Plant Services - February 2008 - (Page 32)

W hat is a Best Practice? We’re partial to the Society of Maintenance and Reliability Professionals (SMRP) definition: “A Best Practice is a process, technique or innovative use of resources that has a proven record of success in providing significant improvement in cost, schedule, quality, performance, safety, environment or other measurable factors that impact the health of an organization.” SMRP committee members and contributors are doing the industrial maintenance and asset management profession a great service by defining terminology, building consensus standards and collecting a body of knowledge that includes Best Practices. The SMRP’s formal process of soliciting proposals, submitting them to its membership for comment, refining and agreeing upon the results, and making them available to all, is invaluable. But defining Best Practices only gets you part of the way. To implement them, most companies and individuals need concrete examples that demonstrate how to introduce them, show the potential payoffs in both qualitative and quantitative terms, and provide inspiration for those who must overcome cultural inertia and make effective changes. That’s why we offer the Plant Services Best Practices Awards. All that’s needed to enter is a story about an application that fits the SMRP definition. Entries may be submitted by plant personnel, vendors, engineering firms, consultants or anyone who is familiar with the application and has permission to make it public knowledge. Entries submitted by Sept. 1, 2007 were included in this year’s selection. We edited them as necessary for clarity, divided them into four categories, and posted them behind registration pages in a secluded region of www.PlantServices.com. We wrote summaries of every proposed Best Practice and its results (leaving out any product or company names), and in December we e-mailed the summaries to registered Plant Services readers, inviting them to vote by registering and accessing the full stories. Registration is used only to ensure the integrity of the voting process – information is not shared with others or used for any other purpose. The winners presented here were determined by tallying the number of qualified readers who had accessed each entry. On the following pages you’ll find comprehensive excerpts of this year’s winning stories, as well as brief descriptions of the runners-up. The full stories can be conveniently accessed at www.PlantServices.com/bestpractices. We think you’ll find valuable advice and useful examples among both the winners and the runners-up, and hope you’ll find inspiration to enter your favorite technique, tool or technology for the 2009 Best Practices Awards. If you have a story about an application you think qualifies as a Best Practice, you can find entry information at www.PlantServices.com/bestpractices. We want to thank those of you who responded to our e-mailed ballot, not only for helping to select the winners, but also for being interested in improving their operations, and thus all our lives, by learning from the application stories. We also thank all who entered for being willing to share the results of your fine work with your peers, and for taking the time and making the effort to write it up. We encourage everyone to enter the 2009 Plant Services Best Practices Awards. 32 www.PLANTSERVICES.com February 2008 http://www.PlantServices.com http://www.PlantServices.com/bestpractices http://www.PlantServices.com/bestpractices http://www.PLANTSERVICES.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Plant Services - February 2008

Plant Services - February 2008 Contents From the Editor Letters The PS Files Up and Running Crisis Corner What Works Asset Manager: Why Six Sigma? Technology Toolbox: Ensuring a Calm Response Cover Story: Best Practices Awards Lubricants: A Slick Success Story Motors: Reliable Torque Compressors: Before You Call for Help Web Hunter: Exploiting Intellectual Capital In the Trenches Product Picks Classifieds Fast Facts Energy Expert: Energy, Climate and Food

Plant Services - February 2008

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