Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation
Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/680544
M a i n t e n a n c e a n d R e l i a b i l i t y o get something for nothing in this life is extremely rare. There is almost always some form of investment to gain a return. The investment can come in many forms, but the most popular are money, time and energy. Along with this investment, there is also some potential risk that must be weighed against the prospective gain. In terms of maintenance and reliability, these investments are becoming mandatory for top companies. Many organizations have come to realize that without investments in future reliability and production cost reduc - tions, the competitive future will be rough. How can you be certain that you are maximizing the return on your investment? Are there strategies that can be employed to ensure success? Success can hinge on resources, and it's no secret that those with the most resources often win. In a program implementation, several avenues can be used to reach the end result. There is certainly a finite amount of resources. Money, for example, merely changes hands during day-to-day transac - tions. In theory, it is held constant and can't be generated from thin air (unless you are the government, and that is a topic for a whole series of debates). Energy can be transferred from one form to another, but it also is held constant, neither being able to be created or destroyed (according to the law of conservation of energy). Time is similar. You can't magically create more time from thin air. Something else these resources have in common is that they all can be managed. Money Money is the easiest of the three to manage. In developing a world-class program, it is possible to funnel enough money into the program that there is seem- ingly no choice but for it to be successful. Hiring the best consultants in the world is one way to use money in exchange for the time and energy of your own resources. In this case, you are trading one for the other. This can be both good and bad. On one hand, hiring consultants provides experts who likely have experience and understand all the nuances. They should know what works and what does not, as well as offer a host of other advantages. On the other hand, if there is no buy-in from the onsite team when the consultants turn over the project at its completion, the likelihood of sustained success decreases. This often occurs when the only thing invested is money. There is no program champion, no one invested in the project left behind by the consulting firm. Time While travelling the globe assessing lubrication, mainte- nance and reliability programs, not once have I heard, "I have nothing left for my guys to do." Out of all the plants I've visited, I have never seen guys just sitting around with nothing to do. It seems there is always firefighting and reac- tive maintenance happening all the while inspections are being performed to gradu- ally move the needle closer to predictive maintenance and ultimately to proactive maintenance. So where will the extra time it takes to assess, design and implement a world-class program come from? I've rarely seen a resource dedicated solely to proac- tive or predictive tasks. Only the best companies understand the value in spending time wisely on the front end (proactive maintenance) as opposed to the much costlier back end (reactive mainte- nance). Sometimes organizations may even fully understand the value and yet still make poor decisions and actions. UNDERSTANDING the T FROM THE FIELD Jerem y Wrigh t | Nori a Corpor at ioN 8 | May - June 2016 | www.machinerylubrication.com ECONOMICS of Maintenance and Reliability