17 Habits That Turn Plants Reactive Without Anyone Noticing
Nobody wakes up one morning and decides to run a reactive maintenance program. There’s no memo, no policy change, no announcement at the morning meeting. Inst... Read more.
How Maintenance Supports Asset Management from Design to Retirement
The mission of the maintenance department is to ensure the plant's assets remain operational. We buy an asset to provide some value to the owner. Maintenance en... Read more.
From Condition Monitoring to Smart Decisions: The New Maintenance Era
It seems society is going somewhere. Consumer products and applications are blazing a trail with high-tech offerings like Siri and Alexa. They use big data, AI,... Read more.
A Better P-F Curve: Adding Design, Installation, and Repair Quality to the Model
The P-F curve is a core concept in maintenance, illustrating how a machine’s performance deteriorates over time, eventually leading to failure. It has shaped ... Read more.
Why Your PM Schedule Can’t Always Save the Machine
I’m sure you've heard the old joke about the night two guys were walking down the street and came upon a frantic man searching the sidewalk near the streetlig... Read more.
How to Apply the PF Curve for Smarter Preventive Maintenance
There are dozens of interpretations of the PF curve. I wanted to show off my interpretation. They share a shape but assign different explanations for each of th... Read more.
Why Most Maintenance Savings Don’t Hit the Bottom Line
There are real cost savings, and there are phantom savings. Real cost savings are reflected in the accounting system and appear on the balance sheet. Phantom sa... Read more.
Reliable Capacity: Why Maintenance Must Evolve to Deliver More
I had the fantastic opportunity to work in a gold mine in South Africa. Their mining operations were heavily mechanized, utilizing low-profile loaders, heavy-ha... Read more.
The Reliability Risks Hiding Inside Everyday Maintenance Tasks
I was providing field service for a computerized fuel controller that I had installed a few years before. The site was at the end of Long Island, New York. For ... Read more.
The Brutal Truth About PM Programs and Why They Fail
Raise your hand if you want to go from reactive to proactive maintenance. Going from reactive to proactive is like the shiny red bike in the toy store window be... Read more.
How to Estimate Maintenance Costs Based on Asset Replacement Value
One of the quickest ways to determine the pattern in an organization is to see how much money is available for maintenance to the size and use of the asset. S... Read more.
Predictive Maintenance or Just Educated Guesswork?
The Problem with Predictive Maintenance
I'm a big believer in oil analysis, vibration analysis, infrared, and using various kinds of ultrasound. I also favor th... Read more.
How to Calculate Savings from New Tools or Equipment
I visited a truck shop in a surface mine, and, like always, I walked around looking at the layout, the people, and the tools. It was well laid out with pull-t... Read more.
How to Guarantee Maintainability from Day One of Equipment Selection
Atlanta-based consultant Ed Feldman pioneered the concept of guaranteed maintainability. The key to achieving it starts with selecting equipment that functions ... Read more.
The Maintenance Bias Effect: Why We Ignore Problems Until They Fail
Bias is entirely natural. It is the result of your mind using shortcuts. Many biases are quicker to apply than thinking a problem through. They also seem to mak... Read more.
If You Have These Five Genes, You Were Born to Fix Everything
New scientific discovery: Maintenance workers aren't just trained - they're genetically engineered for grease, grumbling, and gadget hoarding.
I want to explore... Read more.
How Maintenance Leaders Win with Adaptable Strategies
Maintenance is war. Your enemies are the triumvirate of breakdown, deterioration, and unplanned events. Your soldiers are the maintenance department and as many... Read more.
Unlocking More Wrench Time: Practical Solutions for Maintenance Teams
Wrench time is the time spent actually doing preventive, corrective maintenance, or fixing breakdowns. It does not include getting parts, manuals, driving to a ... Read more.
When Maintenance Errors Are a GOOD Thing – Here’s Why
Fallor ergo sum. I err; therefore, I am. (St. Augustine)
No one I've ever met who operates an automobile repair garage would leave wheel nuts loose because they... Read more.
