Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation
Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/704613
they feel bad about themselves and their job. The simple solution is to enable people to do good work that is recognized and celebrated. Culture drives behavior. Behavior influ- ences quality of work. Quality work is fundamental to plant reliability and the cost of reliability. Of course, this most definitely includes inspection activities. The following list delineates the minimum requirements for building a strong inspection culture: • Training and inspection skill competen - cies (optimizing inspection skills readiness) • Celebrating inspection "saves" • Inspection KPIs and other perfor- mance metrics • Installing penetrating inspection windows (optimizing machine inspec- tion readiness) • Availability and use of inspection aids and tools (optimizing tool inspection readiness) • Promptly responding to inspection- generating alerts and red flags At the top of the list is training, lots of training. Inspection is so important that I predict in the near future you will see the emergence of new training courses and curriculum focused only on inspection. With that will come certification testing. Side-by-Side Comparison What differentiates Inspection 2.0 from conventional inspection practices? It's mostly about execution. The time has come to reinvent this largely mundane and repetitive task. Think about how to make it 10 times more effective with ver y little extra cost. The table above details several of the main differentiators that distinguish and empower Inspection 2.0 to this higher level of performance. You'll be hearing much more about Inspec- tion 2.0 in future issues of Machinery Lubrication magazine. This is an exceptional low-hang- ing-fruit opportunity in machine reliability as well as a foundational element for lubrication excellence. Take the initiative to adopt Inspec- tion 2.0 by bringing its powerful capabilities into your organization. About the Author Jim Fitch has a wealth of "in the trenches" expe- rience in lubrication, oil analysis, tribology and machinery failure investigations. Over the past two decades, he has presented hundreds of courses on these subjects. Jim has published more than 200 technical articles, papers and publications. He serves as a U.S. delegate to the ISO tribology and oil analysis working group. Since 2002, he has been the director and a board member of the International Council for Machinery Lubrication. He is the CEO and a co-founder of Noria Corporation. Contact Jim at jfitch@noria.com. DISTINCTION CONVENTIONAL INSPECTION INSPECTION 2.0 Emphasis on daily inspections Sometimes Always Emphasis on inspection location Rarely Always Installed inspection windows Rarely Always Inspection alignment to failure mode ranking Sometimes Always Inspection designed to preempt fault bubbles Rarely Always Emphasis on early "weak-signal" detection Rarely Always Use of advanced inspection aids and tools Rarely Always Inspectors who are highly skilled and motivated Sometimes Always