Unscheduled downtime should be a random phenomenon

by Terrence O'Hanlon, Publisher and CEO Reliabilityweb.com and Uptime Magazine

If you are still doing time-based or run-time-based maintenance (Preventive Maintenance or PM) as a primary maintenance strategy you should be aware of the "Waddington Effect".

20 years before Nowlan and Heap wrote “Reliability Centered Maintenance”, and way before John Moubray wrote RCM2 was work down by a British scientist named C.H. Waddington who was put in charge of British aircraft maintenance in WWII.

He stated that unscheduled downtime should be a random phenomenon.  If all unscheduled downtime events are plotted with respect to the last PM, there should not be any pattern evident.

Waddington concluded that the scheduled maintenance: “…tends to increase breakdowns, and this can only be because it is doing positive harm by disturbing a relatively satisfactory state of affairs. Secondly, there is no sign that the rate of breakdown is beginning to increase again after the 40-50 flying hours, when the aircraft is coming due for its next [scheduled preventive maintenance event].”

In other words the Waddington Effect states that scheduled preventive maintenance was actually doing more harm than good.

Have you formally tracked unplanned downtime that happens shortly after a scheduled PM at your company?

If you are not ready for more proactive reliability-based approaches, one thing you can do is to look at increasing the time or operating hours between PM's - a pretty simply solution if you are stuck in the Waddington Effect.

Adventures in Piping Analysis

Adventures in Piping Analysis


This article is a vibration case history using Operating Deflection Shape (ODS), Experimental Modal Analysis (EMA) and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) tools and computer animation techniques to solve difficult rotating machinery problems.

Disclaimer

Based on my experience there are very few experts that specialize in vibration analysis of piping and plumbing line applications. At Full Spectrum Diagnostics we get our share of piping problems, but we really can’t consider ourselves experts. With piping problems we delve into a world of “rules of thumb,” “trial and error,” and “tribal knowledge.” Now, with that said, let me set the table with some of the complexity associated with this type of analysis.

First of all, piping and plumbing lines will vibrate.

Read "Adventures in Piping Analysis"

That is the way we have always done maintenance around here

That is the way we have always done it around here

How many things, tasks, and activities are you doing because that is the way things have always been done?

Are you simply accepting that there must be a reason to be completing these tasks? Surely someone (much smarter than you) thought there was enough reason to begin the tasks in the first place.

Make sure that you take the time to do a periodic review of your maintenance tasks and ensure that each is designed to:

1. Prevent a failure
2. Detect a failure
3. Comply with a law or regulations

There are many methods you can use including Reliability Centered Maintenance, PM Optimization, Maintenance Task Review and more to ensure your efforts are aimed toward the right targets.

Find articles on this topic here

Find video tutorials on this topic here

As for the third justification for maintenance tasks – that it is somehow regulated or required by an external authority even if it is not adding value – can be a lucrative opportunity for improvement during a review process.

Because the consequences for violating a regulation or law can be significant, most people will simply accept “we cannot change it because it is required by (insert the name of the authority here).”

Are you sure?  Who says so anyway?  Have you done a review to verify if the procedure is actually required and can be traced to a specific regulation or is it an internal process that gained validation by claiming to meet an unspecified regulation?

You may find some tasks, processes and procedures that can be eliminated.   If they were not adding value – then you are getting a great deal of return for having taken the time to verify and validate that there is or is not a reason to be conducting them.

Do yourself a favor and schedule a maintenance task review as soon as possible. 

Here is a semi-related article from the brains at Harvard Business Review titled

Learned Helplessness in Organizations.  I hope you find some value in reading it.

A Cradle to Grave Approach - Motor Management at Its Best

A Cradle to Grave Approach - Motor Management at Its Best


Ask a motor manufacturer how long one of its motors is expected to live, and the response will be something like, “20-plus years in the right environment.” Ask the same question in a facility that uses such a motor and the answer is more likely to be, “If we get five years out of it, we’ll be happy!” Why does this discrepancy exist? Why do motors die of an infant mortality instead of living to the ripe old age for which they are designed and built? The answer has to do with the failure to optimize motor management and maintenance.


Read more at http://reliabilityweb.com/index.php/articles/a_cradle_to_grave_approach_-_motor_management_at_its_best/

Uptime Magazine June/July 2012 Issue on online

Uptime Magazine June/July 2012 Issue on online 

The latest issue of  Uptime^® Magazine is now posted online featuring:

• Bridging the gap between construction and operations
• Pump improvement opportunities increase uptime
• Maintenance reduction with a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS)
• Implementing Electrical Signature Analysis as part of your Predictive Maintenance (PdM) program
• Motor performance management
• Using metrics to influence maintenance planning and scheduling
• Business excellence
• Eliminating lubrication cross contamination
• Oil Analysis: Journey to discovery
• A toothpaste factory had a problem
• OEE Goals based on Customer Takt Time
• Way of life at Luminant
• Interpreting Vibration Analysis Faults
• Level 5 Leadership at Work
• Much more…

Get the digital issue at http://www.uptimemagazine.com

Uptime Magazine Best Maintenance Reliability Program Awards 2012

Uptime Magazine Best Maintenance Reliability Program Awards 2012

Do you think enough of your organization's maintenance reliability program to enter the Uptime Awards for 2012?

We have added a more comprehensive first round assessment that will provide you with value simply from completing the process of entering.

There is no cost for entering so why not give it a try?

Find out more at http://www.uptimeawards.com