 Preventive
and Predictive Maintenance
The 'P' in PdM also means proactive
The hallmark of any successful predictive maintenance program is its focus
on continuous improvement. It's no longer enough to be responsible for
predictive maintenance; the watchword is now proactive. Being proactive
takes into account a growing corporate philosophy that says, "Put systems
in place that will anticipate, not just predict and measure." The systems
I refer to relate to technology.
How do we know this? In planning the July issue of Plant Services' PdM
Handbook, we polled your peers--readers/users of predictive maintenance
systems. Then we asked Keith Mobley (our monthly columnist and resident
expert) to use his more than thirty years experience in process system
design, reliability engineering, predictive maintenance and corporate management
to make sense of it all.
As you'll see in the following pages, our readers have told us that
technology is now the chief driving force behind predictive maintenance.
We also learned that technology's evolution continues to create chaos for
more and more plant personnel who find themselves having to blend existing
systems and programs -- systems and programs that work -- with enhancements
and improvements. In other words, some of you are being told to fix what
ain't broke. And to fix it with systems and applications that at times
hold perceived value only to those that are issuing the directive: corporate
management. The other side of the coin holds the face of the user desperate
for upgrades yet unable to convince the front office to part with the resources
that will enable them to better their PdM programs.
Like it or not, once approved, the best deal in town seems outdated;
like the new car that depreciates as you pull away from the dealer's lot,
upgrades are oftentimes issued before your company can install the systems
on which they reside.
Some predictive maintenance system vendors suggest that implementing
a predictive maintenance program is easy and requires very little effort
to setup. As Mobley notes, our readers say otherwise.
Technology is moving so fast, in fact, that predictive maintenance technology
may soon be measured the same way it's measured on the Internet: in Web
Years (three-month chunks).
Simply put, notes Mobley on the following pages, technology itself is
not limiting; we are just not using its tools effectively. In most cases,
the reason predictive maintenance fails to reach its full potential is
a lack of planning and preparation before implementing the program.
So the typical plant or line supervisor has some big learning to do,
and in very short order. They also face the challenge of sharing that knowledge
quickly with others; the introduction of new technology impacts everyone:
plant and division management, line supervisors and your hourly workforce.
So how are the suppliers of the technology responding to your call for
relative simplicity? For the need to be proactive? We asked companies that
provide you with predictive and preventive maintenance technology products
to answer a very important question: How do you intend to meet users' information
technology needs in the next three years? (Note: years, not months!) As
you'll see by the Vendor Viewpoint section, we think those companies that
chose to respond did so with some surprising results. Are they hitting
the mark? Read on and let us know.
Pat Speer
Managing Editor
Copyright Plant Services on the WEB
| 
