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Editorial
	Editors Column
	On the minds of maintenance
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: Paul V. Arnold, RP Editor • Editorial|Editors Column
	Paul V. Arnold takes the pulse of maintenance professionals at recent industry conferences.

	The Exponent
	Rationalizing your investments in reliability
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: Drew D. Troyer, CRE, CMRP • Editorial|The Exponent
	Drew Troyer says that manufacturing reliability professionals must get comfortable with the process of defining their world in probabilistic and non-parametric terms.

Features
	Advisors
	Family-oriented reliability
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: Tor Idhammar • Features|Advisors
	Tor Idhammar believes the different departments in plants often interact with each other similar to that of families.

	Centralized vs. decentralized maintenance
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: Doc Palmer • Features|Advisors
	Companies ask if planning and scheduling will work if they have a decentralized maintenance organization. Doc Palmer says they need planning and scheduling just as much as a centralized shop.

	Redefining bearing failure
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: Mark Barnes • Features|Advisors
	Whenever you replace a bearing, even if the problem didn't result in any downtime, ask yourself, "Did the bearing last the longest time possible, or could we have done better?"

	Lessons from my early years
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: Wayne Vaughn • Features|Advisors
	When Wayne Vaughn entered the field of maintenance years ago, he had one advantage: He knew absolutely nothing about the field of maintenance.

	'You have been assimilated'
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: John Ha • Features|Advisors
	Many companies struggle when it comes to ensuring they are the employer of choice. The initial onboarding and orientation process (a.k.a. assimilation) can play a key role in getting a new employee engaged.

	Resistance to change: Meet the 'Tators'
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: Tim Goshert • Features|Advisors
	According to Cargill's Tim Goshert, leading change is one of the most important aspects of implementing a successful maintenance and reliability improvement process.

	Applied Reliability
	Developing meaningful procedures
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: Bill Hillman • Features|Applied Reliability
	Standards and procedures are the basis of any good maintenance effort. Bill Hillman provides insights on this important topic.

	In the News
	Attendees learn lean from GM, Harley, Campbell Soup and others
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author:  • Features|In the News
	Manufacturing leaders from facilities in the United States, Canada and Indonesia attended Reliable Plant magazine's fourth annual "Lean Tools for Maintenance & Reliability" conference.

	Safety Report
	Plant deaths fall 14.0%
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author:  • Features|Safety Report
	Work-related deaths at U.S. manufacturing plants declined 14.0 percent in 2007, marking a rebound from the 16.0 percent increase that occurred in 2006.

	Special Report
	Maintenance pay raises rebounded
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: Paul V. Arnold • Features|Special Report
	Pay to maintenance employees at American manufacturing facilities increased an average of 3.06 percent in 2008, a considerable bump from the paltry 1.31 percent average increase received in 2007.

	Shift your plant from reactive to reliable
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: Joe Mikes • Features|Special Report
	Most plants have a reactive maintenance department. Turning the corner and operating in a highly effective, reliable environment is an enormous challenge. This article shows how to get there.

Web Exclusives
	None
	Heijunka: Leveling the load
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: David McBride • Web Exclusives|None
	Many companies are working toward the ultimate lean goal of continuous or one-piece flow. They want to be able to make just what the customer wants when they want it. Instead, what we often see is a "hurry up, then slow down" build-to-order approach. Customers' orders vary from month to month, creating uneven production scheduling. Build-to-order companies will be building huge quantities, paying overtime, and stressing their people and equipment one week, but then sending them home the next due to light orders. This environment can also create large amounts of inventory, hidden problems and poorer quality. What many organizations fail to do is the difficult process of creating a true balanced lean workflow. This is the Toyota concept of heijunka, leveling out the work schedule.

	Where there is no standard, there can be no kaizen
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: Mike Wroblewski, lean sensei, Batesville Casket Company • Web Exclusives|None
	The words in the title of this article, which were spoken by Taiichi Ohno, have been one of his most popular and well-known sayings within our lean community. Typically, we use his famous words to stress the importance of establishing standard work as a baseline to measure any changes to signify actual improvement in our process. Without standard work, we cannot be sure what impact our changes had on our process.

	Attendees learn lean at RP conference in Chicago
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: Paul V. Arnold • Web Exclusives|None
	Manufacturing leaders from facilities in the United States, Canada and Indonesia attended Reliable Plant magazine's fourth annual "Lean Tools for Maintenance & Reliability" conference. The event was held recently at the Marriott Hotel in Chicago.

	Take-home value from AME conference in Toronto
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: Mike Wroblewski, lean sensei, Batesville Casket Company • Web Exclusives|None
	Mike Wroblewski, the lean sensei at Batesville Casket Company, recently attended the Association for Manufacturing Excellence's conference in Toronto. This article provides a roundup of some of the best sessions and some of the lessons Mike learned during the week.

	Lean raises the bar at Packaging Automation
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author:  • Web Exclusives|None
	With its core principles of reducing waste and achieving greater efficiencies, lean manufacturing has resulted in cultural change throughout Packaging Automation Ltd. as it seeks to reinforce its position as the leading United Kingdom manufacturer of tray sealing and filling equipment.

	Increase profits by becoming a real-time organization
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: Daniel Burrus • Web Exclusives|None
	Thanks to modern technology, today's computers and networks are ready for real-time data communications, and the advantages are nothing short of revolutionary. Some industries, including manufacturing, are already using real-time data in parts of their operations. But having real-time data is not enough. To successfully compete and increase your company's bottom line, you need to become a real-time organization. In other words, you need to use your real-time data to change how you work, how you manage and how you sell.

	Shutdown risk management
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: Andrew Levitt and Ben Wurtmann • Web Exclusives|None
	The highest pressure situation your maintenance department might ever encounter is a planned downtime. It is possible to plan for risk and make it less disruptive to the shutdown. Some of these risks can be eliminated, but most risks can only be managed. This article tells you how.

	Focus like Tiger Woods: Strategies to help you win
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: Randy Friedman • Web Exclusives|None
	Tiger Woods is one of the greatest golfers on the PGA Tour today and in the history of the game. Whether he's competing on the golf course or running one of his many businesses, Tiger has learned to use the power of extreme focus and mind power in everything he does. The tips in this article will not only help you sharpen your mental edge, but also help you cope with the challenges of work and everyday life. These strategies will help unleash the "Tiger" in you, on and off the golf course.

	How do you build a high-performance team?
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: Mike Aroney, Life Cycle Engineering • Web Exclusives|None
	Getting the most out of people in a lean environment is absolutely necessary to leverage the power of teamwork. Mike Aroney, the author of this article, says that there are four elements to crafting and developing a high performing team to LEAD an organization in optimizing how it serves customer. LEAD stands for Lead, Empower, Align and Desire.

	Connect with your younger workforce for greater productivity
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: Ken Whiting • Web Exclusives|None
	The next generations of workers (i.e. teens and young adults) have gained a reputation from the older generation of not being able to contribute at the same level they did when they were young. People often talk about how today's teens just don't have the work ethic, are lazy and they don't listen, follow rules or respect their supervisors. Before you dismiss this new generation of workers, take the information in this article into account and use this knowledge to turn them into workplace stars.

	Top 10 survival tactics in a tough economy
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: Thomas Houck, CPA, CFP • Web Exclusives|None
	Entrepreneurs have a sink-or-swim, do-or-die mentality. Focus on the right things, and you'll get through these difficult economic times.

	Cutting costs with energy auditing
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: Fluke Corporation • Web Exclusives|None
	An experienced power quality engineer reveals how to cut energy costs at your facility. It all begins with an energy audit. Follow the three-step approach in this article in order to see the benefits.

	New gearboxes, bearings lift uptime at aggregates quarry
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author:  • Web Exclusives|None
	Corcoran Concrete's quarry in County Mayo in Ireland has reduced maintenance and energy costs for its conveyors after making a switch in gearboxes and bearings.

	Lighting retrofit leads to energy, cost savings at ABB site
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author:  • Web Exclusives|None
	The factory at ABB's campus in New Berlin, Wis., is making good on a goal to reduce energy consumption – by at least 25 percent per year – via a retrofit of lighting in the main office and production facility. The reduction results from rebulbing 927 lights in the 56,000-square-feet office space and the replacement of 350 existing metal halide lights with new, more efficient fluorescent lights in the 95,000-square-feet factory. The retrofit is just one of many proactive steps the campus has taken to be a smart user of energy.

	Three not-so-painful tips for thriving in a miserable economy
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author:  • Web Exclusives|None
	Worried that your company won't outlast America's current economic crisis? Don't fret! Author and inventor Dan Adams has three commonsense tips that will help you weather the maelstrom.

	How to manage your crew after layoffs have been made
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author:  • Web Exclusives|None
	As layoffs in the American workplace climb to a 14-year high, employers need to prepare for negative effects on the "survivors". In this important article, Sirota Survey Intelligence offers five strategies for managing effectively after layoffs.

	Motivation needed now more than ever
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: Joe Takash • Web Exclusives|None
	How do you motivate people in an economy that is highly unstable and perpetuates fear? Author Joe Takash offers advice and a game plan in this highly relevant article.

	Exelon Power switches on lighting system for savings
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author:  • Web Exclusives|None
	Exelon Corporation is one of the nation's largest energy companies, generating and distributing electricity to millions of customers in Illinois and Pennsylvania. When the company slated a renovation of its Fairless Hills, Pa., generating plant – including a 45-year-old lighting system – they called on Westinghouse Lighting Solutions (WLS) to provide a customized T5 fluorescent system that cut energy use by 80 percent and more than doubled light output to create a brighter, safer workplace.

	Train on time: Use e-learning to meet training goals
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: Alexandra Galli-Debicella and Ben Wurtmann, New Standard Institute • Web Exclusives|None
	With ever-changing technology and tight training budgets, finding the right solution is more important than ever for maintenance organization leaders. This article from New Standard Institute talks about the gains to be made with e-learning as well as the potential pitfalls.

	Seven secrets to resilience during difficult times
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: Dr. Nancy D. O’Reilly • Web Exclusives|None
	Change is not always easy. In fact, for many of us, change is downright difficult. Humans are creatures of habit. We like our world to be predictable, and we want to know what to expect in our lives, moment to moment. In today's world, however, change is part of life.

	Resolve your personality conflicts once and for all
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: Theresa Rose • Web Exclusives|None
	Is there someone in your world who drives you absolutely insane? Does this person's voice sound like fingernails scraping against a chalkboard? Do you find yourself running for cover whenever he or she enters the room? Like most of us caught in similar situations, you have undoubtedly wrestled with your negative feelings for far too long, wasting precious time and energy. Getting angry hasn't helped, and ignoring the situation hasn't worked either. What can you do to resolve this unhealthy personality conflict for good?

	Are you chasing the rabbit?
	• Issue: 11/2008 • Author: Mike Wroblewski, lean sensei, Batesville Casket Company • Web Exclusives|None
	Lean guru Mike Wroblewski provides a review of Steve Spear's new book, "Chasing the Rabbit". This book provides a step-by-step approach to stepping up to the challenge of complexity in industry today. It chronicles the traits of "rabbits" – high-velocity, market-leading organizations – and explores how they always seem to lead the pack.