Reliable Plant March 2008

"This is not rocket science," says Mark Calkins, a maintenance organization senior manager for Boeing, a company that knows plenty about rocket science. Boeing is the planet's largest...

As an option to reduce plant costs, plant managers may consider contracting out maintenance work. This may have some merit, depending on many factors, including the nature of the business. One...

Let's continue our discussion on the principles that guide world-class planning and scheduling. This article covers the application of schedule compliance. First, we use the term "schedule...

I'm sure that most readers of Reliable Plant are well aware of the value brought by oil analysis. Used appropriately, there is little doubt that an effective oil analysis program can help identify...

Many people have an incomplete understanding of the power of a lubricant analysis program for mechanical systems. Some refer to it as the oil analysis program, but this removes a portion of the focus...

Can experience make up for the lack of a degree, or does a degree provide something that experience cannot? Is one more valuable than the other? Talk about a discussion that will have you chasing...

The Society for Maintenance and Reliability Professionals was founded in 1992 to benefit and serve those in the maintenance and reliability function. A look at its Web site (www.smrp.org) reveals that...

Many industrial professionals have pondered applying life cycle cost principles as a means of lowering costs and improving performance over the life of the equipment. Few have actually implemented a...

A local area network (LAN) is a group of computers and associated devices that shares a common communications line or wireless link. It typically shares the resources of a single processor or...

A 750-horsepower motor for a power station air compressor was sent to the motor shop for a winding failure. It was refurbished and returned to the station. Plant personnel performed a precision...

In the Reliability Forum department of Reliable Plant magazine, companies provide their insights to a question posed by editor Paul V. Arnold. This issue, the call went out to makers of hand tools....

Fred Morrison is Boeing’s senior manager of paint operations for the company’s sites in Seattle and Renton, Wash., with prime responsibility for 737 aircraft.   He believes “maintenance is...