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The Tribe

The life of a reliability disciple can be very lonely. How many times have you wished that there was someone you could talk to, or run a problem by,  to perhaps validate your thinking? There are a bunch of us in the reliability world who do not have the time or patience for conventional social media and bulletin boards with the ever increasing random noise that is associated with it. We do however recognize that there is great value to a cohesive group of like minded people that can share ideas, experiences, successes and failures with others in their chosen field.

Enter the Reliability Tribe.

An exclusive but inclusive group of like minded individuals that want to improve Reliability Culture in Manufacturing. No noise, no outrage, no partisan agendas.

All Tribes need a campfire, welcome to the campfire. Pull up a log and take a seat. Stay a while and tell us a story.

Want to Join us? click Contact

What’s one word that describes your state of reliability?

What’s one word that describes your state of reliability. It can be pretty telling, but you have to say the word without waiting or worse thinking about it for too long. Some examples of words that I see coming in on our Reliability Wellness check are unpredictable, fire fighting, unstable. If the word that describes your current reliability state is similar take solace that you are not alone. Lots of facilities are just beginning the journey to a more reliable and predictable plant and it doesn’t matter whether they are brand new or been around for 30 years.

When I was in operations, I never liked surprises. I liked a day that followed the production schedule… a smooth day where everything worked like it was supposed to, no breakdowns, no workarounds, calm and steady, no surprises.

If machinery breakdowns are taking you by surprise it’s an indication of a gap in machine condition monitoring. Are your operators doing machine reliability rounds where they look at the equipment critically? If not, there’s your opportunity. It only takes a minute to improve reliability. Here’s a micro learning video to share with your crews on how to inspect oil condition in your machines. Oil is the lifeblood of your bearings and your machines and its change in condition shouldn’t take you by surprise. Watch the video, share it with your crews and begin to move your reliability state from where it currently is to where you need it to be. Thanks for reading. Have a great day and be well.

Are your operators key contributors to Reliability?

It is always good to see where the data leads us. Gut feel and instinct can tell us in which direction to head but it is always reassuring to use data to help drive the decision making process. Our data is indicating that the greatest room for improvement in the six areas of our Reliability Wellness Check (click here to take it) in general, is getting operators contributing more to the reliability process, and in particular, improving the quality of operator written work requests. Well written work requests can be very valuable to you as the majority of corrective and improvement work originates in the form of a work request, and the more detailed and complete the work request is the more effective and efficient maintenance can be in executing the work.

So how do you go about getting all the enabling information in a work request? It takes quite a bit of one on one coaching to improve the quality of work requests and it’s helpful to remind the operators what’s in it for them. In my experience operators are much more likely to take the time to write detailed work requests if they actually see that it results in their equipment getting fixed or improved. Take the time to give operators the feedback that their efforts are resulting in equipment getting fixed and that breakdowns are being avoided. And if your operators aren’t writing work requests yet, maybe it’s the path you should consider taking. Here is a five minute Knovio on job scope and the well written work request to watch. Engaged operators that know they are making a difference because they can see the results will help you in your reliability journey. Stay safe. Thanks for reading. Please comment or like, we enjoy the feedback.

Tired of Fighting Shaft Alignment? Fix angular soft foot first!

We have all been there… Late at night, trying to figure out why this quick alignment job has taken 20 moves and many hours longer than it was supposed to. After a couple of unexpected results during the alignment job the doubts start to creep in, is the laser ok? is the base ok? why won’t this repeat? We hear about this a lot and while there are many potential reasons for this one always seems to stand out…Angular Soft Foot.

It seems that many people are short cutting the angular soft foot check as part of the pre-alignment checks. We may do a cursory check with the laser (to save time) but never seem to handle angle foot properly. Any angular error on the foot will invariably cause the foot to walk across the base as it is tightened an loosened resulting in the erratic alignment results. Even if you manage to get the alignment completed, the angle soft foot will cause case distortion reducing the life of the bearings and on motors the motor, windings. We Must check and eliminate angular soft foot before we attempt the precision phase of our alignment. Here is one of our BITS micro learning pieces on checking angular soft foot. https://vimeo.com/418742364

How is your Reliability Health right Now?

Wondering how your Reliability Health is right now from a practical sense? We all have a plenty of metrics and KPI’s that measure our performance but how is your Reliability at the grass roots level? Do you need to know which areas to focus on? Take Reliability Solutions’ FREE Reliability Wellness Check-up here rs-digital.net/survey and find out how you are performing at a practical level. Based on your responses you will get your overall score and your main areas for improvement.

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Reliability Solutions Launches a New Service

Need help Now? Can’t access traditional help channels due to travel restrictions? undefined

Reliability Help Desk brings the experienced instructors and training you already know and trust directly to you to help solve reliability problems. Wether you pay as you go or subscribe to the service, we are available to help you solve your reliability issues at the asset, area, site or corporate level.The RS-digital.net Reliability Help Desk includes help, practical advice and troubleshooting in all the areas of Reliability. Our aim, as always, is to keep you up and running. We do this by leveraging accepted remote work environments and technologies, so that we can respond quickly to your needs and help resolve your issues in an effective, efficient and cost effective manner. Here is a brief preview video.

Contact us now to find out how we can help you your Reliability NOW

Reliability, it only takes a minute to make a difference

When I think about reliability I tend to think about the complexity of some of the processes that are to be put in place.  The pre work, the training, the roll out of roles and responsibilities, the metrics, tracking, coaching and mentoring.  These are all very valuable items and are critical to implementing shiny new processes in order to make them sustainable.  

What can get lost in the journey to reliability is that we don’t always need a new processes or a new program in order to make improvements in reliability.  It is sometimes the small, daily, incremental improvements that add up to big improvements over time.  What would happen if we shift some of our focus to taking care of the little (insignificant?) items that we walk past every day? Would we get some of the reliability results we are looking for with a lot less effort?  In reliability some things should only take a minute in order to make a difference and the first step in getting something fixed is noticing a potential problem… and that doesn’t take long when you know what to look for.  

Please take a look at the Reliability Minute Video here and see when you first notice the problem.  Share it with your people and see what they can find in your facility in a minute that will make you more reliable. Thanks for taking the time to read and watch.  Have a great day.

What does Heisenberg have to do with a Wiggy tester?

One outcome of Heisenburg’s uncertainty principle is, that in quantum mechanics anyway, the act of making an observation can affect the very thing you are trying to observe. Of course at the equipment level, testing does not usually affect performance unless you happen to be using a low impedance voltage tester often referred to as a Wiggy tester. We have to be very careful about using this type of tester as we troubleshoot equipment as it can cause havoc with the performance of the observed component. Take a look at this BIT on the subject. Just an example from our large ever growing library of B.I.T.S. 
https://kvgo.com/Example/wiggy-tester

How do we make sure that we are using the correct O ring?

Using the incorrect o ring material for an application will inevitably lead to premature failure and leaks. Typically OEM supplied O rings will be correct but what about the O rings we get from O ring kits and off the shelf suppliers? Before installing these orings we should check the material is correct. Here is one quick way to identify O ring material. https://kvgo.com/Example/oringtester

No Gauges…No Problem

The best way to determine if an oil filter needs cleaning will always be the differential pressure across it. But what if the gauges are non operational or even missing? We can certainly try Infra Red but that can be an issue if the operating temperature is close to ambient or we have emissivity issues. Another way is to use ultrasound. Take the contact probe and place it on the head of the filter close to the bypass valve. When the valve is open you will hear fluid passing. Here is a quick video from our B.I.T.S. Library that shows how. https://kvgo.com/Example/filter-ultrasound

Reliable Manufacturing® On-Demand

Reliable Manufacturing® On Demand is an intuitive easy to use, web based coaching system that is designed to provide the practical knowledge and knowhow that is vital to implementing Reliable Manufacturing® . With a design based on our decades of practical experience in Reliable Manufacturing® and training development, its modular approach permits the user to easily access the subject material in small individual modules or by larger curriculums based on role within the organization.
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