[Link].

com

Maintenance | Reliability | Engineering | P r o d u c TION

Special Report

Special FOCUS:
Predictive
Maintenance
Begin u

Sponsored by
 Special Focus: Predictive Maintenance [Link]

Contents
What is Your Equipment  p. 4 Alcoa Warrick Commits  p. 13
Trying to Tell You? to Reliability
Click here Click here

All in This Together p. 10 Reliability and the

Click here Bottom Line p. 16
Click here

Department of  p. 18
Equipment Health
Click here

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 Special Focus: Predictive Maintenance

By J. Stanton McGroarty CMRP, CMfgE, senior technical editor

what is your equipment trying

to tell you?
Mix monitoring tools
to measure
machine health

It’s easy to regard vibration analysis and ultrasound as

competing technologies. As these technologies grow and
mature, however, the experts in both fields are coming to
agree that, for many applications, vibration analysis and
ultrasound are at their best when they are used together.
Vibration analysis and ultrasound are often viewed
as complementary parts of a complete condition
monitoring toolkit. Sophisticated users select
their technologies on a very individual basis.
The choice takes into consideration equipment
criticality, typical failure modes, the cost of
failures, the cost of monitoring, the practicality of
redundancy, and other characteristics of the business,
the site, and the individual assets within it.
“We use both vibration analysis and ultrasound to
monitor bearing condition and trends over time to predict
bearing failure,” says Paul Berberian, vice president of
predictive technology at GTI Predictive ([Link].
com). “While we are using our vibration tools to determine
root cause analysis for unbalance, misalignment, bearing
defects, and looseness, ultrasound is a very good tool for

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 Special Focus: Predictive Maintenance

determining when and how much to lubricate. This pre- Predict With Accuracy
vents overlubrication which is one of the main causes of
Vibration analysis reduces risk of
bearing failure. Financially, if you correct the root cause
diagnosing faults too early or too late
and you lubricate it properly, a bearing should easily oper-
ate throughout its expected life.”
By Donald Jones, Citizens Energy Group
Traditionally, vibration and ultrasound inspections
have been most popular in bearing monitoring, explains
Alan Bandes, vice president of marketing at UE Systems Predictive maintenance is synonymous with reliability as
([Link]). “Since ultrasound senses fric- it’s one of the tools reliability engineers depend on to
tion, it has gained popularity in lubrication programs create cost savings that give plants a competitive edge.
where users can identify bearings in need of lubrication Predictive maintenance technicians use many technolo-
quickly, and, by incorporating equipment such as the gies that can provide plants with the information neces-
grease caddy, lube techs can apply just the right amount sary to identify faults. When used as intended, this can
of grease to prevent overlubrication,” he says. “Another and will provide process, quality, and equipment reli-
use of the two technologies is basic bearing route inspec- ability. A few of these technologies are vibration analysis,
tion. Since ultrasound relies on just one test point, the thermography, and ultrasonics.
time of inspection is cut by at least a third. Yet another Vibration analysis is a large component of predictive
application in which ultrasound has assisted vibration maintenance programs for plants with many pieces of rotat-
programs is inspection of slow-speed bearings. Ultra- ing equipment. Anyone in industry has heard the stories of
sound will detect the slightest signs of increased friction the “old way” of vibration testing. Individuals that have been
or early stages of spalling in a relatively short time.” in industry more than 30 years have probably seen some of
Combined use of vibration analysis and ultrasound the old ways for testing if vibration on a piece of equipment
also improves equipment availability and wrench time was excessive. The old ways only indicated the vibration was
(Figure 1). “Ultrasound and vibration analysis have excessive and nothing else. How many of you have used or
unique capabilities,” says Trent Phillips, condition moni- heard about the nickel test? How many of you have seen the
toring manager at Ludeca ([Link]). “However, Starrett gauge mounted in a spring-loaded body that would
they’re companion technologies, as well. Using both measure the amount of movement on a bearing cap?
together can provide very early detection and confir- Many electronic vibration instruments with software are
mation of bearing faults, lubrication issues, and more. available that not only indicate if vibration is excessive but
Additionally, the combination of these tools can deliver allow analysis by breaking down the vibration into frequen-
optimal use of manpower through more efficient condi- cies so faults can be readily identified by an experienced
tion monitoring coverage of important assets. All of this analyst. Vibration readings can be in displacement (mils),
leads to increased time to plan and schedule activities velocity (in./s, ips), and acceleration (g), and into ac-
that will keep equipment running upon demand. The celeration’s high-frequency data. All the vibration mea-
result is reduced downtime, reduced costs, reduced risk, surements used for identifying various fault possibilities
reduced spare parts usage, improved safety, increased permit a more accurate diagnosis and can lead the repair
capacity, increased uptime, and increased profits.” crew in the right direction to complete that repair. This
The evolution of condition monitoring tools has can decrease repair turnaround time and will increase
proceeded against the backdrop of changes to statu- plant and maintenance production. In many plants, a very
tory and technical issues in the businesses themselves. high percentage of rotating equipment faults can be iden-
New motor technology, notably the spread of variable tified by simply using vibration spectrum analysis. Once a
frequency drives (VFDs), has created new failure modes suspected fault is identified, it’s ideal to use supporting
that must be monitored. New extraction techniques have technology to confirm the diagnosis before reporting.
pushed mining and drilling equipment in new directions, Route-based vibration programs monitor rotating equip-
creating unprecedented environmental and mechanical ment condition on a weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or even
challenges. Arc flash prevention has prompted changes quarterly schedule. Identifying condition status by trending
to OSHA, NFPA, and NEC standards. With all these vibration overall amplitudes to include specific frequencies
changes come new monitoring requirements. will allow the analyst to provide plant personnel with an
Change calls for fresh thinking regarding the use of early warning of developing faults. A good program will also
vibration analysis and ultrasound, as well as other condi- test the repaired equipment to verify acceptable vibration
tion monitoring tools. Use these tools, individually and in

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 Special Focus: Predictive Maintenance

condition and report if that equipment will have continued I’ve provided predictive services to several different
availability and reliability. I prefer the extra benefits of a walk- groups of maintenance and operations personnel at several
around vibration program. The person that collects the vibra- different sites over my almost 30 years in plants. Each has
tion data should also use natural senses — vision, sound, differences on their approaches to the faults or how and
smell, and feel. Using the human senses can provide valuable when they want a report. To some, if the noise changes,
information to consider when analyzing. A complete program, a squeak develops, or the tone changes, they’re on top
using all the available technologies and human senses, in- of it wanting answers. Others have to feel the floor shake
creases plant and rotating equipment reliability. before questions are asked and repairs are scheduled.
Given all the vibration technology and analytical skills Responding too early to developing faults can waste money
of the analyst, it will be worth nothing if the identification and resources. However, if vibration gets to a point that
and explanation of found faults can’t be presented in an you’re feeling it in the floor, it most likely has generated
understandable report. But, on the other hand, even though secondary damage. Reporting can be a balancing act. As
vibration technologies have been around for more than 40 in any plant, the scheduling of a repair has to be made so
years, you can still find some people who are still skepti- production doesn’t suffer and you want to get the most life
cal of the information from the vibration guy. To some, it’s from the rotating equipment without generating secondary
like the diagnosis of the fault came from a crystal ball. A damage. Finally, buy-in from supervision and management
vibration analyst has the tools that, when used properly, is imperative for any predictive maintenance program to be
can see faults developing at a very early stage. Care must successful and have longevity.
be taken to know your personnel and when a report should
be provided. Too early of a call for repairs and no discern- Donald Jones is predictive systems
able faults may be seen with the naked eye; the analyst will specialist at Citizens Energy Group
be questioned on an alleged bad call. Too late of a call for in Indianapolis, Indiana. Contact him at
repair and secondary damage will begin, which decreases djones@[Link].
the life of the coupled equipment.

combination, to meet the evolving monitoring needs of equip- I Wanna Hold Your Hand
ment and the environments in which it operates. Figure 1. Combined use of vibration analysis and ultrasound
also improves equipment availability and wrench time.
Arc Flash in the Box
Ultrasound can be used to keep arc flash danger away from
employees, explains T.J. Garten, electrical and energy sub-
ject matter expert at Allied Reliability Group ([Link]-
[Link]). “During routine infrared electrical
surveys, we have utilized acoustical ultrasound to assist with
failing part identification, as well as severity determina-
tions,” he says. “Listening for chattering contacts, intermit-
tent auxiliary contact operation, starter coil assembly chat-
ter, and coil winding electrical hum assists the analyst in
providing corrective work orders. This information changes
the work from a search-and-find mission to a planned repair
that eliminates hot-spot chasing.”
Electrical inspection is a fairly new application for ultra-
sound technology, says Adrian Messer, operations manager
at UE Systems, but its use hasn’t increased much in the past
few years. “The main driver of this application is safety
because we can typically inspect energized electrical equip-
ment without having to open the panels and doors on the
equipment,” explains Messer. “So, there’s little fear of creat-
ing an arc flash because we aren’t changing the environment

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 Special Focus: Predictive Maintenance

inside of the equipment and we aren’t exposing ourselves

to the energized electrical connections. Additionally, when
ultrasound is used in conjunction with traditional infrared
inspection, the user can scan with ultrasound prior to open-
ing up the electrical equipment for the infrared inspection.”

Variable Frequency Drives

Applying both vibration and acoustical ultrasound for
assessing the health of bearings hits the largest range of
potential lifecycle anomalies, says Allied’s Garten. “Beyond
just the routine bearing failure modes associated with lubri-
cation and wear, effects of electrical transients and VFD-re-
lated anomalies have been identified with both technologies,
leading to corrective action to the power circuit. This solved
root causes rather than allowing repeat failures. There are
slight differences in the data collected via vibration and
ultrasound. This supports not just varying failure detection
for trending and mitigation, but also the addition of varying
alarm banding for anomalies beyond the normal mechani-
cal focus. These anomalies are becoming more prevalent in
the field.”
Allied has found value in applying acoustical ultrasound
for assessment of several of the internal components for
VFDs, as well, says Garten. “Utilizing acoustical ultrasound
on these components has added value in assessing failures of
these components prior to their normal end of lifecycle. Fail-
ures of iGBT assemblies, internal and external fans, and DC
buss chargers all result in audible and spectral changes that
trigger additional testing such as power quality assessment,
Portable Interface
motor current signature analysis, and field technical checks, Figure 2. Companies are requesting
to isolate and identify failures.” tablet apps for vibration monitoring.

A Little Vibration
Tom Hoenig, president of GTI Spindle Technology (www. the machine with two axis points of measure at each corner.
[Link]), describes an unusual shale processing ap- The screen shots and reports generated by the iPad show the
plication. “In most cases with vibration analysis we are look- machine and all the points needed to be measured.”
ing to minimize vibration of machinery to prevent failures,” Through the project, GTI learned not all equipment
he says. “As the vibration increases at certain frequencies, we and assets are designed to minimize vibration, continues
start planning for failures. In one case we were approached Hoenig. “Some equipment is made to vibrate to get the job
by a company who services shale shakers in the oil and gas done,” he explains. “Either way, vibration analysis again
industry. These are giant machines that sift large amounts gives us the visual window to see the vibration and tell us if
of earth as their daily function. They only work well when it is too much or not enough.”
they vibrate enough in the correct direction, frequency,
and amplitude. So in other words less vibration means poor Get the Signal
performance.” Getting to equipment to take readings can be a major chal-
The shale processor asked GTI to write an app that could lenge. “Critical equipment can be located on a train, ship, or
run on GTI’s iPad vibration analyzer to inspect the peak a remote site that is difficult or dangerous to access by em-
performance of the vibration for its machines (Figure 2). ployees,” says Ludeca’s Phillips. “Unfortunately, in the past
The company needed to know how many Gs of vibration it was very difficult or impossible to apply vibration analysis
acceleration occurred at each mapped point on the machine, on equipment under these circumstances. We have done a
along with the frequency of that vibration. “They also need- lot of work to make vibration analysis in these environments
ed to measure in two axes and show the vibration in an orbit possible, and the process has been very exciting. The condi-
plot,” explains Hoenig. “This way they could see the shake of tion monitoring system continually monitors the health of

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 Special Focus: Predictive Maintenance

the equipment under normal operat-

ing conditions. Operators, mechan-
ics, and management can be actively
alerted via email or text message when
conditional changes occur on a moni-
tored machine. The data is automati-
cally transferred back to a centralized
location for routine analysis so that
corrective action can be taken before
unwanted consequences occur. In
addition, capabilities such as wireless
vibration monitoring, cloud comput-
ing, remote monitoring capabilities,
and services are now available. In
the past two years we have released
new multichannel real time vibration
monitoring systems. Routine access to
cranes and other types of equipment
can be very difficult or impossible for
routine condition monitoring. We
have also installed wireless monitor-
ing systems in these applications to
overcome access and safety concerns
and ensure that equipment health
monitoring is provided.”
The interest in using ultrasound for Ultrasonic Check
monitoring critical assets remotely Figure 3. The interest in using ultrasound for monitoring critical assets remotely and
and continuously is on the increase, continuously is on the increase.
says UE’s Messer (Figure 3). “Junction
boxes can now be used in conjunction crashes from a steady drum beat. The gets old to see someone who finds a
with the handheld ultrasound instru- impact sounds typically begin to be compressed air or gas leak with ultra-
ment and remote-mounted ultrasound emitted long before actual failures in sound for the first time,” says Messer.
sensors to collect data on multiple elements like bearings. Adjustments to “It’s even more satisfying when a
points from one central location,” he sample durations and sampling rates facility begins to use ultrasound to
says. “Other sensors are available that may be required to support precise find and then repair the leaks and
can be connected to PLCs and other analysis and avoid aliasing or shadow the savings and benefits that are then
online data monitoring systems to data, but the payoff is better long-term associated with those efforts. Being
monitor both mechanical and electri- forecasting. This new capability is able to quantify compressed air and
cal equipment. Examples of assets particularly useful for slower turning gas leaks using ultrasound is always
that can be monitored remotely with equipment that used to make impact exciting and is typically a good start
ultrasound include overhead cranes, data difficult to obtain.” A white paper for someone who is implementing the
enclosed electrical switchgear, robots, on impact demodulation is available technology into a reliability program.
and remote pumping stations.” at [Link]/white- Being able to document savings
Impact demodulation is a new wrin- papers/2014/impact-demodulation- associated with compressed air or
kle for vibration analysis installations. identification/. gas leak detection with ultrasound
“By applying impact demodulation to To introduce and grow vibration typically leads to investments in ad-
vibration data, we are able to identify monitoring and ultrasound tech- ditional training and other predictive
impact vibrations, which decay or ring nologies in an organization, a starter technologies. Benefits also include re-
down very rapidly, and lift them out application can help to break into an duced compressor demand, increased
of the steady background vibration for industrial setting. “Even though it has capacity on the overall compressed
analysis,” says Steven Hudson, senior become common knowledge that ul- air system, and a reduction in the
analyst at Azima DLI ([Link]. trasound can be used for compressed facility’s carbon footprint by reducing
com). “Picture separating cymbal air or gas leak detection, it never the greenhouse gas emissions.”

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 Special Focus: Predictive Maintenance

All in This Together

NAME Award lets plants benchmark maintenance practices against each other

The North American Mainte- RC: The site measures the number of emergency calls and
nance Excellence (NAME) Award the amount of time a mechanic spends on emergency calls.
is a program of the Foundation for The philosophy is to drive down emergency calls, leveraging
Industrial Maintenance Excellence, a proactive approach to maintenance that focuses on solid
a nonprofit, volunteer organization. processes and systems — planning/scheduling, parts room
The award is presented to indi- management, PM/PdM, training and development of me-
vidual plants on the basis of their chanics, technical competency, CMMS. In addition, Frito-
maintenance departments’ abilities Lay leverages a critical-care program to keep equipment like
Richard Cole, to provide “capacity assurance for new with a partnership between mechanics, operators, and
Sr., Frito-Lay operational excellence” in the areas the sanitation team. Assets that create the most emergency
of organization, work processes, issues have a higher priority on the critical-care schedule.
and materials management. In 2011, the Frito-Lay plant in
Fayetteville, Tennessee, received the award. Richard S. Cole, PS: Does Frito-Lay’s modern, high-speed minimum
Sr., the plant’s director of engineering/maintenance, spoke changeover equipment place any special demands on the
with Plant Services about maintenance, OEE, training, and maintenance organization?
the NAME Award.
RC: There have been a rising number of changeovers in the
PS: Is OEE a component of your corporate measuring stick snack food business to meet consumer needs regionally and
for equipment performance? Who gets the equipment avail- locally. There are more brands in the Frito-Lay portfolio
ability (uptime), throughput rate and quality data that than ever before, and each brand has its regional flavor, or
determine OEE? How does it affect the way maintenance seasoning, which creates a large number of changeovers.
people do their jobs? Changeovers are a maintenance team’s nightmare, because
every time you take a line down and break it apart to clean
RC: “Scorecarding” is a way of life at Frito-Lay. The site and then put it back together is a chance for failure. In-
tracks uptime daily and posts the results where everyone stead of seeing the recent trend of more changeovers as a
will see as they enter into the production area. Performance curse, the site and Frito-Lay saw it as a challenge. The team
is monitored by operators and mechanics on each shift. embraced the challenge and looked for ways to simplify the
Downtime is tracked by category. There are five main cat- changeover, such as plug-and-play technology or swap-
egories: total, changeover, equipment, operations, and other, ping out components — redundancy — and cleaning the
which are acts of God. Each category has a point person who used components off-line after the line was back up and
leads a focus team to reduce downtime in their respective running. In addition, the operation team used a pit-stop
areas as they collaboratively work with others to reduce total mentality to changing over the lines by pre-kitting the line
downtime. Equipment reliability is important to achieving prior to the changeover. The site also has goals and tracks
key metrics in quality, service, and cost. The results by site its performance against the changeover goals and reports
are compiled by the national reliability team and shared on performance each week. Leveraging these techniques,
each period to all supply chain managers and their teams. as well as others, ensures that capacity is maximized and
Recognition and bragging rights are awarded to the top per- downtime is minimized. Due to more changeovers, the
formers in absolute performance and percent improvement. amount of planned downtime for maintenance each week
Total downtime is one of only 11 KPMs used for the national has decreased. Thus, the maintenance team had to figure out
awards and is also part of the bonus plan. how to get PMs and corrective work done in less time. One
approach was to see which activities or checks in the static
PS: Does the maintenance team at Fayetteville track the PM could be converted over to the running PM. Leveraging
percentage of unscheduled maintenance that is performed ultrasound predictive maintenance while doing running
on the plant? Who gets the information, and how is it used? PMs was one solution. Converting 80 hours/week of static

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 Special Focus: Predictive Maintenance

PM actions into the current running PMs enabled the site to assessment provided documentation with a scored rating
maintain its 92% PM completion which led to 99.4% equip- that identified strengths and opportunities. The site then put
ment uptime. together a plan that would leverage its strengths to address
the weaker areas. There is always room for improvement, but
PS: What is the educational background that you look for the “excellent” rating was confirmation that Frito-Lay was
in a new maintenance person? Is there special training that implementing a national reliability plan that was on track.
Frito-Lay requires?
PS: What would you recommend to an individual or orga-
RC: The team at Frito-Lay is looking for a mechanic that has nization that’s thinking about submitting an entry for the
a multi-crafted skill set along with a teamwork approach to North American Maintenance Excellence Award?
getting work completed. It’s desired that the mechanic have
a two-year degree from a technical school as a minimum. RC: No matter where you are with the journey to achieve
Frito-Lay, like most companies, is constantly improving the maintenance excellence, the NAME Award will provide a
production lines with new technology. Mechanics have to meaningful insight on what one does well and what one
show that they have the ability and desire to learn to keep up should do differently to achieve world-class results. The
with the ever-changing technology. To reinforce this behav- NAME leaders have taken steps to make the process smooth
ior, the site has partnered with various community colleges and simple to ensure one maximizes its efforts. There is
and junior colleges in the surrounding area to source future a new, fast, and easy way to check your progress to main-
mechanics. Frito-Lay has created an internship program tenance excellence. The NAME Award Quick Check is a
with technical students from these schools. In addition, the one-page application focused on results of key department
maintenance department creates a development action plan indicators. Upon submitting this form, one will receive a
for each mechanic that’s based on leveraging strengths and free, personalized response. The feedback will be one of
addressing opportunities. More than 36 different technical two things: the basics are in place to move forward with
training classes are offered each year, which allows team a full assessment; or some foundational blocks, mainte-
leaders to match training classes to mechanics, based on nance processes, and systems, need to be shored up prior to
needs. Some of the classes are provided through MRO part- proceeding. In either case, recommendations are provided
ners, and others take advantage of online programs. for improvement by a professional NAME board member.
This is the case throughout the process. The best part is that
PS: How did preparing your organization for the NAME everyone is in it together.
Award process and then winning the NAME Award help
you to become a more productive and profitable plant?

RC: The preparation for the NAME Award was not a

means to an end, but, rather, for the Frito-Lay team, it was
a benchmark to evaluate the progress of the company, not
just the Fayetteville site. Frito-Lay was using the Fayetteville
site as its “bell cow,” and how well the Fayetteville site did
indicated the success of the company as a whole. The NAME
assessment is very thorough, and, hence during the prepa-
ration, the Frito-Lay team identified some opportunities
through documentation and addressed them between the
date of the application and the date of the field assessment.
But, for the most part, the preparation was more or less an
explanation of the engineering department’s business plan
to include its overall philosophy, three-year strategic plan,
department staffing and crewing requirements, training and
development approach, processes and systems used, along
with tracking, reporting, and improving results. Once on
site, the NAME Assessment Team offered a wealth of knowl-
edge with more than 100 years of combined maintenance
management and leadership. The assessors were outgoing
and willing to share best practices during the process. They
took a good thing and made it better where possible. The

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 Special Focus: Predictive Maintenance

Alcoa Warrick
Commits to Reliability
Build a high-performance engineering team
By Joseph E. Motz, CMRP, and William C. Markle, CMRP, Alcoa Warrick Primary Metals

In 2003, the Alcoa Warrick Smelter was 43 years old, deferring R&M. In fact, the Warrick Smelter had the lowest
and it had the second-highest maintenance costs in the percent of corrective actions needing attention in the next
corporation’s global smelting system. Asset reliability in five years of all the corporation’s global smelters.
the plant continued to suffer, and equipment instability Building a high-performance engineering team contrib-
prevented success in fully implementing lean manufactur- uted to the success of reliability excellence now in use for the
ing tools. A formal assessment of the smelter’s repair and smelting business at Alcoa Warrick Operations.
maintenance (R&M) efforts determined a mostly reac-
tive approach with a focus on trying to be really good at Importance of Reliability Engineers
response to emergency breakdowns. Reliability engineering is different from a traditional en-
That year, the location’s top management provided sup- gineering role in manufacturing. These are not engineers
port to embark on a Reliability Excellence (REX) journey, who provide the routine, day-to-day support for production
which created a significant transformation. Ten years later in centers. Instead, reliability engineers are in a strategic role —
2013, Alcoa Warrick Smelter’s R&M costs are 29% below its focused on failure prevention and, most importantly, helping
2003 pre-REX base (44% lower adjusting for inflation), and to determine how to improve reliability and operate the
OEE performance improvement gains have matched R&M plant’s assets at the lowest cost.
savings dollar-for-dollar annually. Do you have reliability engineers at your plant? If so, what
A formal asset integrity audit performed in 2010 by types of tasks are they doing? Are they managing capital
corporate-level resources confirmed that these cost savings projects? Are they firefighting? Are they in tactical roles? If
were real — in other words, they weren’t gained by simply so, they’re not reliability engineers.

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 Special Focus: Predictive Maintenance

If a problem isn’t solved to root cause, it may keep recur- a hybrid role, the crisis of the day or a production manager’s
ring. If a plant doesn’t know which assets are the most pet project can take precedence over working on long-term
critical, then the plant may be focusing on the wrong things. objectives. If you expect reliability engineers to work on reli-
If a facility isn’t using equipment failure data to direct its ability when they can find the time, you aren’t going to make
resources on the true equipment bad actors, then there is the gains you’re seeking. They must be focused.
most likely a lot of money being left on the table. Yes, we all are busier than ever these days. We all wear
Reliability engineers help with all of that and lots more. multiple hats. But the reliability engineering role is one where
we must discipline ourselves to focus them solely on failure
But We Like Firefighting elimination and prevention. When you pull a reliability en-
How many times have you experienced a major equipment fail- gineer off a proactive task to work on a reactive task, you are
ure at your plant and felt relieved when it was over? We all have losing ground in your reliability efforts. Set yourself up with a
praised our firefighters; these are the individuals who excel in a maintenance engineer or maintenance professional to handle
crisis and, in many cases, thrive during every minute of it. the tactical production needs while the reliability engineer is
We need them. There is no doubt that when a production allowed to focus on the strategic efforts.
center is interrupted we need resources to respond. And when And you may ask, “How many reliability engineers do I
a major downtime event occurs we need people with strong need?” Well, it depends on several factors, such as the size
troubleshooting skills and those who can get our equipment of your plant or how reactive you are. A guideline is, if you
back up and running again. These are the ones who are work- have 100 craftsmen at your plant, then two dedicated reli-
ing hard to reduce mean time to repair (MTTR). They could ability engineers would be about right.
be engineers, technicians, craftsmen, or others. And when they
get the equipment running again, we thank them and feel the What About PdM?
weight lifted off our shoulders. How many of us have given lav- How does predictive maintenance (PdM) or condition-based
ish praise to these “knights in shining armor” when they swoop monitoring fit in to all of this? PdM is an important part of
in to save the day? We probably all have, and that is not a bad REX, no doubt about it. But if you only do PdM without going
thing, but what we sometimes forget in the heat of the moment after root cause, your equipment failures will return. PdM lets
is to step back and ask, “How did we get into this mess in the you know about problems early. It buys you the time to plan
first place? Why did this failure occur?” And most importantly, and schedule the repair vs. letting the equipment run to final
“What are we going to do to prevent it from happening again?” failure. And we estimate that letting the equipment run to
This is where the reliability engineers steps in. They are failure is on average seven to 10 times more expensive than re-
not focused on MTTR, but instead mean time between fail- pairing it proactively. So on one hand it’s good to know about
ures (MTBF). While others are on the scene, working to do your equipment anomalies early. But, on the other hand, you
whatever it takes to restore immediate production flow, the need to ask yourself why the defect occurred in the first place.
reliability engineers should be there investigating what hap- Root cause efforts can help with this.
pened. They will talk with the operators, review operational
data and trends, take photographs of the scene, pull up Equipment Autopsies
past history of similar incidents, review camera footage, if We do equipment autopsies at Alcoa. In our case, it is the
available, and try to piece together all the available evidence. death of a piece of equipment. It could also be on a near-
This is the detective work that will enable them to lead a root death piece of equipment, one where the root cause for
cause analysis (RCA) to determine why the failure occurred. trouble remains undiagnosed. We want to understand why
And speaking of RCA, it may seem obvious, but you need to failures occur, so we can take steps toward preventing future
have proper follow-up mechanisms to ensure the RCA action failures. The root cause aspect of REX cannot be stressed
items are getting completed. Have your reliability engineers enough. Let’s use our motor team as an example.
keep these corrective and preventive action items in front of We have hundreds of motors at our plant — some small
your teams so that these tasks get done. Archive your RCA files and small huge. As part of REX, we created a cross-functional
to be easily accessible later on. And if the failure returns, re- team to focus on motors. The team’s mission is to improve re-
trieve the previous RCA and review it to try to understand what liability and reduce costs. The team is made up of representa-
may have been missed and why the failure recurred. tives from management, engineering, and supervision, as well
as PdM/reliability technicians. When we first started, we had
Free-Time Reliability Engineering many motor run-to-failures (RTFs). We started conducting
Focus. That is one of the most important parts of our suc- motor autopsies to understand what was causing the failures;
cess. If you have a reliability engineer in a hybrid role — do- these are discussed as a team at our motor meetings. Initially,
ing some maintenance engineering or some project engi- we found some common failure modes and developed correc-
neering — then you don’t have a true reliability engineer. In tive/preventive actions to go after those. Our motor team also

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 Special Focus: Predictive Maintenance

implements best-practice maintenance strategies for motors their efforts go unnoticed. As leaders and managers of REX,
— everything from proper motor greasing and storage prac- we need to make sure they are not taken for granted. We must
tices to PdM. Our team sets aggressive, yearly objectives, and broadcast the successes frequently and in ways that are easily
we track all motor costs meticulously. What are the results? understood by all, especially high-level management.
What used to be several motors a week running to failure is As an example, let’s say one of your PdM technicians finds
now less than one motor that has run to failure. Our motor an anomaly on a high criticality piece of equipment using
costs have decreased by more than 90% since we started, not ultrasound. This defect gets repaired through your work
to mention the significant improvement in production up- control process proactively and the equipment never reaches
time. This is another example of how solving problems to root final failure. Then you go through a root cause exercise and
cause reduces costs and increases equipment reliability. determine ways to prevent this defect from recurring. This is
a total success. But it may go completely unnoticed without
Metrics, More Metrics intentional methods to recognize this achievement.
It’s true that there are literally hundreds of methods to Your method of broadcasting these types of successes is up
measure success and their progress on reliability. Deciding to you. Perhaps you prefer sending out a spreadsheet that lists
which ones can seem like a daunting task. We tried to keep the various cost savings/avoidances. Or maybe you have a sin-
it simple. R&M costs are a key metric for us. If you are doing gle PowerPoint slide that describes what happened, what was
the reliability work and your costs are not coming down, done, and the benefit. Or you may post “Equipment Bad Ac-
then there is something wrong. However, measuring main- tors Eliminated” on a bulletin board. Or you may even choose
tenance costs alone is not a good way to measure success. to have your reliability engineer give some success presenta-
Many of us have examples of plants where maintenance was tions to your plant lead team. Whatever methods you choose,
deferred and R&M costs decreased for a short time — that make sure you know your audience and keep it simple. And
is, until the equipment starts to fall apart and then R&M don’t forget to tie your successes to financial impact.
costs skyrocket. Therefore, in addition to R&M costs, you
need to somehow measure your plant’s reliability. The Right Seat on the Bus
You could choose overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). In order to be successful at REX, it’s important to have the
If your OEE is increasing and your maintenance costs are right systems and processes in place. But it’s also important
decreasing, then that is generally a good sign. The percent- to have the right people in the right roles. Individuals should
age of emergency work is another useful metric. Think of have passion for what they do. They should feel supported
emergency work as the killer of reliability. Pretty much and understand why their jobs are important and what their
everything about emergency work is bad. It’s costly and less direct impact is on the business. And all employees at the
efficient, and it can have a higher safety risk. So, if both your facility should understand their own roles and everyone else’s,
percent of emergency work and R&M costs are decreasing, too. REX is not just another program of the month. Instead,
that is good news. Regardless of which metrics you choose, it’s a permanent change to the way you do things. It should
our recommendation is to keep it simple. Don’t get bogged be ingrained into your plant’s culture. It is truly a long-term
down in too many metrics, and remember that metrics are journey, one that really never ends.
there to help you improve. So if the number is ugly, it is what
it is. Measure it accurately and honestly. Then use it as a Ready to Begin
springboard to track progress and drive improvement. “But we must get everything just right before starting.” No,
you don’t. One key point to remember: don’t allow perfec-
What Is That Reliability Group Doing for Me Again? tion to get in the way of good. Start simple. Build your
Sometimes the firefighters tend to get the praise, and those momentum one experience at a time. You’ll be amazed at
preventing the failures are forgotten because they are behind how successes feed upon each other. Always make sure you
the scenes. As part of REX, we need to constantly educate broadcast your successes. And the successes you broadcast
and reinforce the value of the various members of our reli- should be that of the team.
ability programs. This includes the reliability engineers and
the PdM technicians. Joseph E. Motz, CMRP, is engineering superinten-
Take the PdM technicians, for example. They are perform- dent at Alcoa Warrick Smelter in Indiana. Contact
ing routes using various PdM technologies, such as vibration him at [Link]@[Link].
analysis, ultrasonic examination, and infrared thermography.
They are our scouts, finding equipment defects high up on William C. Markle, CMRP, is electrical reliability
the P-F curve. From there, corrective work orders should be manager at Alcoa Point Comfort Operations in Texas.
generated to fix or repair the piece of equipment in a planned Contact him at [Link]@[Link].
and scheduled fashion, before final failure occurs. Sometimes

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 Special Focus: Predictive Maintenance

Reliability and the Bottom Line

Make the business case for predictive maintenance and condition monitoring

Jack Nicholas has 50 years of ex- all reporting to the same senior manager. The maintenance
perience in industrial maintenance and department makes the greatest contribution of time and labor
reliability. A Navy veteran, Nicholas will to reliability issues and their resolution — RCM analysis, root
be one of the keynote speakers at Reliable cause analysis, reliability reviews of new designs for application
Asset World ([Link]. of PdM, lubrication best practices, or oversight or actual instal-
com) and Ultrasound World ([Link]- lations of modifications that improve designs for increased
Jack Nicholas, [Link]), co-located conferences reliability. The senior manager in maintenance can best decide
Consultant being held in May in Clearwater Beach, where those personnel in the department should spend their
Florida. He took a few minutes to speak time. Obviously, if they’re constantly in crisis mode, finding
with Plant Services Chief Editor Mike Bacidore about the time for reliability-improvement initiatives is hard, but the
financial impact of reliability-centered maintenance. sooner the organization can get ahead of the failure curves and
allocate personnel to concentrate on improving reliability, the
PS: How do you measure the financial impact of reliability better life in that organization is going to be. Once on that path,
practices in a plant or in an organization? most organizations never want to go back. That said, no RCM
study, root cause analysis, or other important process affecting
JN: Reliability practices affect not just the immediate reliability should proceed without an operator who under-
organization or a local plant, but many other constituents. stands the system being analyzed. If needed, the maintenance
Examples include investors, customers, suppliers, neighbor- manager can intercede with the operations manager to make
ing plants, communities, and retirees. So the measure of operator personnel available for participation in reliability-
financial impact may be measured better by the cost of not related activities. The operations manager is more likely to
being reliable. For example, if a customer can’t count on you cooperate if it’s clear that maintenance is committing personnel
for a quality product or an on-time delivery, the customer to the effort. Should there be a reluctance to cooperate, their
is going to look for an alternative supplier, and it’s going to superior can arbitrate the matter.
cost you that revenue and maybe your whole livelihood.
If a plant has an environmental accident that affects nearby PS: How does a plant manager get operations personnel
residents and businesses, the penalties may be quite severe, to work with maintenance and reliability workers toward
reducing the bottom-line profits that benefit stakeholders, to increased productivity?
say nothing of the ill feeling of those affected. This can be quite
widespread. Consider for example the British Petroleum Deep- JN: First, the plant manager must keep everyone’s eyes on the
water Horizon disaster just about four years ago with financial prize — maximizing designed-in reliability. That in turn means
ramifications that still linger today. If an investor senses an that all work processes must be reliable. Work processes are
unreliable operation, that investor is going to sell the applicable the high to medium level step-by-step, input-output diagrams
stock, even at a loss, which may in turn lower value of the over- that outline how personnel work. Procedures are derived from
all enterprise as viewed by the market and all who are counting processes to provide the detail and capture the knowledge of
on that value to remain constant and provide income in the those most closely involved with performing the work.
form of dividends or growth in capital worth. Plant managers must ensure that everyone understands
the processes and provides resources to ensure that proce-
PS: Because of their different functions, should mainte- dures are provided that are up-to-date and readily available
nance reliability departments be separate? in forms needed by users — in printed or digital form by
Ethernet or wireless communication links. A process for re-
JN: The most cooperative arrangement is to have the reliability sponding promptly to recommendations for improving pro-
group reporting to the senior-most maintenance manager, cedures and rewarding those who make good-faith inputs
especially in organizations where maintenance and operations, for doing so, whether adopted or not, must be resourced and
and engineering and stores departments, are co-equal with continuously supported.

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 Special Focus: Predictive Maintenance

By Joel Levitt, Life Cycle Engineering

Why does everyone hate

maintenance activity?

There’s a common perception in many orga-

nizations that everyone hates maintenance activity. Is it
possible that this stems from conversations about maintenance
work that we and others in our business community hear and repeat to
ourselves? Perhaps the reason we look at maintenance the way we do is because
there are disempowering conversations traveling around the organization.
There are all kinds of conversations within organizations. Most obvious are
the public conversations on everyone’s lips. These might be about the industry or

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 Special Focus: Predictive Maintenance

profit levels or performance. These public conversations are companies; unfortunately it’s a way of life.
all the things about the company that people say out loud The all-too-frequent conversation of being a necessary evil
to each other. greatly limits the contribution of maintenance activity to the
There also are behind-the-scenes conversations. These success of the enterprise. We have to think up new conversa-
are just as powerful as the public ones, and sometimes tions to take the place of the old. We have to think up new
more so. These private conversations can include corporate- conversations that make more sense.
wide assessments — “Maintenance is wasteful” — and are What if the conversation went something like this:
significantly harder to change. These behind-the-scenes “We have different activities that support production, and
conversations have tremendous impact on the conduct of each contributes its specific expertise. The only issues are
maintenance activity and how personnel who do mainte- whether each activity’s specialized contribution adds more
nance, either operations or maintenance people, are treated. to the bottom line than the cost and whether the expertise is
One example of a conversation statement is that “mainte- essential to the long-term success and enhanced profitability
nance activity is a necessary evil.” Let’s deconstruct this. What of the organization.”
affect does such a conversation have? How do you act if you’re Let’s look at a few of the players in a typical corporation.
a necessary evil? Is this kind of conversation the basis for a Lawyers contribute legal expertise. Accountants contrib-
healthy attitude? How do you contribute if what you’re doing is ute accounting expertise. This seems pretty simple. If you
a necessary evil? Indeed, why would you even want to? have an accounting question, you ask one of the experts.
The necessary-evil conversation comes from the simple Likewise, if you have a process question, an environmen-
fact that maintenance activity doesn’t contribute directly tal question, or even a question about trash, you go to the
to the manufacture or delivery of anything. In modern person who covers that area. The trend today is to get rid of
parlance, maintenance doesn’t add value to the product. But the expertise and use outside consultants. The outcome is
modern organizations also agree that maintenance is neces- the same; you want the specialist’s advice to be more valu-
sary. So the necessary-evil statement is born. If maintenance able than what you pay.
work is an expense only, how does an expense contribute to Of course, as organizations’ sizes vary, different ex-
the success of the enterprise? A good expense is a dead, or pertise becomes important. In the 1980s, I worked on a
zero, expense. Do you see the uphill battle implicit in chang- project to computerize the fleet maintenance operation of
ing that conversation? Federal Express. At the time, FedEx operated 47,000 light
When we look at other businesses, we can see this idea at trucks. They bought the most advanced software avail-
work. It would be pretty crazy to look at your 40-man football able. Yet FedEx spent the money and time to continue
team and tell the defensive players that they don’t add value tweaking the package to wring out a few more percent
to the product — value in this case being the points on the of benefits. After all, a small increase in the savings for
scoreboard. The owner could save some real money on sala- 47,000 vehicles was quite a bit of money. In the case of a
ries without all those defensive linemen, not to mention the large company, the specialized knowledge was worth it
reduction in catering costs if you don’t have to feed them. since the potential savings was so large.
OK, let’s admit it would be crazy to run a football team We have to answer the question, “What does mainte-
without defense. If we translate the way companies view nance activity contribute to the success of the organiza-
maintenance to the way football is managed, we would want tion?” Once we identify the contribution, are we positioned
as few defensemen as possible, pay them as little as pos- to make a maximal contribution based on our present
sible, maybe even be creative and make one defensive squad skills, knowledge, and attitudes? We also return to the
play for two different teams. By the way, if the team loses, question, “Do the specialized knowledge and skills con-
we would downsize the defense. Also, as they moved to the tribute more to the bottom line than the cost?”
top of the salary range, we would scheme to get rid of them
through buyouts or outright dismissal. Unique Expertise
Plays would be handled differently because we wouldn’t What is your maintenance department’s real expertise?
try to design defensive strategies. If there were any defen- Some departments are experts in repairing breakdowns.
sive design, it would be done by the defenders themselves This is the historical role of maintenance personnel. They
without resources or support from management. From a can fix just about anything. They have deep and subtle ex-
management point of view, when the ball is snapped, the pertise in broken things, how things break, and how to put
whole squad should run howling toward the ball. them back together. And they know how to do that in the
Forget training and recruiting; just hire bodies. Espe- shortest time and with the least cost. There is no dishonor
cially forget respect. These folks don’t contribute toward the in contributing this expertise to the success of the organiza-
score on the scoreboard. If times get tough, get rid of them tion. Fixing breakdowns is a real, valuable, and essential
altogether. It seems pretty silly in football. It’s not silly in expertise that is duplicated nowhere else in the company.

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 Special Focus: Predictive Maintenance

Consider this: Most doctors also are experts in break- 3. We need to understand accounting and economic
downs. They troubleshoot problems and, if it’s possible, modeling. We may need to become experts in economic
propose fixes. They’re done with their work when the models that include run-to-failure, run-with-shutdown,
disease is gone from your system and you’re discharged. In run-with-PM or run-with-whatever scenarios. Right now
truth, very little of a doctor’s training or practice is con- the decision to run-to-failure is made in most organiza-
cerned with health. Mostly, they wrestle with and hope to tions by default without data and without expert input
cure disease. Often, that’s enough. Believe me, when you’re from the Department of Equipment Health. We have to be
sick you don’t want a lecture on preventive maintenance able to answer questions like these:
telling you that you should have given up smoking 10 years • “Given the facts of the value of the production, the impact on
ago. You want action now. the customers of missed or late shipments, and the costs of the
Yet, medicine is changing, as is maintenance. additional deterioration, what direction should we take?”
The new, improved conversation might revolve around the • “Should we run all-out or stop for maintenance?”
idea that the contribution of the maintenance department to We have to be able to look at the lifecycle cost per part
company success is its expertise in asset, machine, and unit made or gallon shipped. What would be the impact of
health. We know how fast and how long to run the equip- increasing production with the existing equipment? If we do
ment to maximize profit. We’re the folks who know what this, what additional maintenance will be needed and when

should be done for maximum equipment life, minimizing will it be needed? We want to be at the table when there’s a
long-term cost. In short, we’re the high priests of the balance discussion of which is the better business decision.
between production and equipment integrity. The million dollar question: How would you start up this
In fact, part of this is already happening. In maintenance new conversation? If that is the conversation we want to cre-
there is a burgeoning subfield in machinery health. Machine ate, how do we do it? Why is it so hard to change a company’s
health subfields include TPM, PM, PdM, and RCM. Confer- culture and conversations? The reason it’s difficult is that the
ence sessions are full when the focus of the talk is on detect- fundamental conversations have not been understood and dealt
ing failure before it happens and how to extend the life of the with. These old stories and assumptions still run the show and
asset. Advanced maintenance departments are becoming any new cultural changes are merely smeared on top.
experts in machinery health. To permanently change the status of maintenance, we
have to begin by noticing the existing conversations. The
Equipment Health old culture is anchored in place by structures, incentives,
Imagine that over the maintenance department’s door is memory, and custom. As such, it takes no extra energy to
a sign that reads, “Department of Equipment Health.” To keep the old culture in place. The next thing is to disas-
expand into this role, we need to work on three things: semble the structures that hold those conversations in place
1. We must continue to build expertise in machine health while at the same time creating new ones.
and push to change the focus from reactive to proactive What conversations are going on in your company about
maintenance. We need to get really good at predicting what maintenance? Look below the surface, turn over rocks, and
will occur based on historic data. Almost all maintenance listen without getting mad. The next step is to see which
departments already are either working on this or saying reports, customs, and incentives hold the old conversations
they’re working on this. in place. Once the field is cleared out, we’re free to invent
2. We need to master the operating modes and condi- new conversations. The final step is to begin building new
tions of the equipment. We know what happens in the reports, incentives, and customs to support these newer,
operation and how it’s likely to impact the life of the equip- healthier, more successful conversations. Then, let’s order
ment. We must be able to answer the question, “What will the Department of Equipment Health signs.
happen if we double the capacity of the feeder” or “What if
we speed up the conveyor?” This requires deep knowledge Joel Levitt is director of international projects
of process, additional knowledge about engineering, and with Life Cycle Engineering (LCE). Contact him at
some knowledge of the market. jlevitt@[Link].

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 Special Focus: Predictive Maintenance

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