reliability engineering for maintenance

Picture this: It’s Monday morning and you’re the maintenance manager of an industrial plant. On your desk is a printout of 432 open work orders and the operations manager is screaming because air compressor #2 just tripped for the third time this month. To make matters worse, you just remembered two of your technicians went fishing for the week. The question is: “What can this maintenance manager do to improve this situation?” The obvious answer is to go fishing with the two technicians. Maybe a better question to ask is: "What can be done to improve plant performance?"

While the word reliability is frequently used, unfortunately, the way it is used ignores its true context and real implication. With the various improvement techniques in asset improvement, the use of the reliability word has created a constant advertising siege.

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.