Up Time Magazine- April/May 2008 - (Page 25) efforts would initially be focused. The training went well and the group began performing FMEA on the most critical equipment in their department. A word of caution here: full blown RCFA and FMEA is time consuming and requires disciplined structure. There is a lot of data to gather, failed parts to quarantine and analyze, personnel to interview about the failure and a lot of meeting time required. We began with twice weekly meetings to flesh-out the initial fault trees. After six weeks, attendance began falling off due to production and maintenance demands. Fewer and fewer team members were given the time to keep the process going. Additionally, the consultant reliability engineer accepted a new job opportunity, and one of our staff reliability engineers left the company. This left us with one reliability engineer and one inspector. This is the stage where it is easiest to just forsake the whole idea of predictive maintenance. To Lone Star Steel’s credit, we pursued hiring a new reliability engineer and adding an additional inspector. During the time of being understaffed, the reliability effort suffered due to lack of time and manpower to “run all the traps.” But the predictive tools we were using were adding too much to the bottom line to be put on the shelf. We calculated that the weekly usage of our infrared camera alone was adding over $4 million in revenue annually by allowing us to detect potential failures in time to plan and schedule correction before incurring downtime. This entire implementation process had begun with the blessing of and at the directive of upper management. Once all of the transition, flux and upheaval began, what part did upper management play? As is often the case, other issues come up in the big picture of business that demand upper management’s attention, and that sometimes means that the issues already on the table either have to wait or find a way to resolve themselves. One issue for us was that we were in the midst of a record year and strong markets for our products. This required management to place additional focus on business expansion and development. The level of their involvement in the CMMS/Reliability rollout was maintained though, and allowed us to get past some of the biggest hurdles. All of the smaller issues were left to us to figure out, which did two things. First, it forced the different maintenance groups to work through the transition together, sharing successes and miseries. Second, it kept a level of autonomy in the maintenance group by cultivating ownership of the process. Although a stronger upper management influence might have quelled some of the in-fighting and initial resistance to the new system, it would also have made every aspect seem more mandated and shoved down the maintenance organization’s throat. This, in turn, would reduce the needed buy-in by all levels. In review of our CMMS and reliability implementation, the following points should be emphasized: Training - The need for training cannot beoverstated. Training in RCFA/FMEA, vibration analysis, thermography, ultrasonics and the CMMS system are absolutely essential. Don’t just train the employees on the CMMS to the point where they can just meet the demands that the new system will place on them. Train them to the point that they can use the system to gain knowledge about their departments and proactively make improvements. This not only promotes buy-in from those who will be participating, but maximizes the payback of the implementation costs by giving participants the tools and knowledge needed to make instant contributions. In our case, we received the RCFA/FMEA training, vibration data collection training, infrared thermography training (Level II certification), and the two staff reliability engineers passed the SMRP certifying exam and received their Certified Maintenance and Reliability Professional (CMRP) certifications. Communication - Fully and thoroughly discuss with all interested parties why the implementa- Announcing the NATIONAL TECHNICAL TRAINING SYMPOSIUM (32nd ANNUAL MEETING) Vibration Institute A NOT-FOR-PROFIT CORPORATION June 23-26, 2007 Woodlands Hotel and Suites Williamsburg, Virginia • • • • • • basic analysis basic data acquisition prognosis signal processing bearing analysis machine diagnostics and case histories • • • • • • modal analysis rotor dynamics case histories pump vibrations monitoring applications introduction to alignment risk assessment • • • • • reliability centered maintenance wireless technology panel session PDMA two plane field balancing ultrasonics See Web Site: http://www.vibinst.org for details For information: Phone: (630) 654-2254 Fax: (630) 654-2271 Email: vibinst@anet.com www.uptimemagazine.com THE VIBRATION INSTITUTE 6262 S. Kingery Highway, Suite 212 Willowbrook, Illinois 60527 25 http://www.vibinst.org http://www.vibinst.org http://www.uptimemagazine.com
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