Efficient Plant October 2017 - 28

feature | voice from the field
to try and create something new. We are
one of the few flow-control companies that
perform specialized work like this."
Hazinski knows that good preventive-maintenance procedures can translate
to reliable and efficient equipment. So he
takes on the responsibility of writing the
installation and maintenance procedures
and instructions for each piece of new
equipment he designs.
"A lot of companies have equipment
that is running just fine, so they ignore the
general maintenance," he said. "Then, for
no particular reason, the equipment will get
jammed up or it will leak, and the operators
are left to wonder why that happened. Usually it is because it was installed and worked
fine for years, and they just assumed it
would be okay indefinitely. That is really not
the case with anything. The best reliability
tip I can ever give is to follow the preventive-maintenance procedures for the best
success."

THE EVOLUTION OF INDUSTRY
The differences Hazinski has seen through
the years in the various manufacturing
plants he visits are not limited to the automation and equipment.
"There is not really a shortage of engineers as the workforce ages, but I do
find that the younger people are far more
computer-oriented," he said. "There is much
less hands-on kind of work. Almost everything is attached to a computer. This was
not the case in the past. The real hands-on
work with tools is not taught much to the
younger guys. The skills set of the general
manufacturing plant worker has changed
dramatically-some of the operators are
engineers."
He cited an example from a New York
foundry that uses some of the equipment he
has designed.
"Our valves are all over the place in this
plant," he said. "Most of them are under

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the floor, and you must lift a floor panel
to access them. There was a leak with one
of them. Everyone was dressed up like
astronauts from head to toe like you see in
a clean room or an operating room. Every
single person had a lot of training and
education. I wanted to take off my gloves to
see if I could feel where the leak was coming
from and I thought they were going to drag
me out of there for even suggesting this. It's
difficult to diagnose something when you
can't touch it."
Hazinski said automation, electronics,
and instrumentation are only going to
increase in capability, technology, and complexity as manufacturing moves forward.
"For the big places, I just see more and
more automation and the skill level of the
people is constantly increasing," he said.
"People without training and education are
being left out of the highly technical jobs.
In some plants, there are even automated
forklifts, and lots more robotics. It takes
years to design these systems and precision
is so important."
But the human element will continue to
be vital, he predicts.
"Quality control and the need for
progress of innovation will ensure that all
humans in manufacturing facilities are not
replaced by robots," he said. "The quality-control professionals want to know what
happened when something goes wrong, and
we still need skilled engineers to figure out
the solutions." EP

Michelle Segrest is president of Navigate
Content Inc., and has been a professional
journalist for 28 years. She specializes
in creating content for the industrial
processing industries. If you know a
maintenance and/or reliability expert
who is making a difference at their
facility, please email her at michelle@
navigatecontent.com.

OCTOBER 2017
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