heads could prove difficult to use in situations with limited clearances or obstructions to rotation.

The laser alignment system should be durable. In an industrial environment, users most likely will be working with temperature and humidity extremes. There is also a possibility of noisy electrical conditions as well as sprays from liquids. Make sure the unit is capable of operating in this type of environment. With such existing conditions, there is also the risk of an operator accidentally dropping a component of the unit.

Finally, make absolutely certain the system offers a range extension feature and the ability to independently enter target specifications for thermal growth as well as thermal growth values at the support points of the machine. It should offer the ability to recalculate corrections when you get bolt-bound (a static foot function) for all machine feet. If you have machine trains (three or more machines) make sure the system can handle the whole train and display results for all together. The tool must tell the operator when he has arrived within tolerances, and these tolerance parameters should be controllable by the user. Documentation is critical. Only the best systems will let you store a file, reopen it, continue working, and print a report.

Laser alignment systems have advantages over dial indicators. The main disadvantage may be in the up-front cost of the system. Laser alignment systems can range from $3000 to near $20,000, with the best systems costing upwards of $12,000. When time savings, reduced downtime, increased reliability, fewer repair costs, and lowered electricity costs are all considered, a high quality laser alignment system is easily one of the best and fastest paying investments to be made in the maintenance department. MT

Information supplied by Daus Studenberg, applications engineer, at Ludeca, Inc., 1425 NW 88th Ave., Miami, FL 33172; telephone (305) 591-8935

What are the most important issues facing maintenance and reliability management?

What are the perceived barriers to success?

What functions are most likely to be outsourced?

To find the answers to these and other questions about the practice of equipment reliability, maintenance, and asset management, MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY and Rockwell Automation surveyed a sample of MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY readers.

We found that equipment reliability issues have been gaining importance, that maintenance and reliability improvement is most constrained by limited resources (manpower and budget), and that equipment maintenance is the least likely activity to be outsourced. It was found that uptime is the most often used measure of performance of maintenance and reliability activities, and that maintenance cost reduction was the least used measure. Other often used performance measures are equipment availability and overall equipment effectiveness.

Survey findings are outlined in the section "Current Maintenance Practice." Information on survey methodology is reviewed in the secations "How the Survey was Conducted" and "Who Responded to the Survey?".

Here is a point-by-point discussion of survey results covering maintenance responsibility, performance indicators, major issues affecting maintenance performance, and outsourcing strategies.

Uptime responsibility

In addition to maintenance and reliability, which function is most responsible for production equipment uptime? That was the first question on our survey. Operations was the top pick, by almost three to one—60 percent of respondents cited operations, followed by engineering at 22 percent and plant management at 14 percent.

Project involvement

Maintenance and reliability leadership plays a prominent role in decision-making for plant strategies and projects. According to respondents, department leaders are usually involved or always involved in plant improvement decisions 79 percent of the time; capital projects, 73 percent; equipment asset management, 73 percent; productivity improvements, 67 percent; and outsourcing, 64 percent, as noted in Fig. 1.

Team effort, mostly
Production equipment management and reliability is a team effort in most plants. As can be seen in Fig. 2, when it comes to production equipment management and reliability issues, maintenance/reliability, engineering, operations, and plant management groups are involved frequently or all the time in more than two-thirds of the cases. Finance, purchasing, and corporate management are involved significantly less.

As expected, the maintenance and reliability function is more involved—two-thirds of the respondents saying this group is involved all the time. Similarly, about one-third of engineering, operations, and plant management groups are involved all of the time.

Uptime is king
Success is most often measured by one metric: Uptime. Of the performance measures offered, more than two-thirds of the respondents indicate that the primary measure of success is related to equipment performance: Uptime at 36 percent, availability at 18 percent, and overall equipment effectiveness at 15 percent. As can be seen from Fig. 3, the financial and work process metrics of preventive maintenance schedule compliance, budget compliance, work backlog, maintenance cost reductions, and storeroom inventory levels are less often used.

Most important issues
Of the important issues facing plants, health and safety takes its rightful place as the most important. It is followed closely by equipment reliability and improving uptime.

Respondents were asked to rate the importance to their company of 10 issues on a five-point scale: not important, marginally important, important, somewhat important, and very important. The tallies for somewhat important and very important ratings are displayed in Fig. 4.

The six top-ranked issues, all with somewhat-very important scores of more than 80 percent are: health and safety (92 percent), equipment reliability (88 percent), improving plant/facility uptime (88 percent), improving quality (85 percent), environmental compliance (83 percent), and cutting manufacturing costs (82 percent). Lesser ratings were given to optimizing machine performance, maximizing utilization of plant equipment, integrating MRO into the supply chain, and continuity planning/disaster recovery.

More intensity now
Three years ago, respondents say, the six most important issues were the same. Equipment reliability was the 5th most important issue then. It is the 2nd most important issue today.

Although the top issues remained the same during the past three years, their importance has grown. The six top issues, ranked in order of their relative increase in "very important" responses from three years ago and now, are equpment reliability (105 percent), improving quality (86 percent), improving plant/facility uptime (82 percent), cutting costs (78 percent), environmental compliance (71 percent), and health and safety (58 percent). The relatively small increse in health and safety is explained by its importance three years ago when it lead all other categories by 10 points.

Room for improvement
Survey respondents spend more than three times as much effort on reactive maintenance as they believe they should. That was the result of a survey question asking participants to indicate the amount of time their company currently spends in reactive maintenance, routine/preventive maintenance, condition-based/predictive maintenance, and shutdown/turnaround work and how much time should ideally be spent in those categories.

The breakout for current work was 40 percent reactive, 32 percent routine/preventive, 15 percent condition-based/predictive, and 13 percent shutdown/turnaround. Ideally, respondents felt that only 12 percent of work should be reactive, and that routine/preventive should be boosted to 44 percent and condition-based/predictive to 33 percent. These figures are shown graphically in plot in Fig. 5.

Barriers to improvement
Lack of resources is the major barrier to implementing a more comprehensive asset management program. Over half of respondents identified lack of manpower (53 percent) as a major or insurmountable barrier followed by budgetary restraints (47 percent). Lesser barriers were: too busy reacting to machine problems to be proactive/strategic, lack of management understanding of maintenance strategies, level of maintenance employee training, and not sure how to justify improved best maintenance practices. The relative importance is shown in Fig. 6.

Justifying new equipment
To justify new equipment or process expenditures, most respondents rely on anticipated productivity improvements or return on investment. The survey asked respondents to select one or two of the following justification approaches: productivity improvement (54 percent), cost savings (38 percent), return on investment (50 percent), return on net assets (9 percent), and payback (24 percent).

Outsourcing strategies
Operations such as boiler/HVACR maintenance and facility management are commonly outsourced, while equipment maintenance is the least likely to be outsourced. Respondents were asked to rate their outsourcing of various functions by frequency: never, rarely, sometimes, frequently, and all the time. Functions outsourced frequently or all the time, in decreasing order, are boilers/HVACR maintenance (42 percent), facilities management, including building and grounds (42 percent), instrument maintenance (23 percent), equipment repair (18 percent), reliability analysis (15 percent), condition monitoring analysis (13 percent), storeroom and inventory management (11 percent), operations labor (10 percent), and equipment maintenance (7 percent).

The most common reasons cited for outsourcing equipment maintenance and reliability or repair activity are manpower (74 percent) and limited skills or experience (58 percent). Other reasons checked: not a core competency of the organization (33 percent), cost reduction (25 percent), regulatory compliance (25 percent), liability issues (22 percent), experience with outsourcing activities (19 percent), and greater accountability (7 percent).

When selecting an outsourcing vendor, respondents put knowledge at the top of the list of considerations. They rated considerations on a five-point scale: not important, marginally important, important, somewhat important, and very important. The ranking, in descending order by the proportion of respondents selecting somewhat important or very important are: knowledge (86 percent), experience (82 percent), performance (78 percent), business relationship (70 percent), reputation (69 percent), cost (55 percent), other available products and services (43 percent), and recommendation/referral (34 percent).

Measuring outsourcing success
Although cost issues are well down the list of reasons for outsourcing and vendor selection considerations, cost saving is the most popular method companies measure the success of outsourced equipment maintenance and repair activities. When asked to check the ways they measure outsourcing success, 62 percent checked cost saving, followed closely by overall equipment effectiveness at 57 percent and improved uptime also at 57 percent. Other success measures were return on investment at 32 percent, ability to apply predictive and preventive maintenance measures at 31 percent, and return on net assets at 9 percent.

Opportunity
We hope the survey results reported here can be used to help maintenance and reliability professionals and their peers in industrial plants and major facilities identify opportunities for improvement.

Overall, it is a call for action. It is the author's opinion, after reviewing detailed survey data, that many maintenance and reliability organizations are caught in a bind. On the one hand, they recognize that the barrier to a more comprehensive maintenance process is lack of manpower and money. On the other hand, the only way to get more done with fewer people and less money is to install a comprehensive maintenance process with robust planning and scheduling capabilities.

The answer seems obvious—without positive change, the situation will continue to deteriorate. And positive change will probably not be possible without the commitment of additional time, money, and manpower. If done intelligently, there should be an attractive return on the investment.

As one maintenance sage once said: "Good maintenance costs money, but poor maintenance costs more." MT

For further information about the survey, contact Robert C. Baldwin, MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY; (847) 382-8100; or Howard Mars, Rockwell Automation, Milwaukee, WI; (414) 382-0153

To what degree is your department leadership involved in decision-making for the following activities?

Fig. 1. Maintenance and reliability leadership plays an important role in decision-making for a variety of plant initiatives.

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Within your facility, to what degree are the following groups involved in production equipment management and reliabiliy issues?

Fig. 2. Production equipment management and reliability is a team effort, with maintenance playing the key role.

 

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At your plant, which of these is most often used to measure performance of maintenance and reliability activities?

Fig. 3. Uptime or the associated performance metrics of availability and OEE are used by more than two-thirds of the respondents.

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How important are each of the following to your company today?

Fig. 4. Health and safety leads the list of important issues facing maintenance and reliability personnel.

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How would you allocate the percentage of time your company spends on each equipment maintenance activity?

Fig. 5. Respondents spend 40 percent of their time with reactive work, but believe it should be only 12 percent.

 

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How much of a barrier are each of the following in preventing your company from implementing a more comprehensive asset management program.

Fig. 6. Lack of resources (manpower and budget) poses the strongest barrier to maintenance and reliability improvement.

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The operator and the maintenance supervisor are teammates and both have to work together on this issue. Neither must lie down and get rolled over.

Consider this scenario.

At 8:00 in the morning, the maintenance supervisor answers the "emergency" phone call this way.

"Hello? ... Send some mechanics right now? Well, for an emergency, I certainly will, but can it wait until next week? Then the planner can plan the job and schedule it for next week. I'm already working on this week's schedule. We made a commitment to Operations for the work we would try to accomplish this week to help reach a productivity goal. & You didn't know about this job last Friday? That's okay. That's why we have operators to know when things happen. But do you think this job can wait until next week?

"... It can't? Well, can it wait until tomorrow? Then the planner can plan it and I'll work it into tomorrow's schedule. I've already assigned everyone on my crew enough work for today to ensure each person does a full day's work. That's our productivity key. I'd sure hate to start reassigning folks. Can it wait until tomorrow?

"... It can't? No problem. But can it wait at least until this afternoon? Then the planner can still plan it by looking in the equipment file to see what we did last time and make this job run smoother. Also, the planner can take a quick look at the job site and see if we need a special skill set. I'd hate to assign a mechanic if the job requires a certified welder. The planner can also estimate how long the job should last so I can coordinate this job with all the other work. Can it wait until this afternoon?

"... It can't? I understand. Well, how about if I start it at 10 o'clock? A couple of mechanics already working on jobs now should finish about 10:00. Otherwise, interrupting a job in progress means spending extra time putting away parts and tools so they won't be lost or time won't be wasted later trying to remember what went where. Then no one's work gets done. Look, can this job wait until 10:00?

"... It CAN? That's great! Okay, 10:00 it is. Give me the work order number. ... What? ... Of course you have to write a work order for everything, even a 'come-in-the-middle-of-the-night' emergency. I guess if you radioed me from the field about a fire, I would enter a work order for you while I was radioing my crew to scramble. But you're in the control room. Go ahead and call up the work order module, press 'insert,' and tell me the work order number. Then you can fill out the request while I go and tell the mechanics. ... Oh yes, we need the work order even if we don't plan or schedule it. This work order will allow the mechanics to record feedback. Inventory parts and anything else we learn about the job will be useful next time we work on this equipment. We don't want to re-invent the wheel for anything. Plus, you can't do any kind of equipment analysis if you don't collect the information during the year on work orders. ... Okay, got it. We'll take care of it.

"And listen, by the way, I don't mean to give you a hard time about this emergency and work order thing. I want you and anyone else to call me immediately anytime for an emergency or other problem. I'd be glad to reassign my entire crew at a moment's notice if I have to in order to handle an emergency. But if every week we drive seriously toward completing a week's worth of work, we can usually get everyone's work done in two or three weeks.

"And if we ever drift back into simply waiting for operators to call with urgent work, we tend to take care of just that work and then sit back on our heels feeling we've 'done our job.' Then productivity drops and anyone who wants anything done in a reasonable amount of time has to call and say that he has an urgent job."

There were several victories in this conversation between operator and maintenance supervisor.

Victory for the operator insisting on assurance of the proper response to the true priority of the work.

Victory for the supervisor keeping the crew working as productively as possible under the circumstances.

Victory for culture. MT

Doc Palmer, PE, CMRP, works in the maintenance department of an electric power station. In the early 90s, Palmer was responsible for overhauling the existing maintenance planning organization. Publisher McGraw-Hill subsequently sought out Palmer to author the Maintenance Planning and Scheduling Handbook published in 1999 and now in its fifth printing.

Robert C. Baldwin, CMRP, Editor

Representatives of 20 companies met March 23-24, 1992 at the Chicago Ritz Carlton Hotel to lay the groundwork for a new professional organization: The Society for Maintenance & Reliability Professionals (SMRP).

The group, assembled at the invitation of HSB Reliability Technologies and MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY magazine, developed a mission statement and organized committees to develop bylaws and membership criteria, nominate officers, and plan society activities such as a conference.

In October, a year and a half later, the group held its first conference in Nashville. It was superb, with three concurrent tracks packed with informative sessions. Perhaps the most important ingredient of its success was that the program was developed by practitioners for practitioners. That is mostly still true today.

The conference, as well as its sponsor, has continued to grow and thrive. Attendance this year is expected to reach 500 people, and SMRP has nearly 1000 individual members and 100 executive (company) members.

This is truly great progress, but it is only a drop in the bucket. There are more than 160,000 industrial sites in the United States, plus thousands of commercial and government sites, all with some type of maintenance organization.

SMRP has done a great job of getting top maintenance organizations together to discuss best practices. But where are the others?

How many potential members are there? If the distribution of best practices follows Pareto's 80/20 rule, 80 percent of the best practices "wealth" is "owned" by 20 percent of industrial sites. That means 32,000 industrial sites possess significant best practices and would have much to contribute. So SMRP's membership directorate has plenty of opportunity.

Speaking of opportunity, I hope the editorial staff of MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY magazine will have an opportunity to meet you in Nashville this month at SMRP's Tenth Annual Conference.

If not, I hope you consider yourself among the top 20 percent and will sieze the opportunity offered by SMRP to share maintenance and reliability best practices at future conferences, workshops, and meetings. MT

The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) is responsible for providing wholesale water and sewerage services, in whole or in part, to 61 communities and 2.6 million people. In addition to its operating responsibilities, MWRA is responsible for rehabilitating, repairing, and maintaining the regional water and sewerage systems.

Since its assumption of the ownership and operations of the systems in 1985, MWRA has undertaken an ambitious program of water and wastewater system capital improvements with estimated expenditures for fiscal years 1986 through 2009 of more than $7 billion. Under one massive construction effort, the Boston Harbor Project, the MWRA assumed maintenance responsibility for the $3.8 billion Deer Island Treatment Plant designed to treat 1.2 billion gpd. It is the second largest wastewater treatment facility in the nation. The new treatment plant's operations and discharge water quality are closely monitored by state and federal agencies and environmental organizations through an extremely stringent permit.

Initiative created
Given the significant value and critical nature of the MWRA assets, maintenance is of paramount importance. In 1996, the Facilities Asset Management Program (FAMP) initiative was created as a comprehensive, agency-wide effort to most efficiently and effectively manage the region's water and sewer infrastructure. The purpose of the FAMP initiative is to optimize the efficiency and effectiveness of MWRA equipment maintenance practices (i.e., minimize critical equipment failures, minimize unnecessary maintenance practices, improve equipment reliability, and heighten system knowledge).

In summary, the program focused on areas such as standardization of maintenance practices, adoption of best practices, and optimization of labor and material resources. The program is a phased approach (see above).

In 1999, the Capital Programs Group, under the direction of Dan O'Brien, selected New Dimensions Solution consultants, New York, NY, to help facilitate changes in MWRA maintenance practices. The changes included implementing a Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) strategy instead of the current time-based maintenance strategy, advancing the use and quality of the computerized maintenance management system, MAXIMO (MRO Software, Bedford, MA), and developing a design for the installation of permanent vibration and temperature monitoring for critical process equipment.

Site visits
As the Phase I program was implemented, there was uncertainty between the operating units of the benefits of a comprehensive asset management program. A critical turning point in the program's success followed site visits to several industries. The Authority sent seven representatives, led by Deputy Director of Maintenance Gerry Gallinaro, to Dofasco Inc., Hamilton, ON, and Broward County, FL (a water/wastewater utility), to learn about the implementation of RCM and CMMS at their sites.

The Authority team was made up of a cross-section of staff including maintenance management, work coordination, process control, plant engineering, capital programs, and warehouse personnel. The host sites provided invaluable insight and lessons learned from their asset management projects including corporate commitment, culture change agents, best practices, resource requirements, and sustainment structures to support the new business approaches.

The results were presented to the various operating units and senior staff and a detailed trip report with recommendations to be implemented was prepared. The trip resulted in a giant step forward by empowering in-house staff and solidifying the FAMP program's goals and objectives. After these trips, senior staff support increased and the program gained significant momentum.

One additional key element that was identified was the need to institute a communications plan to facilitate change. The plan was needed to institute cultural changes to a diversified staff in multiple locations and to institute standardized practices Authority-wide.

The communication plan included activities such as regular program briefings, team meetings, newsletter articles on progress, forum events, and an Intranet site. The director of Deer Island, John Vetere, held informational meetings with all staff to discuss the program elements and their importance. It proved to be an essential component to our successful maintenance management optimization campaign allowing connectivity between workforce members and business goals. In addition, the communication plan is used to highlight and track program success.

SMRP conference
As the FAMP program moved ahead, it was clear to MWRA that staff needed to look outside the box from traditional maintenance thinking. Historically, water quality professionals relied on civil engineering type conferences to gain operations and maintenance knowledge. Our consultant team recommended involvement in the Society for Maintenance & Reliability Professionals (SMRP).

Four members of the Authority attended SMRP's 2001 conference to gain insight into high level company approaches to asset management. The results of this trip were overwhelmingly positive. Staff gained tremendous insight into "for profit" best maintenance practices approaches allowing MWRA to gain beneficial knowledge to map out future program phases and best practices implementation.

Facilities Asset Management Program (FAMP) Model

An additional key element was also identified and adopted. Task teams were formed for nine key areas of the FAMP program including:

• Metrics
• Criticality analysis
• Reliability Centered Maintenance implementation
• Condition monitoring
• Permanent condition monitoring equipment installation
• Maintenance procedures
• Asset replacement strategy
• Warehouse optimization
• Work coordination/CMMS

Team charters were developed for each task team to facilitate the MAPP implementation plan of best practices throughout the organization. The task teams have support throughout the Authority and include representatives from maintenance, operations, process control, finance, budgeting, planning, warehouse, and management.

The highlights of the conference and recommendations to implement at the Authority were formalized in both a detailed report and multiple presentations to senior management. Lessons learned from this single event fueled the program's momentum, allowing staff to paint a clear picture of a comprehensive approach to a cost-effective asset management program that could be shared and explained easily to the various operating units staff.

Collaboration
Interactions with a large international manufacturing facility in Boston, MA, and Coors Brewing Co., Golden, CO, allowed the Authority to expand its asset management program base and provided useful opportunities for technology transfer. These interactions have provided insight into best practices techniques as well as allowed the MWRA to affirm the asset management program's direction and approach.

One common thread among these companies included reorganization of staff to support the development and sustainment of best maintenance practices throughout diverse organizations. Dedicated staff are needed to work on the process of defining and implementing best maintenance practices, and refining the existing maintenance program. The "on the process" staff support the maintenance staff working "in the process" that complete the required day-to-day maintenance activities.

Another key element at these companies was the use of periodic forums as a communications plan tool. The use of such events allows multi-unit organizations, with national and/or international locations, to facilitate change and communicate consistent goals and objectives of the asset management programs. The forums allow key staff to come together and build a standardized approach to asset management allowing timely program rollout. Involvement breeds commitment.

As a result of the collaboration with these private companies, the Authority has initiated a quarterly forum with each task team presenting its results to a larger Authority group.

Milestones
In the development of a strong asset management program, it is important to reach out to all available resources. Program successes need to be documented and shared to guide the organization through interim milestones on its way to achieving world-class status.

The program has had early success because of the changes initiated from the technology transfer. These successes were possible only with the support and dedication of our staff who have balanced normal workloads while implementing the new maintenance practices. The results have been significant in many ways.

National award. In May 2002, the MWRA's FAMP initiative received national attention at the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies' 2002 National Environmental Achievement Awards in the Operations category. It is clear that the MWRA is leading change in utility asset management as it demonstrated an "innovative and effective project developed and implemented in a cost-effective manner while achieving environmental compliance."

Staffing reductions. The maintenance staff at Deer Island has decreased from a high of 176 in 1999 to 142 today. The reduction occurred even though more equipment required maintenance as each construction package was turned over. The staff reduction has not impacted the maintenance provided. The maintenance backlog is anticipated to remain within industry standards (3-6 weeks). An enhanced and expanded condition monitoring program is progressing—we will be able to do more with less.

Work schedule. Historically, work orders were scheduled daily by the supervisors. The Work Coordination Group initiated scheduling work one week in advance to help the program move from reactive to proactive maintenance. The goal of this initiative is to have maintenance staff thinking about work one week in advance and planning for parts, tools, and labor. In addition, each technician is assigned 8 hours of work for each day.

In the first seven months, the number of corrective maintenance and project work orders decreased from 2586 to 1454 (a 43 percent reduction). Work order backlog has been reduced from 5.3 weeks to 3.3 weeks from the implementation of this scheduling initiative. The reduced backlog has resulted in higher equipment availability and improved plant performance.

Teamwork. Through the RCM effort and task team development, teamwork is at its highest levels. The RCM effort has built bridges between the operations and maintenance staffs. The task teams have resulted in a wider circle of Authority staff being involved in the project and moving toward a common goal. In addition, the implementation of a cross-functional flexibility program includes multi-trade teams working together on maintenance activities.

Alliances built
Industry site visits and conference attendance has allowed MWRA staff to build a network of asset management alliances. This network provides an ongoing opportunity to share ideas and lessons learned, helping those involved from traveling down the wrong road that could result in lost time and money. MWRA's goal is to continue developing alliances in its effort to reach world-class status.

The MWRA has worked hard over the past several years to research and initiate many new optimization programs. Although we have shown significant results proving our asset management program is on target, we need to remain diligent and focused on our implementation. Continuous improvement leads to maximum efficiency and effectiveness—the process is a journey not a destination. Our true challenges lie ahead as we continue our aspiration to become a world-class maintenance organization.

Details of how MWRA approached Phase I of its asset management program can be found at www.mt-online.com/current/0902_mwraphase1.html MT

John W. Fortin is program manager, John P. Colbert is asset manager, and Ted Regan is work coordination manager at Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, Deer Island Treatment Plant, Boston, MA. Contact Fortin at (617) 539-4249. Colbert at (617) 539-4218, Regan at (617) 539-4257.