Up Time Magazine- February/March 2008

upgrade Spotlighting Editor’s picks of hot products & services in the industry. Prepare for a new experience in professional enhancement books. Prepare to take The Journey to Improved Business Performance You have never read a Maintenance & Reliability book like this before. But it’s really more than a maintenance and reliability book. It’s a thrilling novel about the process of change. Thirty-five year maintenance/reliability veteran, and author, Steve Thomas has crafted a real page turner. Think Tom Clancy, but in a process plant. The main character isn’t a highly trained ex-military CIA agent, he is a maintenance manager. The story is real enough to really draw you in, and you can’t wait to see what happens next. The book is set to be released by Industrial Press in May, but in the meantime, you can you can download the first three chapters from www.changemgt.net. After you read those chapters, you’ll be hooked. We recently chatted with Steve to give us a little insight into the book, the process of writing it and what you might be able to get out of reading it Let’s start with about a brief synopsis of the book. The Journey is a story about Todd Bradley. Todd works for The American Tractium Company or ATPCo for short, which manufactures tractium; a product that results from the processing of scrap metal. Tractium is then used as a component of various household products. ATPCo has some very serious problems because they are managed by individuals who have minimal understanding of equipment reliability and the benefits it can provide. However, Todd is determined to improve reliability in spite of his manager and gets himself into some serious trouble and a transfer to ATPCo’s Eastern Plant. Here he finds a plant in even worse condition than his previous plant. The manager, Mike Kane, is a dictator who believes that “it’s my way or the highway” and Mike’s way leaves no room for any of Todd’s ideas. When Todd thinks that things can not get any worse they do. A new use for tractium is discovered and the Eastern Plant is the only site that can supply it, but they barely can meet the demand for the existing products. With the help of the mysterious TAN (an unsolicited e-mail mentor) Todd faces the challenge. Whether he and his team succeed or fail will only be discovered as Todd embarks on his journey. Tell us the story of how you got the idea of doing a maintenance and reliability book in the format of a novel. I have been writing on the subject of change, cultural and otherwise, for over eight years. In addition, I have conducted many workshops on the subject. The concepts that I write about and teach have real value, but not everyone likes reading text 82 february/march 2008 http://www.changemgt.net

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Up Time Magazine- February/March 2008

Up Time Magazine- February/March 2008 Contents Upfront Upclose: Lessons Learned from the Walter Reed Story Information Technology: Parenting and Asset Performance Infrared: It's Alive! Lubrication: A Sense of Change Maintenance Management: PdM, Standardized Motor Testing: Being Well Connected Precision Maintenance: How to be Marketable Reliability: The Voyage of Wells Dairy Ultrasound: Two is Better Than One Vibration: Diagnosing a Cracked Shaft Upgrade: A Different Kind of Journey

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