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Interview with an Arc Flash Survivor

0. On August 16th, 2007 Bill Giffen was involved in an Arc Flash incident with a 13,800 Volt Switch. He received 3rd degree burns to his left leg and 2nd degree burns to his arm, back and groin area.

Introduction to Reliability Engineering

What is Reliability Engineering?

No one disputes the need for articles to be reliable. The average consumer is acutely aware of the problem of less than perfect reliability in domestic products such as TV sets and automobiles. Organizations such as airlines, the military and public utilities are aware of the costs of unreliability. Manufacturers often suffer high costs of failure under warranty. Argument and misunderstanding begin when we try to quantify reliability values, or try to assign financial or other benefit values to levels of reliability.

Introduction to the Process Of Change

Excerpted from Successfully Managing Change in Organizations: A User's Guide by Stephen J. Thomas (Courtesy of Industrial Press) 

Several years ago, I was part of a program to introduce the concept of "quality" into our plant. For a very large fee, we hired a consultant to work with us and make our "quality process" a success. Site management imposed ground rules on the project team, most of which (in retrospect) set us up for failure. The program had a kick-off date less than three months from the time it was introduced to management. With such a tight timeframe, there was inadequate time to prepare for the meetings that were an integral part of the process. To make matters worse, the meetings were to be mandatory for everyone. The official message was, "meetings are mandatory, participation is voluntary."

Inventory Management Strategies

By Randy Walker

1) Introduction to Inventory Management

For Facilities Maintenance Organizations, the quickest and most substantial "hard dollar" returns are achieved through the Inventory and Purchasing modules. Even in Equipment-centric Organizations, where the emphasis is on uptime and asset efficiency, the savings from improved materials management can be sufficiently large to cover the cost of purchasing and implementing a CMMS project.

 

Investigating power outages at a plant that makes “mud”

Variable speed drives (VFDs) turn processing machines and pumps at a plant that makes "mud" (joint compound) for finishing interior drywall. The plant is almost fully automated, and depends on the smooth operation of the electrical system.

Is Stock Turns the OEE of Spares Management?

Imagine for a moment that you oversee three production facilities. Imagine that these facilities require significant capital investment and sit on sizable and valuable blocks of land. Imagine also that each of these facilities produces nearly identical product that is all channelled through a single central distribution center. Now imagine that each facility operates for one shift per day, five days per week and has done so for years because the market is mature and steady. If it were your money invested in these facilities, what would you?

Is There Too Much Capacity

It is currently October 2009 and evidence is mounting that the world's economies are slowly emerging from the bottom of the Great Recession. Despite that good news; Gross Domestic Product is far below its level of 2007. The important strategic questions for business people are:

• "What is likely to happen in the coming years?"
• "Should I change my thinking about reliability and process improvement?
• "How can I best position myself and my organization for the likely scenarios?"

What is Likely to Happen?

Is Your Company Running Scared?

Fight or Flight Might Not Be Your Best Strategy

by Chris Colson and Timothy R. Weilbaker


Any time a market (or an entire economy) declines, there are certain behaviors that we can expect to observe in companies.  The specific actions we witness should come as no surprise to even the casual observer, especially since the actions taken by companies during tough financial periods are also observable in individual human behavior during times of great fear.  And what other emotion would be more fitting than fear when corporate revenue experiences a sustained decline?

ISO 14224: Collection and exchange of reliability and maintenance data for equipment

This International Standard provides a comprehensive basis for the collection of reliability and maintenance (RM) data in a standard format for equipment in all facilities and operations within the petroleum, natural gas and petrochemical industries during the operational life cycle of equipment.

Key Performance Indicators for Stores and MRO

By: Daniel DeWald

Key Performance Indicators (KPI) are used to measure and monitor daily, weekly, and monthly activities in MRO and Stores. Management uses them as tools to analyze past performance and make decisions as they move forward. KPIs are objective measurements, and taking these measurements is a key activity for the maintenance manager to oversee.

Leadership and Little White Lies

How Those Seemingly Harmless Fibs and Half-Truths Can Hurt Your Business

Every leader tells a white lie every now and then, right? Perhaps-but that doesn't make it okay. Author Dave Anderson says that white lies can do serious damage to your reputation and can lead to much bigger issues down the road. Read on to see why cleaning up your act can help save your business.

 

Leadership Q&A - Tim Rohrer of Exiscan

Terrence O'Hanlon, Publisher at Uptime magazine recently caught up with entrepreneur and innovator Tim Rohrer of Exiscan for a discussion on a new line of Infrared Viewing Windows.

Lean Manufacturing - Are you Ready?

Ron Moore

Innumerable books have been written about Toyota and their lean manufacturing practices. Literally thousands of companies have tried to emulate these practices, some with some short-term success, but most with little or no long-term success. Jeff Liker, author of The Toyota Way, at one point estimated that only about one percent of US companies are truly effective at applying lean manufacturing practices. Few achieve the high level of sustained performance embodied in lean manufacturing principles. Why is this?

Lets Talk About Compressed Air Leakage

Did you know that leakage in compressed air distribution systems is common? In fact, in most compressed air systems, losses due to leakage exceed 30%. Very few users realize how costly this leakage can be.

Level 5 Leadership - What Is It and How Do I Achieve It?

By Winston P. Ledet

Leadership is a subject that seems to be undergoing a dramatic change in recent times. The transformation seems to be from the "great man" point of view to the "great team" point of view. The reason for this shift may be that the level of complexity in today's world is much higher and therefore requires a more complex method of leadership.

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