Tips

A Lubrication Condition or a Mechanical Condition?

When monitoring your bearing lubrication with ultrasound, it is important to watch for very high values in your condition indicators ( total RMS and Peak values ). After applying grease, both values should decrease proportionately. This is a sign the bearing was under-lubricated. If the total RMS value lowers and the peak value stays relatively the same, then the bearing has a mechanical condition that is generating impacts.

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Asset Condition Management

Before Considering Bearing Redesign

In the opinion of the senior author, the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) do a credible job of designing, building, and installing bearings. Within the industrial end user community there seems to be an overt tendency to rede-sign, and continually attempt to improve on the OEM bearings. In multiple cases, the bearing redesign has rendered the machinery inoperative. In other situations, the operating speed range of the machinery has been severely limited following the installation of presumably improved bearings. In all cases, the machinery diagnostician must approach bearing problems carefully, and conduct a methodical engineering analysis of the problem. Specifically, the following items should always be thoroughly examined and in some cases re-examined:

Check that the oil console or reservoir contains the correct lubricant.
Check the oil quality for proper density, viscosity, water content, etc.
Check the oil for the presence of any

Leadership for Reliability

Positioning Your Company for a Trump Administration: 5 Steps Manufacturing Leaders Should Take Now

If President Donald Trump is able to renegotiate trade deals to be more U.S. friendly during his first 100 days in office, it is both good and bad news for American manufacturing. On the one

You ...

Steven L. Blue is the President & CEO of Miller Ingenuity, an innovative company revolutionizing traditional safety solutions for railway workers, and author of the new book, American Manufacturing 2.0: What Went Wrong and How to Make It Right.

For more information, please visit www.SteveBlueCEO.com, www.milleringenuity.com

Leadership for Reliability

Description of the Training Process

A flawless effort is possible but only with adequate training. It is important that everyone, especially those immediately involved, know exactly what they are to do and how to do it.

The

...

Time (min.)	Discussion
Agenda Review	5	What the training will address so that the work sampling project can be a success
Work Sampling - What it is and what it is not	5	Recognition of the possible past problems with this type of effort To clear up misconceptions To begin developing an understanding of what the work effort is all about Explain and reinforce that it is not designed to find people problems. It is process problem focused.
Why Are We Doing It?	5	Overall productivity baseline data and future periodic reviews An understanding of productivity problems to be addressed—process, not people
Discussion of a Valid Sample	5	Stress honesty. This is a very critical success factor for this effort Also, timeliness of data submission
Sampling Procedure	10	Discussion of how the sampling procedure works. It is important that those to be sampled understand what to do and when to do it. Identify who will be making the foremen contacts and where to submit the forms—the coordinator Problems and what to do about them (see section 3.3)
Direct Category	5	Review all definitions for understanding so that observations are accurate
Indirect Category	5	Same as direct
Non-Productive Category	5	Same as direct
Questions	15
Close by site lead if possible		Make sure they know who to call for help

Asset Condition Management

Focus on Failure Prevention, Not Failure Prediction

A common mistake among companies is to fix problems as they occur rather than preventing those problems from happening. One opportunity for prevention is through the health of your lubricants. It has been estimated that most production organizations lose between 10 and 15% of their plants total maintenance budget each year due to downstream effects of poor lubrication. Although a robust PdM program will include condition feedback technologies such as oil analysis, vibration analysis, ultrasonic testing and infrared thermography, these tools provide data on a failure that has already begun. A precision lubrication strategy requires root cause elimination. Installing desiccant breathers, filtering new oil, and protecting your oil during transfer to your equipment are all ways to decrease the root cause of machine downtime.

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Tips

A Lubrication Condition or a Mechanical Condition?

Before Considering Bearing Redesign

Positioning Your Company for a Trump Administration: 5 Steps Manufacturing Leaders Should Take Now

Moving to a Two-Tiered Predictive Maintenance Program

Tips Are for Focusing

Facilitate Employee Implementation of the Change Process

A Clean and Balanced Approach to Equipment Maintenance

Description of the Training Process

Maintenance Backlog

The Pencil Method of Balancing

Focus on Failure Prevention, Not Failure Prediction

Breakdowns Caused by Poor PMs