Reliable Plant Issue 11 of 2006

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>>COVER STORY

Clopay Corporation: Hometown heroes
Augusta, Ky., is about more than pretty faces. It's the site of Clopay Corporation and maintenance & reliability excellence. Editor Paul V. Arnold provides the in-depth, inside story on this manufacturer of plastics products.

Departments
	News and Analysis
	Attendees hit the jackpot at RP event in Las Vegas
	• Issue: 11/2006 • Author: • Departments\|News and Analysis
	Nearly 100 leaders from manufacturing facilities in the United States and Puerto Rico attended Reliable Plant magazine's second annual "Lean Tools for Maintenance & Reliability" conference.

Editorial
	Editors Column
	Imperfection hurts, kills
	• Issue: 11/2006 • Author: Paul V. Arnold, editor • Editorial\|Editors Column
	Editor Paul V. Arnold says the manufacturing industry cannot be complacent about workplace safety.


	The Exponent
	Rooting for reliability
	• Issue: 11/2006 • Author: Drew D. Troyer, CRE, CMRP • Editorial\|The Exponent
	Drew Troyer shares his thoughts and philosophies on root cause analysis.

Features
	Advisors
	Don't overlook subjective inspections
	• Issue: 11/2006 • Author: Tor Idhammar • Features\|Advisors
	This article by Tor Idhammar is dedicated to the somewhat lost skill of subjective (look, listen, feel, smell) inspections.



	How much detail for job plans?
	• Issue: 11/2006 • Author: Doc Palmer • Features\|Advisors
	Doc Palmer's fifth principle of planning states that plans recognize the skill of the crafts.



	Does lubrication belong in the CMMS?
	• Issue: 11/2006 • Author: Mark Barnes • Features\|Advisors
	You are probably better served with a dedicated system, administered and managed by the lube team, and designed to handle the day-to-day minutia of lubrication.



	What's the hidden secret to success?
	• Issue: 11/2006 • Author: John Schultz • Features\|Advisors
	Columnist John Schultz says it's imperative to change the way you and your company think about condition-based maintenance.



	Change, the only constant
	• Issue: 11/2006 • Author: John Ha • Features\|Advisors
	Columnist John Ha offers some proven guidelines to successful change management.



	'Yeah, but we're different'
	• Issue: 11/2006 • Author: Tim Goshert • Features\|Advisors
	Tim Goshert believes proactive M&R principles can work in all environments, businesses, geographies and facility sizes.


	Applied Reliability
	To be lean, you have to be clean
	• Issue: 11/2006 • Author: Rick Morgando • Features\|Applied Reliability
	Kafko's Rick Morgando chronicles reasons why cleanliness is paramount to lean 5-S success.



	Asset management leverages lean
	• Issue: 11/2006 • Author: Eric Luyer • Features\|Applied Reliability
	The possibility of achieving zero downtime increases by using lean manufacturing principles in conjunction with technologies that automate the management of assets, service and equipment performance.



	IR: What's a survey? What's a route?
	• Issue: 11/2006 • Author: Ray Garvey • Features\|Applied Reliability
	This is the first in a series of articles addressing the application of modern infrared cameras to in-plant thermography.


	None
	Maintenance pay raises gained ground
	• Issue: 11/2006 • Author: Paul V. Arnold • Features\|None
	Pay to maintenance employees at American manufacturing facilities increased an average of 2.9 percent in 2006, an improvement from the 2.32 percent average increase received in 2005.


	Reliability in Action
	Analysis reveals motor mount issues
	• Issue: 11/2006 • Author: • Features\|Reliability in Action
	A Reliable Plant reader tells his tale of problem-solving and reliability.

Web Exclusives
	None
	The Managing System: Measure the right things!
	• Issue: 11/2006 • Author: David A. Army, Strategic Asset Management; and Gwendolyn Army, Foresight Consulting Inc. • Web Exclusives\|None
	There has been a great deal of debate over the years revolving around how maintenance or, more importantly, maintenance processes should and should not be measured. If we look back 70 or 80 years, to when most of the current accounting and measurement methods were developed, we find not much has changed about how we report and measure effectiveness. But, times have changed significantly and new performance measures are required. SAMI’s David Army spells it all out in this article.



	Thyssen Krupp boosts uptime through replacement part maintenance
	• Issue: 11/2006 • Author: • Web Exclusives\|None
	Maintenance coordinator Philip Ryan was given the responsibility of turning the plant’s uptime performance on key production machinery from 55 percent to a minimum of 90 percent. How did he attack that challenge? Did he meet that goal? Find out in this case study.



	Super Boiler looks promising for high efficiency, cost savings
	• Issue: 11/2006 • Author: The U.S. Department of Energy's Industrial Technologies Program • Web Exclusives\|None
	A series of promising new technologies in steam generation could reduce U.S. industrial steam system operating costs by more than $10 billion annually, saving 185 trillion Btu per year. At the same time, the technologies would curb environmental emissions by nearly 2.7 million metric tons of carbon equivalent annually.



	The industrial version of rock-paper-scissors
	• Issue: 11/2006 • Author: Mike Wroblewski • Web Exclusives\|None
	Did you ever play rock-paper-scissors as a kid? Back then, this was the ultimate decision-maker. Today, in the grown-up business world, we play a similar game when it comes to making most of our plant decisions. Mike Wroblewski calls this game opinion-data-perception. Click through and read this insightful column.



	Tips for reducing stress levels during the holidays
	• Issue: 11/2006 • Author: • Web Exclusives\|None
	The holidays are here – and for many, stress will be an unwelcome guest. University of Maryland psychology lecturer Dr. Thomas Capo says that holiday stress can be conquered by following some common sense tips that aim to help body, mind and pocketbook.



	Show me the money: an MRO inventory analysis
	• Issue: 11/2006 • Author: Mary Cenedese • Web Exclusives\|None
	You don’t have to be a genius to recognize that a lot of money is tied up in MRO inventory … especially if your business requires the use of capital-intensive equipment. Literally millions of dollars are tied up in spare parts for day-to-day plant maintenance, repair and operations.



	Proactive energy management at California Portland Cement
	• Issue: 11/2006 • Author: Steve Coppinger, P.E. • Web Exclusives\|None
	In many cement plants, energy amounts to as much as 50 percent of variable costs. But California Portland Cement Company is standing firm on reducing its energy costs and lowering process emissions by implementing a corporate energy management program. Among the many benefits so far, the program has saved the company $3 million.



	Uptime is key to production at American Gypsum plant
	• Issue: 11/2006 • Author: ReliablePlant.com • Web Exclusives\|None
	Wallboard manufacturer American Gypsum knows it must maintain a continuous production process to remain competitive. That’s why its plant in Colorado set out to find a CMMS system that would improve how the maintenance department tracked equipment history.



	Make every word count in quality
	• Issue: 11/2006 • Author: Mike Wroblewski • Web Exclusives\|None
	What do you do when your company’s quality manual has more than twice the number of words as are found in the U.S. Constitution? In Mike Wroblewski’s case, he put together a kaizen team that examined the 55-page document and revised it into a seven-page manual that includes only the information that is meaningful and important.



	Inserting the missing link in accelerated testing
	• Issue: 11/2006 • Author: Dave Rizzo • Web Exclusives\|None
	Knowledge – in the form of advanced education and ongoing tech support – helps wring maximum benefit out of HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Testing) and HASS (Highly Accelerated Stress Screening) programs for companies focused on product reliability and rapid time to market.