Articles

The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

"Sometimes I wonder if the maintenance reliability community (and now the asset management community) are making any progress at all."
- Reliability Guru Terrence O'Hanlon, CEO/Publisher Uptime magazine and Reliabilityweb.com

What has changed in last 10, 20, 50 years? Have you noticed any changes? There are some things that have changed and some that have stayed the same.

Reliability Engineering for Maintenance

From Fighting Fires to Achieving World-Class Reliability

What It Takes to Change an Ingrained Culture

The faces on the group that showed up for my training today look rough, weathered and exhausted. As they walk into the classroom wearing the standard deep blue version of the maintenance uniform with their name over the pocket, each is carrying a cup of coffee and their emergency lifeline: the walkie-talkie. As we make our way through introductions, I let them know I started my career as a tradesperson, went through an apprenticeship program and worked as a journeyman while going to night school for reliability engineering.

Leadership for Reliability

Human Capital and the Internet of Things: Managing Talent and Leveraging Experience

by Burt Hurlock

If you have children aspiring to attend college, then you know that somewhere between the time of their birth and the present, the world changed. It went from valuing being well-rounded to valuing specialization. Whether that's a healthy development is a worthy debate, but not the purpose of this article. This article explores the role of the connected world in propagating specialization and how specialization has the potential to supercharge the value of old-fashioned human judgment.

5 of the Most Helpful Lean Manufacturing Tools

By Matt Wastradowski, copywriter with Graphic Products

Lean manufacturing incorporates various methods-including Kaizen, 5S, and Kanban-to improve production and efficiency by maximizing resources. The core goal of lean is to find better ways to do things so they require less effort, less time, and fewer resources. Numerous lean tools and concepts exist to help organizations achieve these goals. But the following five concepts stand out for their ease of implementation, usefulness, and potential for dramatic change.

5S Methods Enhance Green Manufacturing

By Jordy Byrd, public relations specialist with Graphic Products

Manufacturing industries play a tug-of-war between the public and private sectors, each demanding the fastest, cheapest, and highest-quality products - with the lowest environmental impact.

Cap-and-trade emissions policies, paired with limited natural resources, have changed the face of modern industry. As a result, lean companies, particularly those with established 5S systems, are one step ahead of the green curve.

Leadership for Reliability

Get Ready, Here Comes the Ultimate Multi-Skilled Worker

It seems like everyone is talking about the skilled labor shortage. From the New York Times to the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), people are debating the issue of whether there really is a skills shortage or a lack of people with the right technical skills to work in today’s manufacturing. Many, including the New York Times, blame the problem on what they refer to as mismatched skills. Or, in other words, the workers have skills, just not the ones they need for the growing complexity of manufacturing.

Induction Heating and Safe Operations in the Industrial Workplace

by Jack Rubinger

So many people rely on induction heating every day, possibly without even knowing it. Induction heating is used to seal the caps of food containers and pharmaceuticals. A layer of aluminum foil is placed over the bottle or jar opening and induction heating machines fuse it to the container. This provides a tamper-resistant seal, since altering the contents requires breaking the foil.

Asset Management

Preventable Workplace Injuries in Manufacturing

Manufacturing is among the most hazardous occupations and can have an increased risk of illness and injury. Employers and their facility managers have the responsibility to keep workers safe. In addition to lost productivity resulting from injured employees, employers can be liable for large sums as a result of employees being injured on the job. According to the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI), Workers' Compensation costs to employers in 2013 were $88.5 billion and Workers' Compensation benefits paid were $63.6 billion.

Fortunately, many of the most common workplace injuries are preventable. Read some tips below to learn how to reduce the likelihood that employees will be hurt while on the job.

Articles

The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

From Fighting Fires to Achieving World-Class Reliability

What is Total Productive Maintenance?

Human Capital and the Internet of Things: Managing Talent and Leveraging Experience

Surviving Low Oil

Bringing on the Heat

5 of the Most Helpful Lean Manufacturing Tools

5S Methods Enhance Green Manufacturing

More Efficient Sourcing of Machinery Parts Key to Avoiding Unscheduled Downtime

Get Ready, Here Comes the Ultimate Multi-Skilled Worker

Induction Heating and Safe Operations in the Industrial Workplace

Preventable Workplace Injuries in Manufacturing