POWER April 2015 - 24

OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE
Doing More with Less: New
Solutions Help Address Power
Plant O&M Staffing Difficulties
Courtesy: Wärtsilä
Studies and surveys have predicted a future shortage of skilled workers in the power
industry for many years. Unfortunately, the future is here. When qualified workers
are difficult to locate, some companies are finding that technology and service
contracts allow them to do more with less.
Aaron Larson
I
t's no secret that the traditional power industry
workforce is aging, and as individuals
retire, some companies are finding
that replacing them is difficult. Consequently,
managers are forced to look for new ways to
pick up the slack left by departing workers.
Companies regularly search for ways to
increase productivity. Improvements often
result from technological innovation, but
changes to work practices and procedures can
also streamline activities, leading to better results.
Although it is often true that time can
be managed more efficiently, there are limits
to what can ultimately be achieved through
time management measures.
At some point, workers are forced to focus
on high-priority tasks while postponing,
24
and in some cases even canceling, less-important
work. Eliminating unnecessary tasks
is a worthwhile exercise, but once all of the
" fluff " is removed, the work that remains
must be completed. The question many managers
are asking is: What is the best way to
utilize technology and external resources to
get the most bang for the buck, thereby allowing
in-house personnel to focus on dayto-day
priorities while specialists concentrate
on the more intricate details?
Getting Help from the Outside
Turning to contractors for assistance is nothing
new, but some of the latest technology
makes the option more attractive than ever.
SKF USA Inc. is probably best known as a
www.powermag.com
bearing manufacturer; however, it offers quite
a bit more than just bearings. The company
also provides such things as sealing solutions,
lubrication systems, electromechanical
applications and services, asset efficiency optimization,
and integrated condition monitoring,
which can generate a lot of data.
For many facilities, obtaining data is not
necessarily the problem; it's understanding
and making sense of all the information
that is available. Greg Toomey, an expert
in SKF's Traditional Energy business unit,
noted that staffing at power plants is much
different today than it was even 10 years ago.
Facilities used to have a lot of analysts and
people dedicated to looking at all the condition-based
maintenance information, but as
POWER | April 2015
http://www.powermag.com

POWER April 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER April 2015

Contents
POWER April 2015 - Cover1
POWER April 2015 - Cover2
POWER April 2015 - Contents
POWER April 2015 - 2
POWER April 2015 - 3
POWER April 2015 - 4
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POWER April 2015 - Cover3
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