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Navistar: Heavy-duty performance
An innovative business teams structure is driving maintenance and operations excellence at Navistar's engine plant in Huntsville, Ala. Read this in-depth case study by Paul V. Arnold and find out what makes this site so special.


Editorial
Advisors
The need for succession planning
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: John Ha
• Editorial|Advisors
How critical is your job? Is it viewed as a key position? If you left the company, would it be able to move forward without losing a step?
 
Editors Column
Consider me a matchmaker
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: Paul V. Arnold, RP editor
• Editorial|Editors Column
Paul V. Arnold says networking and matchmaking help solve industrial problems.
 
The Exponent
Manage the vectors within your organization
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: Drew D. Troyer, CRE, CMRP
• Editorial|The Exponent
Drew Troyer examines the organization vectors that prohibit cooperative behavior.
 
Features
Advisors
Tough times can spur misguided cuts
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: Tor Idhammar
• Features|Advisors
Your company has decided to cut costs. In this situation, you'll find out if your plant and company are serious or not about improving reliability.
 
'Ja, maar' mentality can hurt planning
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: Doc Palmer
• Features|Advisors
Doc Palmer says many plants can't implement successful planning because they assign the planners many worthwhile activities that are not planning.
 
Who should decide the right frequency for preventive maintenance tasks?
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: Mark Barnes
• Features|Advisors
Routine, time-based preventive maintenance is a fact of life for production-critical equipment. But, who should decide how often these tasks are performed? Mark Barnes sheds some light on the subject.
 
Preventive maintenance vs. predictive maintenance
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: Andy Page
• Features|Advisors
How much risk you are willing to take with a given failure mode coupled with how much you are willing to pay for the inspection determines the appropriate strategy.
 
Persistence and perseverance
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: Tim Goshert
• Features|Advisors
Tim Goshert believes Abraham Lincoln provides maintenance leaders with a role model for how to deal with adversity.
 
Applied Reliability
Understanding couplings' lube needs
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: 
• Features|Applied Reliability
To maximize the life of components such as bearings and shafts, flexibility must be built in to absorb the residual misalignment that remains after all possible adjustments are made. Proper lubrication of couplings is critical to their performance.
 
A primer on self-lubricating bearings
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: 
• Features|Applied Reliability
Self-lubricating plain bearings offer plant-floor decision-makers maintenance-free options to maximize productivity and minimize costs.
 
Web Exclusives
None
Filtration solutions extend uptime, lower maintenance costs
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: 
• Web Exclusives|None
Uptime is the key at machining plants all around the world, and products that keep the lines moving are worth their weight in … iron. This article includes brief case studies that chronicle improvements at Propak, IPSCO, Shell Canada and Scami.
 
Emerson, Celulosa Arauco commission world's largest 'smart' pulp mill
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: 
• Web Exclusives|None
Emerson Process Management has helped Celulosa Arauco strengthen its world-class pulp supply capability by digitally integrating the world's largest "smart" pulping mill built by the industry leader at Nueva Aldea in central Chile. Digital automation allows mill personnel to readily access more data, allowing for easier calibration and greater mill-wide visibility, efficiency and management.
 
Air kaizen: Re-examining your equipment
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: Mike Wroblewski, lean sensei, Batesville Casket Company
• Web Exclusives|None
Take a critical look at your processes. How many of your machines are set up to cycle through air before touching the actual material? Lean guru Mike Wroblewski advises that you apply simple kaizen to the process and work yourself out of the air business. It will save you money and increase productivity.
 
Rouge goes green: Ford plant creates sustainable solutions
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: 
• Web Exclusives|None
When Ford Motor Company's Rouge plant manager Rob Webber looks out his office window at the Dearborn, Mich., facility's "living" roof, he sees a field of green where Canadian geese, mallard ducks and killdeer nest and raise offspring. Seeing wildlife flourish at the Rouge Center would have seemed farfetched five years ago.
 
Effective leadership image is critical to job performance
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: 
• Web Exclusives|None
Your effectiveness as a leader is tied directly to your image. Your ability to project an authentic leadership presence in the eyes of employees, customers, other important constituencies and the general public is closely related to your ability to do your job well.
 
FOLD & HOLD: A guide to relieve muscle aches and pains
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: Dr. Dale L. Anderson
• Web Exclusives|None
For many plant workers, pain is an everyday occurrence due to poor conditioning, stress, weak muscles and a sedentary lifestyle coupled with bursts of over-use and repetitive or sudden movements. When "slip-ups" happen, muscle spasms and pain often occur. Multiple treatment methods are tried, often to no avail. But, a simple, 90-second solution called the FOLD and HOLD method can alleviate pain and allow the worker to regain mobility and productivity.
 
Take your plant to a new level of reliability by going lean
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: Paul V. Arnold, editor, Reliable Plant
• Web Exclusives|None
Now more than ever, you need to apply lean manufacturing tactics and strategies to achieve peak maintenance and reliability performance. By adopting lean tools into your reliability functions, you’ll be able to help your plant prevent costly problems, squeeze more from your budgets and replace wrench time with uptime – and sustain it.
 
GM, Harley, Baxter, Alcoa, Campbell's highlight RP lean program
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: 
• Web Exclusives|None
Reliable Plant magazine’s next conference, "Lean Manufacturing 2008: Lean Tools for Maintenance & Reliability" is fast approaching. The event will be held October 6-8 at the Marriott Hotel in Schaumburg, Ill., just a few miles from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Speakers include lean reliability leaders from companies such as General Motors, Harley-Davidson, Campbell's Soup, Baxter Healthcare, Alcoa, Eaton and United Southern Industries.
 
Overcome the four barriers of change
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: John Baker
• Web Exclusives|None
The business organism must grow to survive. Even if we could miraculously hold everything steady – costs, margins, productivity – our value proposition immediately degenerates due to the unyielding forces in a competitive marketplace. What is the miracle that stimulates growth? It’s called change. Change creates opportunity for growth. But why do we resist change so much? Why is it that when change happens oftentimes our first reaction is to dig in our heels? John Baker explains in this insightful article.
 
There is value in value stream mapping
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: Mike Wroblewski, lean sensei, Batesville Casket Company
• Web Exclusives|None
Lean sensei Mike Wroblewski writes, "When Batesville Casket Company first embarked on the continuous improvement path, we called it JIT (just-in-time). As the term 'lean' became popular, we expanded our focus to eliminating waste in our process. We jumped right to massive kaizen mode with literally hundreds of kaizen events across the corporation completed each year. The little mistake we made was skipping the identification and mapping of our value streams." Read how Batesville turned it around.
 
U.S. Olympians take page from companies like Toyota, Boeing
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: 
• Web Exclusives|None
While athletes from around the world prepare to spotlight their exceptional physical skills in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics this August, behind the scenes, Olympic coaches are taking a new approach to building a winning performance. They are turning to business improvement methods that have led to success for major companies like Boeing and Toyota, according to the Quarterly Quality Report from the American Society for Quality.
 
Lean played role in Cessna's move to new plant
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: 
• Web Exclusives|None
When Cessna Aircraft evaluated its 60-year-old McCauley Propeller Systems plant in Vandalia, Ohio, it knew relocation was inevitable and, as the world's leading designer and manufacturer of light and mid-size aircraft, it had a lot riding on the move. "We needed to relocate an entire company within a very short window, with the least amount of interruptions to production and downtime," says Six Sigma black belt Jimmie Veal. "We could not risk sacrificing our client relationships and missing deliveries."
 
Evonik Degussa: A case study in explosion-proof wireless networks
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: Chris Steel, continuous improvement manager, Evonik Degussa
• Web Exclusives|None
As part of its continuous improvement initiative, Evonik Degussa Seal Sands recognized the need to measure and improve the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) of its critical equipment. Better monitoring of equipment was an essential part of the drive to enhance overall efficiency in the plant. In this article, continuous improvement manager Chris Steel explains how installing an explosion-proof WLAN has enabled quick, efficient assessment of OEE to be extended to the extreme environments and Zone 1 hazardous areas found in the plant.
 
West Linn Paper mill uncovers new ways to save energy
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: 
• Web Exclusives|None
The employees at the West Linn paper mill in Oregon are motivated by the need to improve their company's competitiveness. In an effort to contain rising energy costs, mill personnel investigated and implemented several energy savings projects over the past decade. A Save Energy Now assessment helped consolidate various ideas and provided the economic and technical justification to implement ad­ditional energy efficiency projects. This enabled the mill to achieve significant energy savings in its steam system.
 
Comply with regulations, increase safety, save costs with arc flash labeling
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: Chris Rutter, product manager, Safety and Facility ID, Brady Corporation
• Web Exclusives|None
With the rising frequency of reported arc flash accidents, and the potential for serious injury or death, arc flash deserves the concern it is generating within OSHA and the safety industry. To increase safety and ensure compliance throughout the workplace, it is critical to learn and identify arc flash hazards in your facilities, train employees in safe work practices, and use labels and other awareness aids to keep the message in the forefront and reinforce the desired behavior.
 
Communication: The most important key to leadership success
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: Lee Froschheiser
• Web Exclusives|None
Strong, effective leaders stress fundamentals like discipline, accountability, strategic alignment, managing to his or her values and empowering employees. Additionally, these leaders have mastered the six basic functions of management: leading, planning, organizing, staffing, controlling and communicating. But what’s the one golden thread tying all those functions together – and the most important key to great leadership? Clear communication.
 
Eight ways to recruit today's best teenagers
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: Ken Whiting
• Web Exclusives|None
The times and today's teens have changed, and if you haven't adjusted your recruiting approach, you'll continue to come up short. To ensure you catch their attention, throw out as wide of a net as possible by using these tactics.
 
Putting out fires
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: Thomas Houck
• Web Exclusives|None
The most valuable asset any business owner (or department manager) has is his or her time. The most successful people have the best time management skills, and develop a system to prioritize the things that they must do in their businesses and personal lives. They know that if they don’t work on the important things, the important things won’t get done.
 
Disruptive trends in master data management
• Issue: 7/2008
• Author: By Dr. Lawrence Dubov
• Web Exclusives|None