Plant Services - August 2008 - (Page 28) MANAGEMENT Personnel support system, it gives access to knowledge and experience in rotating equipment, machinery, components, software and instrumentation from SKF and its alliance partners. Contents focus on asset management (achieving the lowest total cost of ownership with maximum availability, performance efficiency and product quality), reliability engineering (RCA, FMEA, predictive maintenance, vibration analysis, inspection techniques and thermography) and and accessible only to specific organizations. We also include it as part of service packages and employee training programs.” For example, the product support package for a vibration system could include @ptitudeXchange. Add smarts to internal systems When a seasoned individual is getting ready to retire, take them off their job for the last tWo to six months and grill them. mechanical maintenance (alignment, balancing, bearing installation and equipment history tracking). It includes overview documents, technical handbooks, white papers, application notes, best practices, interactive tutorials and benchmarking information, as well as interactive advisory systems for help with day-to-day analysis and decision-making. There also are public and private forums, where you can get answers to questions or search for and find solved problems. “If someone finds a problem with a motor or imbalance in a fan, they can look for an easy answer in the repository and prevent a recurrence,” says Rob Bretz, team leader, SKF Internet, SKF (www. aptitudexchange.com). “We built the capability to add interactive tutorials on subjects like bearings, lubrication and thermography that we could turn into courses with certificates of completion. Then we added expert systems, like LubeSelect, so you could enter parameters and get information on what lubricant to use and the proper service regimen.” Part of the knowledgebase can be accessed for free after registration, whereas other parts require a subscription. “From the beginning, @ptitudeXchange has been intended as a profit center, where we sell content,” Bretz says. “The bulk is behind subscription, and some of it is proprietary 28 “When a seasoned individual is getting ready to retire or take their leave, take them off their job for the last two to six months and grill them on different aspects of the jobs they’ve done for 30+ years,” suggests Al Yonkman, a recently retired DTE control and computer systems engineer now working with IBM (www.ibm.com) as a business development executive. “Capture that information in standard work instructions [SWIs] linked to job plans so people can access them without trying to dig up Old Joe’s last comments to find out what you do in a particular situation.” Knowledge that’s used routinely to perform regular tasks can be added to a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS), document-management system and engineering software. Associate it with specific tasks so it’s readily accessible whenever the task comes up. Engineering programs can be interlocked to reflect institutionalized knowledge. “If you’re designing a multiplepole line extension, the pole tops and pole spacings are pretty standard,” Yonkman says. “You can build them in so a fairly new employee is able to design a sophisticated line because the system improve productivity The white paper, “Workforce Trends: Tools for taking control of today’s skilled labor shortage,” by Advanced Technology Services (ATS) provides guidance on what companies can do to stem the tide. It shows the immediate and long-term benefits of taking proactive steps to recruit, train and promote a multiskilled labor force to make factories more productive in-house, so manufacturers won’t look elsewhere for less-expensive production alternatives. Find it at www.plantservices.com/ industrynews/2008/102.html. www.PLANTSERVICES.com August 2008 http://www.ibm.com http://aptitudexchange.com http://aptitudexchange.com http://www.plantservices.com/industrynews/2008/102.html http://www.plantservices.com/industrynews/2008/102.html http://www.PLANTSERVICES.com
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