February 6, 2012
Many of you watch or at least are familiar with the various Crime Scene Investigation (CSI ) television series where advanced forensic techniques are utilized to catch the criminals or “bad actors”. When it comes to your “bad actors” from an equipment perspective, where is your CSI unit? What is your forensic approach to equipment failure?
Rather than simply accepting equipment failures, they should be literally treated like crimes against your organization. These failures rob the organization of equipment availability and capacity, divert your Maintenance resources, consume spare parts, and steal profit. While you may not be able to prevent failures from occurring, at a minimum you need to understand why they occurred from a root cause perspective.
To do this, perform an autopsy on the failed equipment. Cut apart failed bearings or open gearboxes as examples. Inspect the components. Ideally, the Maintenance Engineering group should become your CSI Unit and investigate to understand the root cause. In the event that organization does not have the Maintenance Engineering function, you can to develop a “champion” who is detail oriented with strong mechanical skills. I don’t advocate rotating the champion function among many people as it takes time to develop the necessary skills. Another resource for consideration is that many quality vendors provide a service of analyzing the failures so that you can both understand how the component failed, and often at no cost. In addition to vendors, there are a number of other resources available to you such as the Maintenance Engineering Handbook, and searching Google images on the Internet.
In the end, the goal is to understand the possible root cause(s) so that you can modify your practices to ensure the elimination of those potential failures from robbing your organization. If doing autopsies, what are some of the root causes and outcomes that your organization has identified? What other steps or ideas would you recommend regarding autopsies?
This was a guest post from Jeff Shiver, CMRP, CPMM of People and Processes, Inc.
February 3, 2012
We will have all our shaft alignment, pulley alignment and vibration analysis and balancing maintenance-related products on display at the following trade shows:
MARTS 2012
Maintenance and Reliability Technology Summit designed for plant and facility managers, maintenance leaders and crew members, reliability engineers, industrial technicians and all other capacity-assurance professionals.
Booth# 10
March 13-14, 2012
Rosemont, IL
Register now!
While there, don’t miss our presentations:
NFMT 2012
The #1 Conference and Trade Show for Facilities Professionals.
Booth# 2582
March 13-15, 2012
Baltimore, MD
All Access Pass, a $1,095 value. Register now! Use priority code EXIN.
DESIGN & MANUFACTURING TEXAS
Perfect place to be whether you are looking for new products, need updates on the latest technologies or simply would like to talk to suppliers face-to-face.
Booth# 1017
March 14-15, 2012
Fort Worth, TX
Save $45! Register for FREE Admission Online using Promo Code BB.
CENTRAL VALLEY FACILITIES EXPO
Attend and learn how to save energy, reduce downtime, comply with regulations, and improve your managerial skills.
Booth# 507
March 14-15, 2012
Modesto, CA
Download FREE Admission Pass
- Join us Thursday, March 15 – 9:25 a.m. – 10:25 a.m. for The Basics of Field Balancing by Paul Howard. One of the most common causes of damaging vibration is a machine that is out of balance. Often field balancing can be employed to correct this potentially damaging and hazardous condition. This session will teach you the basic theory of balancing. The speaker will use rotor and field balancing equipment to perform an in-class balance.
NORTHWEST FACILITIES EXPO
Discover Solutions to your Facilities’ Challenges
Booth# 301
March 28-29, 2012
Portland, OR
Download FREE Admission Pass
- Join us Thursday, March 29 – 10:50 a.m. – 11:50 a.m. for Maintaining Belt Drives by Roy Loop. This pulley alignment presentation explores most aspects of good belt-drive maintenance. Different methods of aligning sheaves will be discussed, including laser alignment procedures also applicable to sprocket chain drives. Belt failure analysis, pulley alignment procedures, and belt tensioning methods will be reviewed. Proper belt handling, maintenance and safety concerns also will be addressed.
February 1, 2012
LUDECA invites you to MARTS 2012, an annual Maintenance and Reliability Technology Summit, as we present on the importance of precision machinery alignment and field balancing . We will also be ready to showcase our shaft alignment, pulley alignment, vibration analysis and balancing products as well as to answer any questions you may have. Visit our Booth# 10 to discuss your maintenance and reliability needs.
WHEN: March 12-15, 2012
WHERE: Hyatt Regency O’Hare in Rosemont, IL
Attend our Presentations:
Tuesday, March 13, 2012 at 11 am – 12 noon, Room D
“Balancing Theory and Field Balancing Tips” by Alex Nino, Application Engineer, LUDECA, Inc.
Balancing is one of the cornerstones of maintaining smooth running machinery. Often considered confusing and difficult, field balancing is actually quite straight-forward. This session will help you understand how field balancing works in practical, easy to understand terms. It will also cover common problems often encountered when field balancing and tips for getting the job done.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 at 9:50 am – 10:50 am, Room C
“Go Lean And Green: Align The Machine” by David Jackson, Heartland Industrial Solutions
This presentation will cover the green benefits and importance of precision machine alignment and how it can benefit in four areas: energy savings, improved machine life, better products and less pollution —all of which are essential towards achieving plant reliability and efficiency while “Going Green”. It will point out how having sound operating practices and well-developed procedures in place while adhering to guidelines where machines are precision-aligned and evaluated with vibration testing when they are installed—or anytime that they are unbolted for maintenance— should be a priority to operate “lean and green” facilities.
Ready to attend? Register now!
January 31, 2012
PLANT SERVICES • January 2012
Vibration analysis and condition monitoring are part of a bigger picture.
Reducing maintenance cost, reducing production cost, improving uptime, reducing risk, improving safety, and improving product quality are some of the essential drivers for deploying vibration analysis and other predictive maintenance tools. They should be goals of any plant or corporation.
Vibration analysis and condition monitoring (CM) are important ingredients in all of these goals. Vibration analysis, if applied correctly, can provide identification of specific problems that routinely prevent these goals from being achieved. Furthermore, vibration analysis can be used as part of root cause analysis efforts within a facility. It is very important to identify what is causing specific problems to routinely occur and eliminate those causes.
Many considerations should be taken before and during the implementation of a vibration analysis program or any other CM technology. Some of them are commonly overlooked, but the best way to avoid obstacles that limit the success of vibration analysis and predictive maintenance programs is to take these 11 steps. Read my entire article “11 steps to ensure PdM success”.
January 30, 2012
When experiencing lack of repeatability using a laser system, check the components for looseness:
- Brackets: Make sure that they are rigidly attached to the shafts (or solid coupling hubs). The surface imperfection where the brackets are mounted plays no role provided the shafts are rotated and the bracket is firmly attached to the surface.
- Risers: Most brackets systems will have risers (support posts) attached to them to mount components. Make sure they are firmly attached to the brackets.
- Lasers, Receivers, Prism: Also make sure they are firmly attached to the risers.
- Brackets rubbing: the brackets and everything they support must not touch or rub on any stationary part during rotation.
Looking out for these simple little things can save you many headaches during your alignment job.
January 27, 2012
Our LEVALIGN EXPERT Flatness and Leveling Measuring System with an Automatic Rotating Laser has been selected by the subscribers to Plant Engineering magazine as a winner in the 2011 Product of the Year Awards. The annual Product of the Year recognition, now in its 24th year, is the manufacturing and engineering industry standard for new product achievement.
Winners are selected by a vote of qualified Plant Engineering subscribers – the engineers who buy, specify and use these products on a daily basis. They are the most qualified people you can find to understand how new products reduce energy costs, ensure safety and improve productivity on the manufacturing plant floor. That’s why the Plant Engineering Product of the Year award is so highly regarded in our industry. —Bob Vavra, Editor of Plant Engineering magazine
The Product of the Year awards will be presented at the 2012 Awards Dinner, presented by Plant Engineering and Control Engineering, to be held next March in Chicago, Illinois.
LEVALIGN EXPERT is manufactured by PRÜFTECHNIK Alignment Systems.
