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	15/07/2016 Avoiding Unplanned Shutdown by Simple Vibration-based Condition Monitoring It is often observed an emergency unplanned plant shutdown due to failure of a machine may not only cause production loss but may also affect plant safety. A case study shows that simple on-line vibration measurement can predict the presence of a fault at early stage so that maintenance activity can be planned before failure. More...
	15/07/2016 An Asset-Centric Approach Targets Business Challenges at Nova Scotia Power In the face of a rapidly changing energy environment Nova Scotia Power Inc. (NSPI) has opted to adopt a comprehensive asset management approach across its fleet of generating stations. This approach, inspired by PAS-55 and the subsequent ISO55000 series of asset management standards, has an asset-centric focus. More...
	15/07/2016 Maintenance & Asset Management Journal Guest Editor's Foreword Big data, IOT, Cloud Computing, Wireless Sensors, Predictive Analytics are advances that are unavoidable in industry. In fact, it is essential that we embrace these technologies to compete and provide value to our customers and our businesses. More...
	31/05/2016 Deriving Quantitative Requirements For The Reliability of the On-Board ETCS The method is developed around an operational scenario that involves the removal of an immobilised train from an area controlled by a signalman. A value for the mean time between immobilising failures (MTBIF) of the on-board ETCS is estimated on the basis of a proposed set of operational parameters and its sensitivity to parameter changes is analysed using a spider diagram. More...
	27/05/2016 Condition Improvement Instead of Just Condition Monitoring The avoidance of serious machine failures through the detection of incipient faults is only the first part of the benefits deliverable by a condition monitoring programme. Better still is to avoid the faults in the first place, by correct installation and operation. More...
	26/05/2016 Maintenance & Asset Management Journal Editor's Foreword Disquieting, albeit somewhat anecdotal, is the report (see, for example, February's Professional Engineering) that under the pressure of drastically reduced operating returns and profits the offshore sector is, among other cost-cutting measures, 'postponing or shelving some maintenance activities'. More...
	29/03/2016 Vibration Monitoring of Rolling Bearings To Maximise Asset Reliability (Part II) Rolling bearings are used extensively in many types of plant, and their unexpected failure can result in high repair and replacement costs. Consequently, vibration based condition monitoring has been used for many years to detect and diagnose the onset of such faults and form the basis of a predictive maintenance strategy More...
	15/03/2016 A Non-Return Valve: A Possible Source for Pump Failure Frequent failure of pumps due to the presence of a non-return valve in the discharge line is a common problem which can be avoided by proper trials and inspection during commissioning. A case study on an industrial centrifugal pump illustrates this. More...
	29/01/2016 Maintenance & Asset Management Journal Guest Editor's Foreword Condition Monitoring (CM) has been used for many years as an integral part of a Predictive Maintenance (PM) strategy. The measurement of vibration, for example, is one of the most widely used CM techniques for detecting and diagnosing faults in the roller bearings used in many types of plant, bearings, which, if they fail unexpectedly, can result in high repair and replacement costs. More...
	29/01/2016 Vibration Monitoring of Rolling Bearings To Maximise Asset Reliability (Part I) Rolling bearings are critical components used extensively in many types of plant and equipment, and if they fail unexpectedly can result in catastrophic failure with associated high repair and replacement costs. Consequently, vibration based condition monitoring has been used for many years to detect and diagnose machine faults and form the basis of a predictive maintenance strategy. More...
	27/11/2015 Maintenance & Asset Management Journal Guest Editor's Foreword Maintenance has never been any more important than it is now, for a number of reasons. Firstly, safety and health must be at the top of our agendas for sound moral and business reasons, and sadly many disasters have occurred during maintenance periods. Therefore we must have robust, safe systems of work and must stress the importance of safety-first behaviours from everyone. More...
	27/11/2015 Reducing Energy Costs in Compressed Air Systems The costs of compressed air generation and leakage and the identification of opportunities for energy savings in compressed air systems are reviewed. The practical implementation of such measures is then discussed in some detail, and the subsequent rapid return on investment illustrated by a short case study. More...
	27/11/2015 Why Industry Needs to Redefine Solids Filtration and Biological Control in Process Water The authors discuss why industry is still prepared to accept a poor quality of process water filtration, the risks of doing so and why advanced media filtration technology is the answer. More...
	01/10/2015 Re-Assembly Impacting Machine Performance: A Case Study A case study is presented of the measures adopted when a primary air fan in a coal-fired power plant exhibited, after maintenance, high vibration which led to failure of the motor bearing and eventual stoppage of power production. The measurement of the vibration, the solution of the problem and the message for the maintenance team are discussed. More...
	28/09/2015 Effective Management of Critical Control Points (CCPs) in the Food Industry This paper deals with the principles and techniques that need to be applied to the food industry for an effective management of each critical control point (CCP) found in the process or in the equipment under examination. More...
	28/09/2015 Maintenance & Asset Management Journal Guest Editor's Foreword Maintenance is traditionally perceived as an activity intended to increase the reliability and thus the availability of a plant for production activity. The equipment reliability is commonly measured with the MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure), which measures the average time that elapses between two machine stops. More...
	20/07/2015 Reliability, Resilience and Damage Current research is being carried out by the US Navy to quantify reliability in scientific terms, where the terms of reference are �The present study relies on a science-based explanation of damage as the source of material failure, and develops an alternative approach to reliability assessment based on the second law of thermodynamics�. More...
	20/07/2015 Achieving Top-Quartile Reliability Returns The Reliability Value Chain provides a systematic approach to optimizing asset reliability in top-performing enterprises. Global businesses should strive for consistent, standards-based reliability practices throughout their plants. More...
	20/07/2015 Maintenance & Asset Management Journal Guest Editor's Foreword The traditional world view of asset management is changing. Game changers will be a shortage of engineering skills globally, increasing complexity of equipment and the reduction in cost of sensors, with a proliferation in monitoring systems that can be applied to equipment coupled with the raft of data that they will provide. More...
	28/05/2015 Condition Monitoring Is Not Enough Condition monitoring is a powerful technique used to detect incipient failures in rotating machinery and other plant assets. By accurately diagnosing fault conditions at an early stage, the risk of failure can be reduced, and the cost of corrective action can be minimized. However, in the majority of cases, condition monitoring techniques are used to detect fault conditions that should not exist More...
	28/05/2015 Maintenance & Asset Management Journal Guest Editor's Foreword There is a persistent belief among many in the maintenance community that the best way to reduce spare parts holdings is to improve maintenance systems. This belief results in little being done to improve spare parts management, while everyone waits for maintenance system changes to take effect. More...
	28/05/2015 A Quantified Approach For A Reliability-Based Maintenance Model To satisfy demand the power industry, being highly competitive, is required to assure the reliable delivery of energy. This can be achieved by maintaining the integrity of the plant at a reasonable cost, enabled by the optimisation of the asset management process. Decision support tools are utilised for selecting the most appropriate maintenance tasks and times at which they are required to be performed. More...
	26/03/2015 Asset Management PAS 55/ISO 55000 It is explained that the new ISO55000 series of standards for the management of physical assets, based on the earlier PAS 55 specification developed by the IAM, are not about managing assets, but about delivering business value. More...
	26/03/2015 Is It Safe To Use Bleach On Concrete? At a sea defence study site on the Fylde coast, in the North West of England, dairy hypochlorite is used to eradicate bio-fouling from municipal steps and walkways. This article investigates the use of sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) and describes the effects of this destructive chemical upon the innovative use of polypropylene fibres within a marine concrete matrix. More...
	26/03/2015 Maintenance & Asset Management Journal Editor's Foreword Both the papers in this issue deal with topics that, as far as I have been able to recall or determine, have not before featured in the M & AMJ. More...
	30/01/2015 Maintenance Plan Development - Template At Your Peril The problems, and benefits, are reviewed of using �templates� (standard lists of tasks identified for common asset categories) to assist in maintenance plan development. The reasons why problems occur are discussed, and a set of �Do's and Don'ts�, to ensure that templating is employed in a positive, value-adding, way is proposed. More...
	30/01/2015 Offshore Installation Life Assessment and Extension This paper describes, in detail, how a structured asset life review, covering all the relevant factors, is one means of developing such an approach � while additionally delivering significant potential financial benefits. Also presented is a short case study of asset life extension assessment for a North Sea installation. More...
	30/01/2015 Maintenance & Asset Management Journal Editor's Foreword A basic, and much referenced, factor in the planning of major engineering projects, of all kinds, is the assumed �design-life�. For an offshore oil and gas extraction platform this - as Brian Hudson explains in our first paper for this year - is typically some twenty five years or so. More...
	08/01/2015 Upgraded Online Protection and Prediction Systems Improve Machinery Health Monitoring As part of a programme to use the latest technologies and then optimise their use to deliver significant improvements, Shell has upgraded the protection and prediction systems on the Shell Draugen oil and gas platform in the North Sea. These new systems, have been installed to monitor and protect key platform equipment, helping to improve maintenance efficiency and increase production. More...
	29/11/2014 How To See The Future of Your Business, Plant and Equipment Looking at your run charts and distribution curves - measures of your operational and maintenance performance - can enable you to fully understand the future implications for the reliability of your plant and equipment. The author�s company provide distribution curves of your failure data and uptime as part of a maintenance audit. These curves reflect your business future, unless you change operational and maintenance management policies and practices to those that produce more successful outcomes. Read how simple, fast and easy it is to predict your future operating and business performance. More...
	29/11/2014 Maintenance & Asset Management Journal Guest Editor's Foreword Have you heard the story of the king who had to pick a new driver for his regal limousine? More...
	30/09/2014 The Vibration Analyst Checklist - Do You Pass? Practical advice is given on getting the most the most meaningful and the most accurate information from machine vibration analysis, viz. on identifying the appropriate measurement locations and axes, the optimal data collection settings and the best analysis techniques. Also stressed are the importance of good reporting practices and the desirability of root cause analysis and acceptance testing. More...
	30/09/2014 Risk Intuition - Blurring The Lines Between Procedure and Practice Asset management is inherently a risk based decision making process. Practitioners in asset management are more inclined to consider uncertainty relating to a course of action than perhaps many other professionals, normally because their training and experience biases them towards structured approaches and avoidance of an unplanned outcome. More...
	29/09/2014 Maintenance & Asset Management Journal Guest Editor's Foreword Reliability improvement should be high on every senior manager�s agenda. Reduced operating costs, increased production, reduced environmental and safety incidents are just some of the benefits. But the big question is - how do you do it? More...
	18/07/2014 How To Monitor Food Equipment Critical Parts to Design Reliable Maintenance Tasks Compliance with EEC directives and international standards on product safety is mandatory for those who operate in the food industry. Current legislation on food packaging calls for the producers to identify the equipment critical control points in order to put them under control during the different production phases. A maintenance process, intended to maintain the equipment criticalities under control, is mandatory to insure equipment reliability, and necessary if negative interactions between equipment and food product are to be avoided. More...
	18/07/2014 Maintenance Engineering and Engineering Economics It is argued that engineering and economics are not as integrated as they should be, even though the one needs the other, that the maintenance function is an outstanding example of this undesirable separation, and that engineering economics would benefit from the knowledge, practice and ideas of engineering asset management, in general, and of maintenance engineering in particular. More...
	18/07/2014 Maintenance & Asset Management Journal Editor's Foreword Ever since its introduction in the mid-1970s our Manchester post-graduate programme in Maintenance Engineering and Asset Management (one of the first of its kind anywhere, if not the first) has always included a substantial module on the analysis of plant Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety (RAMS for short) � reflecting our belief that as good a definition of maintenance as any is that it is the process of ensuring that those very qualities are sustained at the levels required throughout the life of an asset. More...
	09/06/2014 Maintenance & Asset Management Journal Guest Editor's Foreword During an asset management conference I attended recently an engineer from the audience asked why there wasn�t a greater emphasis on risk within the new international standard for asset management, ISO 55000. More...
	06/06/2014 A New Approach to Process Improvement A very brief insight is given into a value improvement model (VIM) for repetitive processes applicable to any business improvement project where people and/or plant provide a service to support the overall business objective. More...
	06/06/2014 Implementation of Energy Optimisation Programmes to Improve Cost Effectiveness In this economic downturn many businesses are struggling to survive and have a healthy bottom line. A cost reduction programme for their facilities, to offset increased manufacturing costs, may therefore be essential. More...
	25/03/2014 Balancing By The Components Method In his third note on machine balancing (see Issues 3 and 6 of Volume 13) Ray explains the �components method�, describing its application to the rotor of a constant speed, Induced Draft, centrifugal Fan on a power station boiler. More...
	25/03/2014 Life Cycle Costing - Art or Science? The element of risk in whole life cost estimating - an essential part of financial modelling in public finance initiatives and public private partnerships - is explored. More...
	25/03/2014 Maintenance & Asset Management Journal Guest Editor's Foreword One of the great British engineers of the 19th century, Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-59) is regarded as a true polymath, whose career embraced civil, structural, mechanical and marine engineering, architecture, art and design. More...
	25/03/2014 First Aid Treatment for Machine Vibration Problems Excessive vibration in industrial machines often leads to reduced output and eventual loss of overall plant effectiveness. Simple vibration measurement, even with a limited in-house capability, can often significantly enhance machine performance - and reduce the impact of lost production - prior to the engagement of the services of a vibration expert. More...
	29/01/2014 Spare Parts Inventory: An Exercise in Risk Management It is explained that the economical management of the inventory of spare parts is a form of insurance policy, mitigating the risks � to production, business reputation, safety and the environment - of spares stock-out, i.e. of the lack of spares when they are needed. The reasons for holding spares, the consequences of their unavailability in the event of plant breakdown and the determination of spares holding and acquisition policy (in particular via a stock-out probability-consequence decision matrix) are discussed in detail. More...
	29/01/2014 Maintenance & Asset Management Journal Guest Editor's Foreword Why is it that companies that can readily manage and control their inventories have so much trouble with their MRO and spare parts inventory? Here, they either stock out of critical items, creating unnecessary and excessive downtime, or they overstock to an extent that if repeated elsewhere in their business would send them broke. The worst companies do both! More...
	29/01/2014 Vibration Monitoring: A Case Study An earlier article by the same authors, published in the July 2013 issue, described the development of a condition monitoring system for the machinery in a coal workshop of a typical cement plant. Here, the application is outlined of a simplified and systematic vibration-based diagnosis for enabling the early detection of faults in that machinery, an application which is expected to enhance the safety and availability of the plant concerned. More...
	29/11/2013 Maintenance & Asset Management Journal Guest Editor's Foreword Pracademic Ray Beebe takes us ahead to walk around Plant X: More...
	26/11/2013 Balancing Using Relative Phase In our May/June issue Ray explained how unbalance in rotating machinery � one of the commonest cause of vibration in rotors large and small � can be eliminated with the aid of the stopwatch feature of a mobile phone. In this second article, he explains more from his experiences in balancing. More...
	25/11/2013 Lubrication Reliability It is explained that although industrial lubrication can be an operation of considerable scale and complexity, as well as importance to efficiency and profitability, too many organizations, world-wide, remain unaware that its effective management requires specialized software, too often leaving it, in full or in part, to human memory, spreadsheets and/or unsuitable CMMS/EAM systems. More...
	24/11/2013 Laser Cladding: A Versatile Pro-Active and Reactive Technology Laser cladding is an additive process wherein a laser source is used to melt metal-based powder or wire on to a metal substrate. The result is a thick metal or metal matrix composite coating (of about 1 mm thickness) of a high quality; it has an excellent bonding to the substrate and is completely dense. The laser cladding process enables the treatment of heat sensitive materials and deformation sensitive components, which cannot be processed by conventional techniques like surface welding. More...
	30/09/2013 Maintenance Key Performance Indicators A summary is provided of important considerations when designing key performance indicators as part of any performance management system. Technical, behavioural and psychological aspects are all touched upon. More...
	30/09/2013 Proving That Asset Management Delivers Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., stated: - �I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity�. We have an opportunity to structure and then simplify our Asset Management endeavours and manage such complexity More...
	30/09/2013 Maintenance & Asset Management Journal Guest Editor's Foreword I encounter the following attitudes in maintenance over and again and I am always perplexed by them. More...
	26/07/2013 Demonstration of Condition Monitoring Through A Case Study The success of the maintenance department of a company will be mainly judged by how much it contributes towards smooth operations, which should eventually lead to higher turnover, and this is no different for the cement industry. More...
	26/07/2013 Testing, Diagnostics and Monitoring of High Voltage Plant and Equipment How much do you know about the condition of your electrical assets? And do you use that information to prioritise maintenance and replacements, so you can reduce outages, increase reliability and safety � and even lower your operating costs? More...
	29/05/2013 Balancing - Using Your Mobile Phone Unbalance is one of the most common causes of high vibration in machines. If the largest vibration component in the spectrum is at 1� (i.e. at the frequency corresponding to rotation speed) then unbalance is the likely cause. Balancing is therefore a regular maintenance activity in many workplaces. Ray Beebe explains a method that has been successfully used on rotors large and small, with the only instrumentation required for balancing being the stopwatch feature of a mobile phone. More...
	29/05/2013 Risk and Accountability in Utility Network Contracts - A Case Study in the Water Industry This case study will examine the practicalities of applying NEC contracts to water supply networks, including a structured approach to identifying activities, development of resource and financial plans, and the application of key performance indicators (KPIs). More...
	29/05/2013 Risk and Accountability in Utility Network Contracts The gas, water and electricity utilities have remained consistent since privatisation about their approach to outsourcing. In general, operation and maintenance of process facilities has remained a core activity. However, maintenance and repair of infrastructure networks has been contracted out. More...
	28/05/2013 Maintenance & Asset Management Journal Editor's Foreword If there is one thing, more than any other, that we would like to see in these pages it is case studies, accounts of the application of managerial principles and engineering techniques to improving the maintenance (or some significant aspect of it), and hence the performance, of an industrial operation. More...
	28/03/2013 Maintenance & Asset Management Journal Editor's Foreword Without doubt, one of the hot issues in the UK and the rest of Europe at the present time is the integrity and quality (and, by implication, the safety) of food: in particular, of the greater part of it which, these days, arrives on our tables via long and complex chains of processing , packaging and transport. More...
	25/03/2013 FMEHA: A Useful Technique For Designing Food Safety and Equipment Reliability In food packaging, the original quality of the food needs to be maintained during its shelf life. If the process of pasteurizing or sterilizing the initial product, and then packing and transporting it, is not reliable, food safety can be heavily compromised. More...
	05/03/2013 Glass: Low Maintenance Fit and Forget? The inexorable processes of weathering and air pollution eventually diminish the sparkle and translucency of new glass. The author explains how this occurs and discusses the effectiveness, in preventing it, firstly of recent (and so-called) �self-cleaning� nano-technological treatments, and then of polymer coatings, which have been in use for over thirty years. More...
	28/01/2013 Maintenance & Asset Management Journal Editor's Foreword It is an unusual issue of our Journal which doesn�t contain a piece on one or another of the many techniques, long established or up and coming, of plant Condition Monitoring and on their corollary, Predictive Maintenance. And this issue is no exception... More...
	28/01/2013 Back to Basics: How To Save More Money With Condition Monitoring Some dramatic claims have been made about the level of expected returns from Condition Based Maintenance, with figures ranging from 5:1 to 20:1. In reality the experience is less dramatic, with many organisations making returns of less than 2:1. Nevertheless some organisations do achieve the significantly higher levels of savings promised. This paper will examine the key strategies that distinguish the best from the rest and serves as a checklist for the busy maintenance manager wanting to get the most out of the squeezed maintenance budget. More...
	28/01/2013 Top Five Maintenance & Reliability Enablers For Improved Operational Performance Surrounding yourself, your projects, and your initiatives with positive enablers leads to success. However, many improvement initiatives focus on the benefits they can provide, such as cost savings and improved productivity, but overlook the importance of discussing and identifying the enablers that must be in place to achieve the projected benefits. More...
	28/11/2012 Are You Being Ruined By Best Efforts? Many companies find that the efforts put into adopting maintenance and asset management best practices do not necessarily deliver against expectations. In the light of an illustrative case study some of the reasons for this are identified and discussed - in particular those arising from the adoption of condition based maintenance strategies, from work identification, from work management and from defect elimination. More...
	28/11/2012 The Partnering Transition From Projects To Operations Partnering has been used for the past two decades to describe collaborative working arrangements between clients and suppliers. It was originally established in the early 1990s when Sir Michael Latham was commissioned by the then Tory Government to improve the contractual arrangements of the UK construction industry, following high profile capital contract difficulties with projects such as the Channel Tunnel. More...
	28/11/2012 Maintenance & Asset Management Journal Editor's Foreword I have said before (I think) that it was Rudyard Kipling, he of Mowgli and 'The Jungle Book', who suggested (poetically, in one of his 'Just So' stories for the young) that to solve most of life's problems we should address his 'six honest serving men' whose names 'are WHAT and WHY and WHEN, and HOW and WHERE and WHO' - and that this is as good a starting point as any for unravelling the complexities of developing a strategy for managing maintenance in any enterprise. More...
	24/09/2012 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword There is surely no doubt that the proper provision of spare parts and materials - their correct identification, ordering, adequacy of stocking , etc. - is a key function of maintenance management, but looking back over more than twenty years of editing our journal, I can recall running hardly any material on this topic. More...
	24/09/2012 Spur Gear Pump Vibration Assessment Over many years working in the fields of rotating machinery and analysing Noise and Vibration issues it is still surprising to see that the issue of gear pump vibration comes up over and over again. More...
	24/09/2012 Six Tips to Improve Spare Parts Management Spare parts are the lifeblood of operational reliability and plant capacity. No plant can operate at a high level of output without a reliable supply of functional spare parts. Spare parts form the bedrock on which operational reliability is built and this requires appropriate storage, treatment of, and timely access to the required parts. Yet, spare parts are also the most overlooked contributor to reliability outcomes. More...
	20/07/2012 The Heat of the Moment! The Complex Hazard of Electric Arc Flash Explained Electric arc flash and the considerable hazard it presents to personnel working on, or near to, live electrical equipment, are explained, as are the recommended measures that need to be taken to eliminate or minimize this risk and hence to ensure safety and compliance with the law. More...
	20/07/2012 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword This month, our two articles have a theme in common: tasks and problems in the maintenance of electrical plant - heavy electrical, that is (to use an old fashioned term, for power and distribution plant and the like). More...
	10/07/2012 Effective Condition Assessment Of Medium Voltage Switchgear There is a general trend within electricity distribution companies and operators of large private electricity networks to extend maintenance periods for medium voltage (MV) switchgear. More...
	29/05/2012 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword If there is one topic that has been aired more often than any other in these pages, ever since our journal was launched some twenty six years ago, it must surely be the detection, measurement, analysis and interpretation of plant vibration. More...
	28/05/2012 The Bhopal Disaster - Learning From Failures And Evaluating Risk The economic, technological and organizational errors attributable to the root causes of the Bhopal disaster of the 2nd and 3rd of December 1984 are identified. In particular, the technical causes of the failure from a design and operational perspective are highlighted. An investigation is then carried out to determine the major consequences of the failure. More...
	28/05/2012 Control Of Building Vibration With Dynamic Absorber High beating vibration was evident in the structure of a large (350MWe lignite) boiler structure and the associated buildings. Although the amplitude was well below that considered to be unacceptable for machines for their integrity, the level increased to became high enough to be annoying to workers in the vicinity. More...
	29/03/2012 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword Two contrasting items this month: (i) an engineering case study in which Hamid Malaki describes why torsional vibration was the principal cause of repeated failures of a generator drive shaft and how a combination of analytical prediction and careful monitoring indicated the actions which prevented recurrence of the problem; (ii) a definitive review by Sauro Ricetti (a sequel to his January 2011 paper) of the managerial framework for designing, implementing and controlling an equipment maintenance programme of the necessary effectiveness if - in the food industry - vital product safety and quality are to be achieved. More...
	29/03/2012 Investigation of the Failure of an Alternator Rotor Shaft Driven by a Reciprocating Gas Engine An investigation of repeated failures of an alternator rotor drive shaft is reported. Among other things it is shown that torsional vibration was the major factor in the cause of these breakdowns and that comparison of analytical prediction of such vibration with its careful monitoring can be a valuable aid in deciding how to prevent recurrence of the problem. More...
	29/03/2012 Designing Food Product Safety Through an Effective Implementation of Maintenance Engineering Too often, long life food products show quality or safety problems that are a function of equipment reliability. In the food industry, the raw product must be sterilized and then packed in a sterile environment if quality and contamination problems are to be avoided throughout its whole shelf life. The equipment used to sterilize food products, and to form, seal, cut, and transport the packages or containers must be subjected to regular maintenance activities determined by the criticalities identified in the maintenance design phase. More...
	25/01/2012 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword In this issue, Michael Dixey and John Gallimore review the purpose, failure modes, and management of those ubiquitous features of the modern world, protective systems. More...
	25/01/2012 Energy Analysis: How it saved jobs at Austin Energy It is explained how the application of an Energy Analysis Module to a study of the factors affecting the efficiency and choice of options for upgrading the motors essential to the operations of a city-owned power utility resulted not only in significant reduction in costs but also a reduction in energy consumption and in the utility's carbon footprint, an important contribution to the city's green energy programme. More...
	25/01/2012 The Reliability of Protective Systems Within the home and across a broad range of industries, society has become increasingly dependent on protective systems. These range from simple smoke detectors at home to complex systems on industrial plant which will shut down the equipment if there is a serious malfunction. The authors examine how these systems can fail to protect, the causes and prevention of such failures, and ways in which their reliability can be optimised. More...
	30/11/2011 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword The historical development of best maintenance practice can be simplistically described as an overlapping sequence of four principal phases, viz. corrective (pre-1960), planned preventive (1950-1970), predictive (1960-) and strategic (1970-) � the quoted dates being necessarily very approximate. More...
	25/11/2011 Reliability-Centred Maintenance and HAZOP - Is There a Need for Both? Hazard and operability (HAZOP) analysis is a widely used procedure for the systematic evaluation of industrial hazards, particularly those of the process industries, where it originated. More...
	25/11/2011 Electric Motor Testing...The Missing Link of Condition Monitoring? It is argued that condition monitoring of electric motors should involve not only testing for such things as bearing failure - via vibration analysis, oil analysis and so forth - but also a structured testing regime for electrical faults and the monitoring of motor efficiency. More...
	03/11/2011 The Strategic Importance of Asset Management Attention is drawn firstly to some of the dramatic incidents that have occurred in the field of asset management during the last eighteen months, then to some of their more immediate consequences, and finally to the ramifications of changing societal attitudes towards the failure of physical assets. More...
	02/11/2011 Condition Monitoring of Fossil-Fuelled Boilers Condition monitoring is often seen as applicable only to rotating plant. Stationary plant gets relatively little attention, yet the monitoring of their condition is a vital part of managing these assets More...
	04/10/2011 Managing Risk in Device Engineering Traditionally, maintenance services for medical equipment have concentrated on Planned Preventive (PPM) and Corrective Action (CA) policies. Here, the rationale is presented for adopting, instead, a risk-management-based support programme - one that incorporates the best elements of industrial maintenance practice. Illustrations are presented of its application to devices of various degrees of complexity and criticality. More...
	04/10/2011 Can I Be Bothered With Taking On An Apprentice? The companies, both big and small, that choose to take on an apprentice do so in partnership with a College or Group Training Association so as to manage the government funding and the administration, as well as to teach, train and assess the competence of the candidates, and thus take away a huge amount of the complication. More...
	30/09/2011 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword The summer has now come and with its usual staff shortages at a time when the world economic out look is still poor. Businesses need to keep their production up and downtime down, to maximise profits whilst the exchange rates are favourable. The longer term outlook however is better, and in a very few years most sectors of industry will start to recover and grow. More...
	30/06/2011 There's Something In The Air - Part 2: Hear More With Contact Ultrasound The use of ultrasound as a predictive tool has been with us for over thirty five years, but the use � and indeed the understanding � of this technology is still not widespread. This Part 2 article follows on from the exploration of airborne ultrasound applications published in the previous, May/June, issue and explores how, just by changing from an airborne sensor to a contact probe, ultrasonic inspection can be used in mechanical applications such as blockage, leaking or cavitation in valves, internal leaks in cylinders, failure of steam traps, various bearing problems ‒‒ and inspection of electrical equipment. More...
	30/06/2011 Production Data Analysis for Plant Performance Improvement It is shown how daily production data for industrial process plant can be used as an aid in making improvements in plant performance. A spreadsheet based analysis is presented in which a frequency distribution plot is created and performance indicators for the plant are calculated. The indicators include values for the percentage of days with normal, low and zero output, values for the maximum, average overall and average normal-day production and a measure of the variability of production. These indicators help management to focus on suitable approaches to the improvement of performance in operations, maintenance and reliability. The results also form a basis for comparing different plants in terms of production performance. More...
	30/06/2011 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword Debate about the role of universities is rarely out of the headlines just now. There has been no end of a fuss, for example, over the arrival of the New College of the Humanities. Its merits and demerits have been picked apart elsewhere, but I will say one thing: More...
	27/05/2011 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword In mid-April I attended the 19th AR2TS meeting, held this year in Stratford-on-Avon. Held biennially, and originally born out of the activities of the Safety and Reliability Directorate of the old Atomic Energy Authority, the �Advances in Risk and Reliability Technology Symposium� has been promoted since the early 1990s by the IMechE�s Safety and Reliability Group and the Safety and Reliability Society, and held under the auspices firstly of The University of Manchester and now of The Universities of Loughborough and Nottingham. More...
	20/05/2011 Realising The Benefits of Condition Monitoring A predictive and proactive maintenance strategy, centred on vibration monitoring, has effectively eliminated unplanned outages of the rotational machinery in a coking plant. More...
	20/05/2011 There's Something In The Air - Understanding Ultrasound The use of ultrasound as a predictive tool has been with us for over 35 years, but its use - and, indeed, the understanding of it - is still not widespread. Its basic ideas are explained and a wide range of applications of airborne ultrasound technology described, from gas leak and vacuum leak detection, via electric equipment inspection, to monitoring the condition of belt and chain drives, and bearings. More...
	10/03/2011 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword If there is one sort of article that, more than any other, we like to publish in these pages it is a good case study, an account of some maintenance-related work, describing the industry involved, the particular problem, its investigation, its solution (usually!), the benefits resulting and the wider lessons to be learned − and reported by the toiler at the coal face himself, the asset manager or engineer. More...
	10/03/2011 Lifecycle FMECA Lifecycle FMECA is introduced and its application and value discussed. An enhanced version of FMECA that focuses on forward-looking risk-based analysis it develops robust operational and financial profiles of assets as they live through their operate-and-maintain phase. Its real benefit is that it is fundamentally simple and can be automated for all assets with relative ease More...
	10/03/2011 Lessons Learnt in 45 Years of Condition Monitoring A series of short case studies in monitoring the condition of power generation plant (pumps, steam turbines, boilers, heat exchangers, etc.) is presented. The examples are drawn from the author�s extensive and authoritative experience in this area, and are intended to entertain, inform and even inspire. The lessons learnt stand forever, but not all are well-known. More...
	25/01/2011 A Maintenance Managers Guide to Vibration Analysis and Assoc Techniques in Condition Monitoring - 3 In this the third and final part of this series we shall look at using monitoring information, some of the �yardsticks� available for establishing vibration operating envelopes and a case study that demonstrates vibration analysis in action. More...
	25/01/2011 Product Safety and Equipment Reliability in the Food Industry Through Maintenance Engineering The demands of increasing regulation of food safety are leading the food industry to design and implement maintenance procedures that can bring under control critical variables linked to food safety and equipment reliability. More...
	25/01/2011 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword A love poem by one of the 20th century�s foremost English wordsmiths may seem like a strange place to find a consummate definition of our trade. More...
	18/01/2011 The Development of a Data Collector for Low-speed Machinery The problems of measuring, in an industrial environment, the low frequency vibration that is generated by low speed machinery are reviewed in some detail. More...
	18/01/2011 Field Information Systems for Maintenance Management A summary is presented of the findings of the DTI-sponsored �Freestyle� collaborative research project. Up-to-date practical information is provided on the benefits to be gained by using pen-based computers, Field Information Systems (FIS) and Maintenance Management Systems (MMIS). Even if the reader has not yet started on the path to MMIS the information presented should help him to plan with greater insight. More...
	01/12/2010 Strategic Maintenance Not until senior managers come to regard maintenance as a �profit centre� rather than a �cost centre� will they be able to enjoy the increased profitability that is to be derived from maximising the reliability of their plant. More...
	01/12/2010 An Integrated Maintenance Management Information System for Manufacturing The author believes that the Maintenance Management Information System (MMIS) of the future will be an integral part of the Production Control System within the framework of the Business Integrated System. The thinking behind the outline design of a proposed MMIS for a manufacturing environment is explained. More...
	20/11/2010 A Maintenance Managers Guide to Vibration Analysis and Assoc Techniques in Condition Monitoring - 2 Part 1, published in the previous issue, of this three-part series (aimed at assisting the maintenance manager to become an �informed buyer� of CM techniques supporting a CBM strategy) dealt with the basics of vibration and then explained how the understanding of machine vibration can help us ascertain machine condition. It then described some common frequency-related faults that can help to identify deterioration. More...
	20/11/2010 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword September saw the sad passing of Bob Moss, founder and former MD of RM Consultants. More...
	20/11/2010 TPM - The 'Pinch-Point' Solution For Lean Manufacturing As we emerge from the recession, and its likely decimating effects on the maintenance function, we need to reflect on our current maintenance strategy now, post the streamlining. Is this an opportunity to (finally) get it right? More...
	30/09/2010 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword As usual, two topics in this issue, namely Condition Motoring (CM) � in particular, via the measurement of machine vibration � and Risk Based Inspection (RBI), each presented as a primary determinant of maintenance policy. More...
	30/09/2010 Mechanical Integrity Assessment of a Large Horizontal NGL Pressure Vessel: Case Study A methodology for assessing the structural integrity of a large horizontal NGL (Natural Gas Liquid) vessel has been developed. The general analysis procedure, stress analysis and remaining useful life evaluation are described. Recommendations for dealing with anomalies detected during assessment are also presented. The methodology employed can be applied to other, similar, pressurised vessels in the oil and gas, chemical and petrochemical plants. More...
	30/09/2010 A Maintenance Managers Guide to Vibration Analysis and Assoc Techniques in Condition Monitoring - 1 In the late 70s I remember ground running a training aircraft (a Jet Provost Mk 3), with an oscilloscope perched precariously on my knee, taking notes on a range of vibration readings across a range of rpm. It was a scheduled performance check and, as I recall, the procedure called for analysis of the frequency chart generated � with particular attention to gearbox frequencies. More...
	16/07/2010 The Emerging Problem of Lubricant Varnish Lubricating oils are undergoing more changes today than at any time in recent memory. This has been driven by the switch to more advanced base stocks which require new additive chemistries, along with increased equipment performance duties and extreme lubricant operating conditions. More...
	16/07/2010 Reliability-Centred Maintenance Applied To Military Structures Reliability-centred Maintenance (RCM) has been widely applied in the UK within the Royal Navy and British Army. However, the Defence Standard Def Stan 02-45 used on those military studies does not adequately address monocoque structure where no alternative load paths exist. More...
	15/07/2010 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword Two topics in this issue that, if our memory is correct, we have never previously touched on, viz. (a) the problem of lubricant varnish, the deposition � in performance-critical parts of machinery � of the products of oil degradation, which can cause reduced performance or even failure, and (b) the application of Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM), not to plant, processes and systems � about which we have published any number of reviews, case studies and critiques (probably more, in fact, than on any other matter) � but to structures. More...
	28/05/2010 Locomotive Diesel Engine Stress Wave Analysis Stress Wave Analysis has been introduced for monitoring impact-like events and has proved effective for identifying bearing and gear defects. Here, after briefly explaining the basic concept, the author demonstrates the use of the technique for investigating typical defects encountered with diesel engines. More...
	28/05/2010 Maintenance Outsourcing: A Step Towards Product Service Systems Intense competition in the current global business environment and the need to increase profit have caused companies to seek competitive advantage through the provision of services. In this new service-oriented world companies are providing integrated 'Product-Service Systems' instead of selling only tangible products. More...
	25/05/2010 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword In his Just So Stories, a collection of tales for children, Rudyard Kipling (poet of Empire, author of The Jungle Books,the first English language winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and, incidentally, an enthusiast for engineers and their works) wrote ... More...
	31/03/2010 CAFM Technology Computer Aided Facilities Management (CAFM) evolved in the late 1980s and has become an essential business tool, relied on by many Facilities and Estates departments. CAFM Solutions offer distinct benefits in the management of day-to-day operations and performance monitoring. With its reach now extending to Hospitality, IT departments and beyond, the role of CAFM becomes a much more prominent business solution and raises the profile and value of Facilities and Estates departments. More...
	26/03/2010 Performance Indicators - What You Need To Know.... Business-led, results-orientated maintenance management is driven by Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), also known as measures or metrics. There are two types of indicators � lagging and leading. Success as an engineering manager depends on understanding the basic nature and use of each type - together with a resolute bias for action. More...
	26/03/2010 The Role of Vibration Monitoring In Predictive Maintenance Part 2: Some Illustrative Examples In the first part (published in the previous issue of M&AM) of this comprehensive review of the role of vibration monitoring in maintenance, the author discussed the importance of identifying asset criticality and justifying the economics of a CM programme, and also the basic principles and techniques of monitoring the vibration of bearings in rotating machinery. In this second and concluding part he presents examples of the successful application of these techniques to a wide range of industrial plant. More...
	26/03/2010 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword More years ago than I care to think about, when sophisticated maintenance meant using Time and Motion Study and Kalamazoo card index systems, I helped to run what was probably the first maintenance management course presented under the aegis of a UK university More...
	30/01/2010 Going Back To Basics - Using Vibration Time Waveform Data 'The most difficult function for any routine CBM programme � is finding a fault!' More...
	30/01/2010 The Role of Vibration Monitoring In Predictive Maintenance Unexpected equipment failures can be expensive and potentially catastrophic, resulting in unplanned production downtime, costly replacement of parts and safety and environmental concerns. More...
	30/01/2010 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword No matter what strategic philosophy is adopted in the quest for more cost-effective maintenance there would seem to be one outcome � the introduction of more condition monitoring (CM) � that is all but inevitable. More...
	30/11/2009 Diagnosing Machine Bearing Faults Several of the techniques employed in vibration-based condition monitoring of bearings are discussed, and the differences between them explained. Some observations on their relative usefulness, and on their implementation, are also included. More...
	30/11/2009 The Restoration Work On The Great Clock at Westminster Heritage items need special consideration when maintenance is involved, and none more so than Big Ben (or the Great Clock at Westminster to give its proper name), the icon of the British Nation. More...
	30/11/2009 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword We are about to enter the last year of the decade known as the �noughties�, a change that, as usual, will be rung in by one of Britain�s true icons: Big Ben, the bell of the towering timepiece, the Great Clock at Westminster, that features in everything from the HP sauce logo to the opening titles of �News at Ten�. More...
	28/09/2009 Benchmarking Best Practice: Towards A Total Reliability & Maintenance Management Award Evidence is provided of the importance of maintenance and reliability, and the current status of reliability and maintenance (R&M) practice is reviewed, in terms of the gaps between the advances in technology and the evolution of the R&M techniques. More...
	28/09/2009 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword Over more years than I care to think about the reliability engineering community has debated how it might raise the status of its subject, how it might increase the awareness, in industry in particular and in society in general, of the critical contribution that the discipline could make to a successful economy and a clean, safe, environment. More...
	28/09/2009 Condition Monitoring of Steam Turbines By Performance Analysis Many power generation steam turbine generators today are required in service well beyond their intended lifetimes. Dismantling for inspection is expensive, and owners need to consider all relevant information in making the decision. More...
	10/07/2009 Turning Maintenance Into An Asset Bonar Floors, soon to be re-branded to Forbo Flooring following its acquisition in 2008, has been manufacturing Flotex flooring products for over thirty years at its site in Ripley, Derbyshire. More...
	10/07/2009 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword Most accounts of thve progress of ideas in maintenance management suggest that �best practice� in this field has evolved through something like four overlapping historical phases, the nature of each determined by the technology and work culture of its time. More...
	10/07/2009 Case Study: Protection Of Hydraulic Equipment and Potential Extension of Unit Life...... Hydraulic equipment is ubiquitous in both manufacturing industry and construction. Indeed, as staff numbers em��ployed in engineering have declined numbers of hydraulic power packs and hydraulically operated equipment seem to have increased. More...
	20/05/2009 What Is DFE (Dynamic Filter Efficiency)? All hydraulic and lube systems have a critical contamination tolerance level that is often defined by, but not limited to, the most sensitive system components such as servo valves or high speed journal bearings. More...
	20/05/2009 On-Line Motor Current Signature Analysis Prevents Premature Failure of Large..... Motor Current Signature Analysis (MCSA) is a condition monitoring technique used to diagnose problems in three- phase induction motors that drive pumps and compressors in the North Sea oil and gas industry. More...
	20/05/2009 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword It has been my long held view that no matter which approach is pursued � Reliability Centred, Risk Based Inspection, Total Productive, Lean, Business Centred, Value Driven, even good old Trial and Error � in order to determine a maintenance strategy, it is mostly the case that sooner or later (sooner with the more analytical approaches, later with the more pragmatic ones, which need more time) much , if not most, of the work must become condition-driven, i.e. �If it ain�t broke, or nearly broke, don�t fix it�. More...
	30/03/2009 Motivating maintenance craftsmen - do we know what we're doing? Do we really understand what makes maintenance craftsmen tick? After spending over thirty years working with them in a variety of industries and market sectors I have come to the conclusion that the answer is �No, not really�. More...
	30/03/2009 Managing and supporting ship availability The method used within the authors� company involved linking together basic functional design tasks to create a process that could be applied by each ship engineering department in a controlled, repeatable and consistent manner. More...
	30/03/2009 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword Our last two issues � the first of this year and the last of 2008 � were devoted almost solely to condition monitoring techniques (particularly as applied to rotating machinery). More...
	28/01/2009 Healthcare & Maintenance There are many similarities between the prevention of illness in humans, and the prevention of failures in equipment. The history of healthcare is examined through the prism of the maintenance engineer, and commonalities are identified which provide some food for thought. More...
	28/01/2009 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword Call it by a high-sounding name if you must � Terotechnology, Physical Asset Management � but there is no doubt that there are few more down-to-earth tasks than Maintenance. Coping with �the tyranny of things� *, their fragilities, complexities, uncertainties and sometimes downright cussedness (not to mention the vagaries of the people involved), it usually calls for knowledge and judgement that can only be acquired through service in the workplace and not through the textbook or lecture room. More...
	28/01/2009 Turbo-Machinery Tip-Timing Comes of Age The complexity of a gas turbine makes its maintenance something of a black art. However, the advent of non-contact tip-timing systems has made it possible to assess turbine blade health and implement condition-based predictive maintenance routines. More...
	01/12/2008 An Overview of Bearing Vibration Analysis Rolling contact bearings are used in almost every type of rotating machinery whose successful and reliable operation is very dependent on the type of bearing selected as well as the precision of all associated components, i.e. shaft, housing, spacers, nuts etc. Bearing engineers generally use fatigue as the normal failure mode, on the assumption that the bearings are properly installed, operated and maintained. Today, because of improvements in manufacturing technology and materials, it is generally the case that bearing fatigue life, which is related to sub-surface stresses, is not the limiting factor and probably accounts for less than 3% of failures in service. Unfortunately though, many bearings fail prematurely in service because of contamination, poor lubrication, temperature extremes, poor fitting/fits, unbalance and misalignment. More...
	01/12/2008 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword This end-of-year issue focuses on one particular maintenance support technique: the monitoring of rolling bearing condition by measuring and analysing vibration. More...
	01/12/2008 Measuring Shock Pulse, Another approach to front line condition monitoring Condition monitoring should always start with a list of machine faults, specific for each machine. More...
	29/09/2008 Developing a Maintenance Strategy and Setting Performance Targets Cost Effective Maintenance Management is a goal for many companies. More...
	29/09/2008 Experience with Education in Maintenance and Reliability Engineering by off Campus Learning Physical plant assets are tending to remain in service for beyond their design lifetime. More...
	29/09/2008 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword As a general rule our aim with M&AM is to speak directly to the problems and needs of those who, day in and day out, actually organise and carry out the maintenance of physical assets of all kinds. More...
	14/07/2008 What is Predictive Maintenance? A case study is presented of the benefits to be derived from the implementation of a �functional predictive maintenance programme�. Many examples of its application in practice at the author�s coal-fired power plant are presented. More...
	14/07/2008 Budgeting for Reliable Operations Setting maintenance budgets for new plant and equipment is a challenge often met by using past experience. The mining company, which is the subject of this study, purchased an existing plant from a contract service provider. However, the existing budgets were not useful as a guide because the new owners wanted to use a different asset management philosophy. Historically, the plant had been maintained when a problem was reported. More...
	14/07/2008 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword For more years than I care to remember I have been presenting courses, to graduate level engineers working in every sort of production and service industry, on the ideas and techniques of what has come to be known as Reliability Engineering, and on their application to the problems of maintenance management. More...
	31/05/2008 Slow Speed Bearing Analysis Monitoring in the Grey Zone More...
	31/05/2008 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword There can be very few in the industrial maintenance fraternity who would not agree that pro-active maintenance of plant, or its dominant sub-set, condition based maintenance, will nearly always turn out to be the economically optimum policy � an RCM analysis, for example, has a built-in tendency to preferentially direct the planner towards such an approach. More...
	31/05/2008 Experiences in Pump Condition Monitoring by Performance Analysis Predicting maintenance requirements of pumps by condition monitoring to detect internal wear is a well-established procedure. More...
	07/04/2008 Predictive Maintenance by Performance Monitoring of Plant Much is written about the condition monitoring methods of vibration analysis, oil analysis, NDT methods, and electrical plant tests, but very little about performance analysis, i.e. the analysis and monitoring of the physical performance of both rotating and non-rotating plant items as an indicator of their condition. Performance analysis also often enables the optimum time to be found to schedule maintenance to restore lost performance. Based on his many years of experience in fossil fired steam power generation, the author demonstrates � via case studies on pumps, air compressors, steam turbines, mechanical control system components, boilers and heat exchangers � the application of this methodology. More...
	07/04/2008 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword There can be very few in the industrial maintenance fraternity who would not agree that pro-active maintenance of plant, or its dominant sub-set, condition based maintenance, will nearly always turn out to be the economically optimum policy � an RCM analysis, for example, has a built-in tendency to preferentially direct the planner towards such an approach. More...
	07/04/2008 A Mobile Maintenance Decision Support System The development is reported of an e-maintenance system, ie a mobile maintenance decision support system based on web and mobile technologies. The problem of the lack of experts to troubleshoot a fault in a machine is a long-standing one. It has led to the application of artificial intelligence and, later, distributed artificial intelligence for machine condition monitoring and diagnosis. More...
	28/01/2008 Performance Benchmarking Update: Expectations and Reality The authors draw on their extensive experience in the benchmarking of significant aspects of the performance of companies � large and small and world-wide � to highlight not only the striking differences that they have observed in reliability achievement and in maintenance organisation but also the reasons for the clear relationship between these two factors. They conclude that �best-of-class companies� share a large number of sound work practices, reliability engineering implementation concepts, and organisational alignments and list what they see to be the most significant of the reliability and maintenance attributes that are shared by such companies. More...
	28/01/2008 Maintenance & Asset Management - Editor's Foreword It is with no small sense of loss that we have to record the passing, in its quarterly, standalone format at least, of our specialist, subscription Journal, Maintenance and Asset Management. After twenty two years of waving the flag for what we have hoped has been a more thoughtful (but not too analytical) approach to reporting new ideas, techniques and achievements in the activities indicated by its title we have decided that a change in format is called for. More...
	28/01/2008 Improving the reliability of a Coal Fired Power Plant using a SAP - REWOP Interface In the search for improved performance of the management of its physical assets, a major Canadian-based power generation company sought to exploit the benefits of good reliability and maintenance information practices. Specifically, they wished to increase the value derived from the investment made in their SAP PM (Systems, Applications and Products: Plant Maintenance) system. By interfacing REWOP (Reliability Engineering Workbench Optimiser) with their SAP work order module, maintenance engineers and technicians can now accurately and easily analyse historical data. This, plus the adoption of a common language for potential and functional failures, is leading to greatly improved maintenance, inspection and decision-making techniques. In turn this is resulting in increased reliability, fewer failures and reduced maintenance costs. More...
	13/12/2007 Applying PMBOK to Shutdowns, Turnarounds and Outages Turnarounds have a distinctive character of their own and cannot be managed as if they were just another sort of �Engineering, Procurement and Construction� (EPC) project; a �turnaround-specific� methodology of management is needed. Drawing on the philosophy of the Project Management Institute�s Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK�) the author reviews the special problems presented by process plant turnarounds and also their particular management needs. More...
	10/12/2007 Benchmarking Art or Science? Benchmarking is one of today�s hot topics. Governments encourage companies to be benchmarked, consultants sell the service and universities offer courses on the subject. But what exactly is benchmarking? Why do companies use it and what are the benefits? How does the benchmarking process look and how are conclusions drawn? These and related issues are explained, discussed and fully illustrated with real examples drawn from diverse industries. More...
	05/11/2007 Thinkers and Doers: A Case Study in Changing a Maintenance and Engineering Organisation A large process plant was organised into three separate departments, viz. maintenance, engineering and production. Roles and responsibilities were unclear, with increasing potential for overlap. A major programme of plant modifications had been justified and, when two new members joined the management team, became the catalyst for change More...
	05/11/2007 An Approach to World Class Asset Management A comprehensive review is presented of the development concepts and practice of �World Class Asset Management�, the modern approach in which maintenance is seen not, as formerly, as a hygiene function but as a source of competitive advantage to be exploited via the application of IT-dependent business metrics. More...
	05/11/2007 An Introduction t the US Naval Air System Command RCM Process and Integrated RCM Software This paper is an update to �RCM in the Public Domain: An Overview of the US Naval Air System� presented at RCM-2005. It provides an overview of the NAVAIR RCM process along with an indepth demonstration of the Integrated RCM Systems (IRCMS) software. More...
	05/11/2007 Asset Management - An Insurance Perspective The global insurance industry is vitally interested in the asset management systems that are implemented at industrial sites. While these systems are usually implemented to protect and manage plant and equipment, often the impact of these systems on the corporate financial model is overlooked. More...
	20/09/2007 The Partnership Organisation The differences between service focused organisations and those based on partnership work systems are reviewed and the superior benefits of the latter are outlined. It is advised that the first step in creating a partnership system is to get Operations and Maintenance to agree on a joint mission statement for the production organisation. More...
	20/09/2007 Maintenance Management: Past, Present and Future - Part 2 In Part 1 of this paper an overview of the traditional maintenance systems was provided and the concepts of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and World-class Maintenance Systems (WMS) were introduced. But due importance was not given for either TPM or WMS. Hence in this part of our paper emphasis is given to TPM as it is currently being pursued in many industries worldwide. More...
	20/09/2007 Is your control room data telling you what you think it is? The investigation and diagnosis of plant problems is a central part of the maintenance engineering function. The techniques used often relate closely to those used in condition monitoring and can similarly require dedicated instruments or special instrument arrangements. More...
	05/09/2007 Cost-Effective Condition-Based Maintenance It is emphasised that evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of any condition-based maintenance programme must take into account all the relevant constraints and strategic opportunities. More...
	12/07/2007 Some thougts on Maintenance Budgeting To be successful, any maintenance organisation worthy of the name will function via a number of necessary and inter-related managerial and control systems. In his new book 'Maintenance Systems and Documentation' Tony Kelly identifies those systems, (performance control, work control, documentation, budgeting, costing etc) that are key, showing how each can be mapped and modelled and its function and operating principles explained. As with his other books, the analysis is illustrated throughout by case studies drawn from his wealth of experience, and readers can test their understanding of the lessons to be derived by addressing various review questions. More...
	05/06/2007 Maintenance Management: Past, Present and Future - Part 1 In the past, the field of maintenance was often neglected, many organisations not giving due importance to it, the function or department being pushed to the backyard of the factory. Top management too often viewed maintenance as a cost centre, while the operations department viewed it as a function that hindered their productivity More...
	05/06/2007 Utilising Benchmark Metrics to Build and Manage a Strategy for Maintenance Improvement The benefits and challenges of using benchmark indices and metrics for monitoring maintenance performance are discussed, with particular reference to prEN 15341, the recently drafted European standard on maintenance key performance indicators. More...
	05/06/2007 TPM Implementation: The P5 Critical Success Factors for Sustaining Improvement A case study is presented of the implementation of TPM activities at an iron foundry. More...
	05/06/2007 Maintenance Education for Professionals Recently, the maintenance community has seen huge steps in standardisation and recognition of technician-level training. More...
	05/06/2007 Infrastructure Management: Have Asset Management Models Compromised Effective Asset Management? Different asset management philosophies and models were developed in the 1990s, but the basic approach to their application has been the same in different market sectors. This approach may provide a long-term focus for managing assets. However, it often fails to recognise the crucial relationship between capital investment associated with maintenance on the one hand, and operational maintenance costs on the other. More...
	10/03/2007 The Effective Management of Contract Maintenance The effective management, within the author�s paper products company, of internal and external maintenance resources, is described � management which is seen as an essential aid to reducing cost. More...
	04/03/2007 Maintenance, In-House or Outsource? But is that the question? A new business model, applicable to the operation and maintenance of the aboveground assets of the UK�s water industry, is proposed. It takes a wider approach than merely reducing operating costs, focusing more on delivering both operational and capital expenditure efficiency More...
	04/03/2007 What is the Secret of Successful Outsourcing Outsourcing does not always yield the economic benefits originally anticipated. Merely attempting to off-load management problems (reactive outsourcing) can only backfire. More...
	04/03/2007 Maintenance Development Based on the Cost-effectiveness Analysis of Tasks Optimised decision making in maintenance programme development can lead to higher profitability. Within a VTT project, procedures have been developed for maintenance programme development and cost-effectiveness evaluation. More...
	04/03/2007 Delivering Maintenance Through People More...
	04/11/2006 Some Thoughts on Maintenance Budgeting The central importance of budgeting to the formulation of maintenance strategy is stressed and it is explained, by reference to real case examples, that the maintenance budget should be an expression of the forecasted short term and long term workloads in terms of cost of internal labour, contract labour and the materials needed to deal with them. More...
	04/11/2006 Generating Failure Codes for CMMS Implementation One of the most important parts of Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS) implementation is the generation of failure codes for the craftsmen to record. Picking good codes means that you will have information that is useful for continuous improvement activities. More...
	04/11/2006 Reliability Tools That Can Deliver Improved Plant or Equipment Performances The need for good data collection is emphasised, and examples are provided of the types of analysis that can be carried out beneficially using low cost software tools for (a) Life Data Weibull Analysis, (b) Systems Reliability Assessment using Reliability Block or Fault Tree Diagrams, and (c) Reliability Growth Analysis. More...
	04/11/2006 Maintenance Training using CAD and a Virtual Reality Environment An investigate has been undertaken of the effectiveness, for maintenance training, of Computer Aided Design and Virtual Reality environments. Three sets of young engineers were trained to undertake a prescribed maintenance task, one set was trained using CAD, one with VR and the third using written instruction manuals. More...
	04/11/2006 Achieving World Class Asset Management Performance The author has developed an asset management methodology based on his own experience and knowledge gained from implementing maintenance improvement programmes. More...
	20/09/2006 Improved Maintenance Reliability It is emphasised that monitoring the condition of a machine is not untaken to reveal interesting problems but to determine whether it continues to be fit for purpose, and that progress in this area is to use methods that will foster cooperation between operations and Maintenance. More...
	11/09/2006 Live Condition Based Monitoring An aggregates company was experiencing premature failure of the bearings of its vibratory plant. More...
	10/09/2006 MCM: An inexpensive condition monitoring technology, simple-to-use and model-based An award-winning product � Motor Condition Monitor (MCM) �is described More...
	03/09/2006 The Do's and Don'ts of Maintenance Teams More...
	03/09/2006 Getting root cause analysis to work for you Advice is provided about making the most of Root Cause Analysis (RCA) in order to progressively eliminate failures. More...
	01/06/2006 The RCM Analyst � beyond RCM It is explained that, built on SAE-compliant RCM, the author's RCM analyst method is centred on the role of its analysts who, when the approach is fully implemented, can induce a focus on knowledge transfer which can transform the way in which a company thinks about, and manages, its physical assets. More...
	01/06/2006 Royal Mail Engineering incorporating maintenance In 2003 Royal Mail (RM) and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) secured a national agreement committing both parties to a review of processing engineer terms and conditions and working practices by March 2005. More...
	01/06/2006 21st Century Maintenance Management using Finite Capacity Planning The day-to-day implementation is described of Maintenance Finite Capacity Planning, a combination of procedures � daily scheduling and comprehensive planning based on engineered standards � aimed at achieving full utilisation of the maintenance work force and continuous skill development. More...
	01/06/2006 An Audit of the Maintenance Strategy at an Agri-chemical Plant An audit is described of the maintenance strategy at an ammonia plant, an exercise which was just one part of a comprehensive audit of the maintenance management as a whole � of the organisation and systems as well as the strategy, and of all the other process plants on the same site. More...
	01/06/2006 What is the Service Level of your CMMS Supplier? (Part 2) Here, in Part 2, the complexity of the Service Level Agreement architecture is explained, as wellas the process that needs to be in place for a successful implementation of an SLA. More...
	01/01/2006 Reduce the energy use in your compressed air system through better maintenance Guidance is given onthose actions that are key to the good reliabilityof compressed air systems. More...
	01/01/2006 What is the Service Level of your CMMS Supplier? (Part 1) In this first part of this paper � on obtaining better service levels from CMMS suppliers � help is offered in identifying Service Level Agreement conditions which will push CMMS suppliers (whether in-house or under contract) to be more responsive when a failure occurs in their software More...
	01/01/2006 Rethinking Reliability Centred Maintenance The author discusses how we might reconsider our approach to developing equipment operations and maintenance plans - so that we do so in a way that takes account a broader range of concepts, including lean and systems thinking, while strengthening team ownership and implementation of the resulting actions. More...
	01/01/2006 Spend Limits and Asset Management As equipment ages the amount of money that is reasonable to spend on one-off events, such as repair, refurbishment or relocation decreases. More...
	01/01/2006 Reliability Analysis Methods for Mechanical Assemblies during Conceptual Design using CAD A method for the analysis of the reliability of mechanical assemblies during the conceptual design is proposed More...
	21/12/2005 Lean TPM Implementation Pursued correctly, Lean TPM can enable the maintenance function within a manufacturing organisation to achieve greater effectiveness and efficiency � and also a more flexible operation better able to respond to growth and technological change. Practical advice is offered on implementing the two initial steps, Stabilisation and Optimisation, of a lean TPM programme. More...
	03/12/2005 The Age of the RCM Analyst The publication of the SAE standard resolved much of the debate about the precise nature of RCM. However, the widely adopted team approach to RCM implementation has been subject to criticism on the grounds of its heavy demand on resources and time, leading to the growth of non-compliant, �streamlined�, variants of the method, and also of the employment of the �sole analyst� (which introduces its own difficulties). The RCM approach must therefore evolve still further if it is to meet the changing nature of today�s workforce and the impact of information technology. This has created the need for a new category of RCM expert, the RCM Analyst, a highly skilled professional who is part of the leading edge of asset management and who can work across all areas of an implementation to ensure its short-term success as well as its long-term viability. The skills requirement and the role of such an analyst are reviewed. More...
	02/12/2005 The case for more comprehensive data collection and how it might be achieved: Part 2 This paper is about possible methods for the practical application of Terotechnology. It is explained that data analysis is prerequisite to formulating, and later updating, optimal maintenance and plant renewal policies. The nature of optimal maintenance policies in the context of the Life Cycle Profit (LCP) method of Hans Ahlmann is discussed, as are the requirements for applying this method, the most important of which are (i) a better database than most managers of companies are used to, and (ii) better software to analyse the data. More...
	02/12/2005 Managing Human Error in Maintenance Numerous research studies have shown that over fifty percent of all equipment fails prematurely after maintenance work has been performed on it. In the most embarrassing cases, the maintenance work performed was intended to prevent the very failures that occurred. Building on the latest academic research, and based on practical experience, this paper outlines the key things that maintenance managers can do to reduce or eliminate the impact of human error in maintenance. More...
	02/12/2005 Constructing an Effective Maintenance Plan Creating a maintenance plan is generally not difficult. But creating a comprehensive maintenance programme that is effective poses some interesting challenges. It would be difficult to appreciate the subtleties of what makes a maintenance plan effective without understanding how the plan forms part of the total maintenance environment. This paper explains some of the key concepts � the maintenance information loop, RCM analysis, workload smoothing, long and short term scheduling, etc. � that make the difference between an ordinary maintenance plan and a good, effective, maintenance programme. More...
	03/10/2005 What Else Can I Inspect? It is shown that infrared thermography offers an exceptionally useful tool for diagnosing operating problems over a very wide range of plant and equipment in many very different industries � and that today�s thermographic tools are not only highly portable and easy mto use, but are also of remarkably high accuracy and optical resolution. It is also stressed that their ability to offer early warning of impending problems offers a rapid return on investment. More...
	03/10/2005 Benchmarking with the VDM Control Centre With the introduction of the VDM Control Centre, Mark Haarman of Mainnovation recently launched an easy-access tool for effective application of Value Driven Maintenance (VDM). This on-line platform allows maintenance managers, in a company of any size, great or small, to measure and benchmark their maintenance performance against that of anonymous companies in the same industry. It also provides a transparent picture of the contribution that their maintenance organisation is making to creating value for their company. This article looks at these developments. More...
	03/10/2005 The case for more comprehensive data collection and how it might be achieved: Part 1 This paper is about possible methods for the practical application of Terotechnology. It is explained that data analysis is prerequisite to formulating, and later updating, optimal maintenance and plant renewal policies. The nature of optimal maintenance policies in the context of the Life Cycle Profit (LCP) method of Hans Ahlmann is discussed, as are the requirements for applying this method, the most important of which are (i) a better database than most managers of companies are used to, and (ii) better software to analyse the data. It is explained that, for productive systems, the long-term costs involved in data collection to permit full realisation of LCP are unlikely to exceed the long-term benefits of a management policy based upon Total Quality Manufacturing and LCP rather than Management by Objectives and Reliability Centred Maintenance, this being particularly so if data requirements for the firm are integrated. More...
	02/10/2005 Maintenance at Hydro Polymers Ltd The aim of this paper is to show how we, at Hydro Polymers, reviewed our maintenance systems to reduce costs, but at the same time maintained plant availability and safety.We identified a need to benchmark our existing performance against that of similar industries, not only as regards costs but also as regards maintenance Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) � but we did not have any �Maintenance KPIs�, only costs, and these were at a very high level. The decision to review our maintenance areas coincided with a major cost benchmarking exercise carried out across the PVC industry, and we had also just installed a new Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS). More...
	03/06/2005 Automated Trouble Shooting Automated trouble shooting of problems with plant or products, using diagnostic software that may be on site or may be accessed remotely via the internet, can be highly cost-effective. It is explained that while many diagnostic engines are case-based, relying on learning from prior case history, which carries inherent limitations, a more sophisticated system � which also employs model-based reasoning (as developed and marketed by the author�s company) and in which the integrated method of diagnostic decision-making closely resembles the human thinking process � can be much more efficient. The logic of such a system, its capabilities, the benefits it can bring and the extent of its current industrial application are reviewed. More...
	03/06/2005 Lean TPM: A bluepint for change One of the fundamental principles of continuous improvement is that it is continuous. Is this really necessary? Surely when something broken is fixed, or bottlenecks are removed, that�s the end to it! Not so, say the authors of the new book, �Lean TPM�. More...
	02/06/2005 Three into One does go To speed up its response to sales demands a company making office equipment concentrated all its operations on a single site, having previously had its activities distributed over three locations. It also decided that, in parallel with this move, it would replaced its outdated and inadequate paperwork systems for controlling maintenance with a Computerised Maintenance Management System. The author describes how he brought this change about, stressing the value of careful preparation for the transition and the benefits that are now being achieved. More...
	02/06/2005 An empirical study of the utilisation, in troubleshooting, of failure records Part II In Part I of this paper (see Issue 20.1) a support documentation system (SDS) was proposed � a system which, by optimising the management of maintenance documentation, could provide a better aid to maintenance teachnicians during troubleshooting. Here, in Part II, the results are presented of a survey of the current state of utilisation of maintenance information systems � involving a multi-case study of their use by maintenance practitioners and interviews with both equipment vendors and maintenance experts. This has demonstrated the feasibility of creating and implementing such a system, the case study results showing that current maintenance information systems are not efficiently assisting troubleshooting. In addition, some practitioners� suggestions are presented, for optimising the management of maintenance documentation. More...
	02/06/2005 Improved CMMS and Asset Management Systems - But do they lead to success? The benefits of implementing a Computerised Maintenance Management System or Enterprise Asset Management System and the reasons for their success or failure in practice More...
	02/06/2005 What do you need to know about software maintenance? Software now accounts for an increasing share of the content of modern plant and equipment, and, like these last, must be maintained to ensure its continued operational efficiency. Although the maintenance of plant is discussed extensively, very little is published about software maintenance and how it affects us. This paper presents an overview of key topics of software engineering maintenance. More...
	10/03/2005 An empirical study of the utilisation, in troubleshooting, of failure records Part I Existing studies of downtime reduction have usually been based on the idea of preventing failures. These studies have undoubtedly made a significant contribution towards downtime reduction, although it is impossible to predict and prevent all failures. In this first instalment of a two-part paper it is suggested that an approach to minimising downtime � by reducing troubleshooting time via the analysis of failure records � can be founded on evidence from published literature, evidence which suggests that providing maintainers with easy access to detailed information about previous failure experiences should make troubleshooting quicker. More...
	10/03/2005 Too small for a CMMS? Think again Many smaller companies feel that, for them, the acquisition of maintenance management software would be overkill. The author explains (a) why he believes that nothing could be further from the truth and (b) the basic steps to be taken, by a small company, for the beneficial implementation of a CMMS. More...
	02/03/2005 Equipment readiness and visibility using Honeycomb maps A new tool, MERIT, that is receiving wide interest both inside and outside the military community, is described. It provides managers with a �honeycomb� visual representation of maintenance performance � along several different performance characteristics, and within several different data hierarchies � and links a visual display with underlying repair cycle detail, indicating equipment level and part number level status, information which can be used to follow-up and focus on particular problems, identify potential solutions, monitor ongoing efforts, and identify responsible persons or organisations. More...
	02/03/2005 Manage your motor systems for increased reliability and decreased cost THE SYSTEMS APPROACH It is a typical day at Acme Manufacturing Corporation, as a 200 horsepower compressor is becoming unreliable and is unable to meet production demands for air. In previous years, Acme would have decided to buy a new compressor, and being a �smart� company they would have decide that, to meet demand, this should be a larger 250 hp unit ! They would purchase the lowest cost compressor to meet their hp needs! This approach is typically known as the �first-cost-driven� approach. Life cycle costs or actual process requirements are not evaluated with this type of approach. Typically, no energy savings are achieved. This time, Acme has done something different. Acme started an active Motor System Management programme, and they now look at optimising the entire motor system when replacing a component of that system. Before deciding how to meet the demand for air, Acme performs an audit of the entire system. More...
	04/02/2005 Lean TPM, a game of two halves Delivering long-term improvement in business performance is, in the words of the old football clich�, a game of two halves, viz (I) stabilisation or breaking out of firefighting, and (ii) optimisation, or securing the recipe for long-term growth. More...
	04/02/2005 Methods for in-service diagnostics of motor-operated valves A portable system for non-invasive, in-service monitoring of motor operated valves has been built, tested and then demonstrated in plant environments. More...
	03/02/2005 Downtime priorities, jack-knife diagrams and the business cycle Pareto histograms are commonly used to determine maintenance priorities by ranking equipment failure codes according to their relative downtime contribution. More...
	02/02/2005 Strategic Advantages: Responsible Outsourcing in the New Asset Management Environment Outsourcing, by reducing direct costs and accessing specialist services, has enabled companies to become more competitive More...
	02/02/2005 Ahead of the Game A very full account is given of the measures adopted to transform the maintenance culture at a manufacturing plant, from one which was largely reactive � dominated by corrective work � to one which is largely proactive and FMECA-driven, in which the workload is well-controlled via a rationalised planned maintenance programme. More...
	01/10/2004 The New Centre for Advanced Maintenance Training industrial personnel in maintenance techniques, practices and equipment is not an easy task. More...
	01/10/2004 Productive Maintenance The implementation of a �World Class� TPM programme is being reviewed More...
	01/10/2004 Sound Lubrication Practices According to most bearing manufacturers over-lubrication is a major cause of bearing failure. More...
	01/10/2004 Maintenance Management The author, writing in the light of over forty years experience as a maintenance engineer, both here in the UK and overseas, emphasises the importance of the Maintenance Department and the need for its status � alongside the other departments in the company or organisation � to be fully acknowledged, the latter being achieve via full communication with those departments and good presentation of the Maintenance Department�s activities. More...
	01/10/2004 Value Driven Maintenance What is actually the added value of maintenance? is a frequently heard question in boardrooms the world over. More...
	01/10/2004 Risk based Inspections Reducing downtime was a necessity for the competitive profitability of an innovative process plant. More...
	01/07/2004 Integrated Maintenance Management Systems Applied to Industrial Plant The number of technical papers written on the subject of Integrated Maintenance Systems (IMS) in the last decade alone would fill several libraries. However, the realisation of a truly integrated IMS has only been very recent. Many so called integrated packages involve the ability to measure some plant data and use basic alarms to set the status of an asset, providing a low level condition trigger for work orders. More...
	01/07/2004 The Benefits of CBM within a Multiple Line Tissue Mill Running a busy paper mill with limited resources, a limited budget and increasing production pressures is difficult at best, and on some occasions impossible. More...
	01/07/2004 From Chaos to World Class Practical advise is given, to plant engineers and maintenance management professionals, on the measures they should take when charged with the complex task of turning around the performance of an Engineering Department, away from the run-of-the-mill (or worse) and towards the excellent. More...
	01/07/2004 CMMS Best Practices The results are reported (and some conclusions are drawn) from a website-based independent survey of Computerised Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) benchmarking. More...
	01/04/2004 Performance Measure to Identify the Effectiveness of Lean Thinking within Maintenance This paper discusses the combined issues of lean thinking, maintenance, and measure of performance - in particular, performance measures to identify the impact of lean thinking within maintenance. More...
	01/04/2004 RCM - can it deliver performance? Reliability Centred Maintenance has its advocates and detractors in fairly balanced numbers. This article shows how the industrial context is all-important and that it is not a case of one methodology being good and others bad. More...
	01/04/2004 Rolling Element Bearng Condition Assessment - Enveloping Bearing problems are responsible for more than fifty percent of rotating-machine-related failures. The methods used for bearing fault detection are many and varied, this application note deals with the method preferred by the vast majority of vibration analysts, namely Enveloping. More...
	01/04/2004 Lean Maintenance Eliminates Waste in Maintenance Programmes It is explained that Lean Manufacturing philosophy focuses on the elimination of waste, ie of 'anything that does not add value to the product, process or service" and that this philosophy is equally beneficially applicable to Maintenance, 'Lean Maintenance' being the term that has been used by many companies who are beginning to blend the techniques of Lean Manufacturing with maintenance experience. More...
	01/04/2004 The Business End of Maintenance Many organisations fail to see the maintenance function as part of their competitive advantage. Maintenance is more often regarded as a mystery to many decision makers and its frequently seen as an easy target for budget cuts More...
	01/11/2003 Electrical Safety Testing - Eliminating the Dangers Through Preventive Maintenance The importance of ensuring the safety of electrical equipment used in the workplace, and the framework of UK and EC safety regulations underpinning this, are briefly reviewed, and the need to match any safety-testing programme to the nature and size of the enterprise using such equipment emphasised. More...
	01/11/2003 Calculating Critical Stockholding for Spares It is shown that the scientific treatment of spares inventory and purchasing decisions (ie applying statistical and Queuing Theory methods, using software tools such as APT-Spares and APT-Stock, developed within the MACRO project) holds great scope for cost and performance improvement. More...
	01/11/2003 The Total EAM Vision - Strategic Advantages in Asset Management Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) systems provide a combination of asset, materials, human resource and financial management that offers great strategic advantage to the capital-intensive industries (mining, public utilities, transport, etc) dependent on large numbers of physical assets More...
	01/11/2003 The Introduction and Implementation of TPM Using a Conceptual Model Developed In-House - Phase 2 The second part is presented of a case study of the implementation of TPM at an iron foundry. After outlining the nature of the plant and its previous PM regime, Part 1 of this study describes the initial development of the TPM programme, ie the measurement of plant performance, the identification of areas of high maintenance cost, the introduction of CM and of Autonomous Maintenance, and the improvement of maintenance facilities More...
	01/11/2003 The Introduction and Implementation of TPM Using a Conceptual Model Developed In-House - Phase 1 A case study is presented of a two-phase implementation of TPM at an iron foundry. Part 1 of this study begins by outlining the nature of the plant and its previous PM regime. More...
	01/11/2003 Production Line and Maintenance Performance Evaluation in some Nigerian Manufacturing Industries The different methods of evaluating production and maintenance performance in eight industrial companies in South Western Nigeria have been investigated. More...
	01/11/2003 An Industrial Application of RCM: Methodology and Critical Analysis At a time when new and increasingly more complex equipment is being developed and companies are subject to economic and environmental pressures, maintenance faces new challenges. This paper describes the development of a defining methodology for forming the maintenance strategy to be applied to one of the industrial plants of CIRES (Industrial Company of Synthetic Resins) in Portugal. To this end, the principles set out in Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) were followed. More...
	01/11/2003 Towards an Intelligent Holonic Maintenance System A model is proposed that provides a decision analysis capability often missing in existing CMMSs. More...
	01/11/2003 How to Construct a Good Maintenance Plan The relationship between short-term maintenance scheduling and long-term planning is a subject frequently misunderstood. The efficient maintenance organisation recognises the importance and value of embracing both of these concepts in order to ensure the effective and streamlined implementation of the site's maintenance routines. More...
	01/07/2003 Electric Signature Analysis Electric Signature Analysis (ESA) is a diagnostic and analytic technique that is being used to analyse motors, generators, alternators, transformers, and other electric equipment. More...
	01/07/2003 The Errors of Availability As a means of indicating maintenance effectiveness the monitoring of plant availability may reveal only a partial picture, and a possibly misleading one at that. Data on failure rates, and on the plant�s capacity to perform vital secondary functions, such as containment (vital for the safety of personnel or the protection of the environment) are also needed. More...
	01/07/2003 Computerised Maintenance Management Systems: A Black Hole or a Black Box? The characteristics of Computerised Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) are reviewed in order to highlight the industrial need for such systems and to identify their current deficiencies More...
	01/07/2003 The Need to Attract and the Need for Competence The paper describes how the UK offshore oil and gas industry has come increasingly to adopt national vocational standards over the last ten years. More...
	01/04/2003 Reducing the Impact of the Climate Change Levy through better maintenance The Climate Change Levy was implemented in April 2001 as part of the UK Government�s response to the threat of climate change. Under the Kyoto Protocol due to be ratified later this year, the UK has a legally binding agreement to reduce greenhouse gases. More...
	01/04/2003 Service Desk Comes of Age In a rapidly changing industry aspiring to put the customer at the centre of its focus the use of a Service Desk to co-ordinate the wide variety of diverse services is becoming more common place. Key to this drive have been the rapid improvements in technology performance, compatibility and pricing, leading to otherwise cost-prohibitive opportunities being exploited to maximise the commercial benefits of streamlined operational structures and service delivery chains. More...
	01/04/2003 CMMS: Templates for Effective Implementations, A Position Paper The burden of providing maintenance services is heavier than ever, but the supporting technologies are also more advanced than they ever were � we now have a much wider technical and methodological knowledge base at our disposal. More...
	01/04/2003 Classification and Coding System for Machine Tool Failres: Part II The accessibility of machine tool failure information organised in a proper format is of great importance if such maintenance objectives as reliability and availability improvement are to be achieved. More...
	01/04/2003 Energy Efficient Maintenance Practices - Making Best Use of Company Assets and the Earth's Resources Maintenance approaches and techniques such as TPM, RCM, PPM and Condition Monitoring have traditionally concentrated upon the improvement of the uptime and performance of company assets and their effectiveness has been measured accordingly More...
	01/04/2003 The Use of Environmental Management Systems for Implementing an Effective Maintenance Strategy This paper considers how ISO 14001 has been introduced within a company and how it works in practice. It addresses the issues of implementing a policy of life cycle environmental management and discusses managing the relationships amongst the discipline engineers and technicians and the way in which the company culture is developed to educate, train and encourage a positive attitude to introducing environmental practices into maintenance. More...
	01/04/2003 Reducing the Cost of Preventive Maintenance Lean Manufacturing and Lean Maintenance target the identification and elimination of waste through continuous improvement. More...
	01/12/2002 Development and Application of Improved Methods for the Examination of Registered Pressure Equipment Maintenance of pressure vessels has traditionally been based on periodic visual inspection in support of continued safe operation. This method is effective, because in-service failures are rare, but it is expensive in maintenance and plant outage costs. More...
	01/12/2002 Synthetic Processing of Pulsed Thermographic Data for Inspection of Turbine Components In recent years, the potential of thermographic methods for non-destructive evaluation of turbine engine components has been widely acknowledged. The wide area, non-contact and curvature-tolerant aspects of thermography make it an appealing alternative to point detection inspection methods. More...
	01/10/2002 Classification and Coding Systems for Machine Tool Failures (Part I) The reasons for the creation of a common format for characterising and identifying machine failure are presented and the current maintenance situation with regard to machine downtime, data management, and communication and information technology is reviewed More...
	01/10/2002 Managing Availability for Improved Bottom Line Results: Part II In Part II the author discusses - (a) the use of the availability model to find plant bottlenecks and increase throughput, (b) the impact on the maintenance and engineering organisation created by the need for such modelling and analysis, (c) practical measures for closing the natural gaps between the three types of availability. More...
	01/10/2002 An Integrated Approach to Asset Performance Improvement The ability to realise maximum return on investment in assets in affected by the range of inter-related technical and business factors. Understanding how factors such as maintenance strategy, asset integrity and business performance interact is essential in order to ensure that assets are operated so as to provide the best return on investment More...
	01/10/2002 Integrating Inspection Based and Reliability Based Information There are many sources of information on machinery health and production availability available to an organisation�s maintenance and operations staff. Two of the most commonly used sources of information are scheduled inspection of machinery and condition monitoring. In most cases, scheduled inspection has been managed via a plant�s maintenance management system (CMMS), and in many cases is carried out by the operational staff. More...
	02/07/2002 Calculating the Savings from the Implementation of a CMMS A brief review is given of the origins and general characteristics of the two basic species of Computerised Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS), viz Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) systems More...
	01/07/2002 Using OEE to Drive Improvements Some short case studies show how the TPM approach, in particular the application of the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) concept and the creation of inter-disciplinary and inter-hierarchical project teams, has produced substantial and cost-effective improvements in bakery plant performance. More...
	01/07/2002 E-Collaborative Systems in Facilities Asset Management Organisations need no reminding that the business environment is changing radically, and with ever- greater volumes of data being gathered the need to provide the resulting information in more concise form has increased More...
	01/07/2002 Managing Availability for Improved Bottom-Line Results: Part I During the past five to eight years, the role of maintenance manager has evolved from merely keeping equipment running to that of physical asset manager � whose goal is to maximise profits by managing such assets in a way that provides the optimum level of physical availability. Part 1 of this paper (Part 11 will be presented in the next issue) provides a framework for managing availability goals to help meet the financial goals of an organisation. More...
	01/07/2002 An Approach to Practical Reliability Improvement At a Slovenian ironworks it was observed that breakdowns of certain machinery occurred very frequently and that one of the main reasons for poor levels of production was the very low operational reliability of these machines. More...
	01/07/2002 The Long and Winding Road Ten years ago, following twenty fives years� experience of traditional UK practice, the author joined the engineering department of a Japanese-owned and managed company manufacturing automotive equipment and committed to Total Productive Maintenance (TPM). More...
	02/04/2002 Condition Based Maintenance in Building Services The potential benefits of incorporating CBM into mainstream building services maintenance regimes are reviewed, as also are the problems which can hinder such developments (eg the difficulty of identifying the true costs of services plant failure). More...
	02/04/2002 Modern Types of Contract and Best Practice in the Management & Maintenance of Property Assets It is explained that although there is nothing special about a maintenance contract (as compared with, say, an installation project contract) its key aspects are that it deals with the provision of a service, which is not easily measurable and will probably be on-going beyond the duration of the particular agreement � aspects which the contractual framework must deal with. More...
	01/04/2002 Developing People's Involvement in Asset Management Through TPM The principles and practices of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) are reviewed, and it is explained that although it was originally developed for manufacturing industry it can also be applied in non-manufacturing organisations. More...
	02/02/2002 Spare Parts Decision Analysis - The Missing Link in CMMS's (Part II) Building upon a concept first put forward by Lenard and Roy {1}, it is proposed that, rather than adapt one policy to suit all spare parts inventory, maintenance inventories should be segmented and controlled using a number of different policies. To facilitate this, a multi-criterion technique has been used, and developed into a proposed software package. More...
	01/02/2002 Maintenance Management and Delay Reduction �Its Monday morning; the line is down � what do I do?� The core activity of industrial maintenance is the effective and efficient delivery of machinery up-time to production. A machine breakdown is generally a failure on the part of the maintenance department to deliver this. More...
	01/12/2001 Spare Parts Decision Analysis - The Missing Link in CMMSs (part 1) The management of the spare parts inventory is recognised as offering considerable scope for the development of a Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS) module More...
	01/12/2001 Creating a Model of Excellence for Plant Shutdowns Plant shutdowns have a major impact on business, so it is surprising how few companies fully appreciate the basic principles of shutdown management and the costs involved; costs that can spiral out of control without effective management More...
	01/12/2001 Identifying Current Needs Using Root Cause Analysis Only when investigators are able to determine why an incident or failure occurred can effective preventive measures be taken. More...
	01/11/2001 Optimal Maintenance: RCM LITE and a PPMS for manufacturing and process plants From a senior manger�s point of view there would be much to gain by having a comprehensive strategy for maintenance that would provide a defined path to improvement, with the means to monitor that improvement and the impact it is having on overall efficiency. Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) is recognised as the most comprehensive strategy and operating a planned preventive maintenance system (a PPMS) as the best way of measuring progress More...
	01/11/2001 Condition Monitoring in the Steel Industry: Hopes and Disillusions Examples are given of the successful application, in the iron and steel industries, of plant condition monitoring techniques involving, for instance, simple statistical analysis of vibration in applications which were aimed at improving product quality and operational safety, and also at achieving more accurate fatigue-life prediction and hence longer useful life of plant. Also discussed are the organisational requirements for ensuring the success of such implementations. More...
	01/11/2001 Maintenance Co-operative Agreements to Reflect Technical Change and the Need for Flexibility Skills A pilot research project, conducted under the EU�s Leonardo da Vinci programme, has been aimed at developing and certificating (via linked national and European arrangements) work-based training modules for advancing flexible working in small to medium enterprises, and developing the criteria necessary for formulating successful co-operative agreements in this area. More...
	01/11/2001 Uptime at Minimum Cost: RCM Experience in Some Continuous Process Industries Many articles have been written about Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) and the need to rigidly follow its analytical approach � developed by Nowlan and Heap of Eastern Airlines to safeguard the essential functions of new commercial aircraft until sufficient operating data to maintain them correctly became available More...
	01/09/2001 Failure Modes Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA), its Application at a Phamaceutical Facility Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) will deliver an audit trail of maintenance policy, decisions and actions More...
	01/09/2001 A Comparative Review of Major Manufacturing Improvement Methods A comparative review is given of several currently popular methods for improving the performance of manufacturing and processing systems, viz Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Supply Chain Principles, Reliability Centred Maintenance and Total Productive Maintenance More...
	01/06/2001 Maintenance Co-operative Agreements to Reflect Technical Change & the Need for Flexibility Skills A pilot research project is reported, conducted under the EU�s Leonardo da Vinci programme and aimed at developing work-based training modules for advancing flexible working in small to medium enterprises, exploring the possibility of certification of such training via linked national and European arrangements, and developing the criteria necessary for formulating successful co-operative agreements in this area. More...
	01/06/2001 The Case Against Streamlined RCM It is explained that the growing popularity of RCM has led to the development of numerous derivatives, some of which are refinements and enhancements of Nowlan and Heap�s original RCM process while others are less rigorous spin-offs, most of which are attempts to �streamline� the maintenance strategy formation process. More...
	01/06/2001 AMIS Maintenance Management Trends 1988-2000 In 1988, in order to improve the productivity of plant assets, the DTI sponsored the development of the Asset Management Information Service (AMIS). More...
	01/03/2001 An adaptive performance measurement system using the Balanced Scorecard Seeking an adaptable solution to the recurrent needs of maintenance management in today�s knowledge economy, we presume that the role of maintenance will invariably be that of a value driver. More...
	01/03/2001 The Acoustic Emission of Grease Lubricated Rolling Bearings In the acoustic emission (AE) method of condition monitoring a high frequency vibration from the surface of the object concerned is studied. More...
	01/03/2001 A Critical Element in Maintenance An introduction, for those contemplating � perhaps for the first time � applying condition monitoring (CM) to the mitigation of some of their maintenance problems, but who are in need of some basic advice and re-assurance. More...
	01/01/2001 Taking the Risk Out of Maintenance Selecting the right equipment to inspect and overhaul at the right time, with the right scope of work, is fundamental to maximising plant performance and integrity in an environment of ever increasing competitive and regulatory pressures. More...
	01/01/2001 Re-Defining the Strategic Significance of Asset Management from a Cost Centre to a Value Driver In the context of industrial asset management maintenance is traditionally treated as a cost centre. This view has not yielded any significant impact on the current assessment of what, realistically, maintenance can be expected to deliver to achieve core-business objectives. More...
	01/01/2001 A Risk-Based Maintenance Case Study A Risk-based maintenance strategy can be used to optimise and prioritise equipment maintenance and upgrade decisions More...
	01/12/2000 Power RCM: A Survey of Reliability Centred Maintenance Applications in Power Plants Ten years ago Electricit� De France (EDF) launched a Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) project to optimise the preventive maintenance of its nuclear power plants. More...
	01/12/2000 TPM/RCM Combining TPM and RCM: A Case Study A recent experience at a large automotive manufacturing facility has demonstrated how to combine Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM). More...
	01/12/2000 The Human Factor - Auditing Human Factors in Maintenance Management The often dominant influence of human relations on the way in which maintenance is carried out, and on the effectiveness and efficiency of that work, is reviewed, and also touched on is the author�s experience in auditing such human factors in the industrial situation More...
	01/09/2000 AM Latest Asset Management - Latest Thinking A wide-ranging review is presented of the current state of the rapidly developing art of asset management. More...
	01/09/2000 Effective AM - The Road to Effective Asset Management is Paved With ..... The authors discuss, from the view point of public utility management, the likely development of some aspects of asset management (AM), in particular the exploitation of information systems as a key component of enabling technology (ET). More...
	01/09/2000 Maintenance USA - The State of the Art of Maintenance in North America A qualitative overview is presented of maintenance practices in North America. Its findings are based on a survey among member of the Society of Maintenance and Reliability Professionals, on organisation based in the United States More...
	01/07/2000 Benchmarking - Using Benchmarking Data Effectively - Sustainable maintenance performance targets In the previous issue of Maintenance the author described a questionnaire-based statistical survey of reliability performance and maintenance practice � in the petrochemical and refining sector in over sixty different companies in five countries � the aim of which was to develop a system of cost-indices for use in performance benchmarking. In this follow-up paper he outlines his views, developed over twenty years of such work, on how its full potential can be realised More...
	01/07/2000 Enterprising Maintenance The author describes how his company, a well known manufacturer of technical and food-related chemicals, is achieving a strategy for maintenance which not only draws on the ideas of RCM, TPM, Asset Management and Manufacturing Resource Planning, but also aims to integrate the Maintenance, Production and Business functions of the organisation. Analysis using the Asset Management Flowchart is particularly stressed. More...
	01/05/2000 Thermography - Infrared Thermography: A Valuable Weapon in the Condition Monitoring Armoury Using infrared thermography as an integral part of a plant condition monitoring programme noticeably improves equipment reliability, directly impacting on process availability while avoiding unnecessary costs. It provides short and long term economic benefits. More...
	01/05/2000 Diagnostics - An On-Line Integrated Diagnostic System for FMS's In order to maintain the productivity of a Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) it is crucial to react quickly when a fault occurs. More...
	01/05/2000 Software Systems - Implementing New Software Systems - A Risky Business An overview is presented of some of the likely pitfalls, risks and benefits of a major investment in new software systems More...
	01/05/2000 Benchmarking - Plant Reliability and Maintenance Benchmarking A questionnaire-based survey is described of reliability performance and maintenance practice in over sixty chemical companies in five different countries. More...
	01/03/2000 RCM Standard - SAE's New Standard for RCM In August 1999 the International Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) published a standard for Reliability-Centred Maintenance (RCM), for use by anyone who wishes to apply RCM to physical assets. More...
	01/03/2000 Fast Track RCM - Getting Results from RCM (Part 1) Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) has had a chequered history. Part 1 of this paper traces its emergence, in the sixties and seventies, as the saviour of airline industry maintenance and then follows it through its mixed reception in industry to its successful evolution, during the past decade, into an effective performance improvement tool. More...
	01/03/2000 RCM Case Study - Getting Results from RCM (Part 2) This second part of the authors� paper on performance improvement via RCM describes a typical industrial application using developments in RCM methodology that have been recently introduced by GGR Associates. More...
	01/03/2000 Concrete CMMS - Building & Implementing a Computerised Maintenance Management System A two-year duration project is reported, aimed at building a complete PC-based Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS). More...
	01/12/1999 Integrated Maintenance Work Control Traditionally, maintenance management systems treat each maintenance policy separately; with separate functions for projects, time-based, condition-based, breakdown and condition monitoring tasks. Benefits can arise from dealing with tasks from these functions together, using a fully integrated system for controlling maintenance work from inception through to completion More...
	01/12/1999 Breaking the Chains of Preventive Maintenance: The Royal Navy Experience In the early 1980s the Royal Navy revised its maintenance policy away from the calendar-based preventive activities and towards condition-based procedures. More...
	01/12/1999 RCM2 in Hyder- How easy has it proved to be? For some while, the Welsh utility company, Hyder, has had a plan for the long-term deployment of the RCM2� methodology throughout its water, sewage and electricity operations. More...
	01/10/1999 Is this the Biggest Maintenance Project Ever? Responsive Prioritisation for the Year 2000 Problem The author believes that the imminence and global implications of the Y2K problem render it the biggest maintenance challenge currently confronting us. It is argued that prioritisation of Y2K preparations is essential and that, with little time left, only well-developed and thoroughly validated techniques adapted from appropriate disciplines should be brought to bear More...
	01/10/1999 Turnarounds: Context and Strategy An Overview It is argued that � for most process, power and manufacturing plant � turnarounds (shutdowns for major refurbishment) will remain, for the foreseeable future, a periodically occurring necessity. More...
	01/10/1999 Full Life Cycle Asset Management . Its Role in Enterprise Wide Change: Part II In Part II they examine the reasons why this type of change programme is becoming increasingly prone to failure, and explain how to avoid the common pitfalls on the road to successful implementation. More...
	01/07/1999 Full Life-Cycle Asset Management - its role in enterprise wide change: Part 1 Any new approach to business with the potential enterprise-wide impact of Full Life Cycle Asset Management (FLAM) has a natural gestation period More...
	01/07/1999 Case Study - Auditing the Central Engineering Service of a Multi-Plant Site Seeking major improvements in all-round productivity, the senior management of a long-established, multi-plant, chemicals and textile manufacturing complex were particularly concerned about the manning levels and productivity of the centralised engineering and maintenance services � which retained many structural and organisational features inherited from a much earlier production regime. More...
	01/07/1999 Case Study - Controlling Maintenance in a Chemical Processing Plant, Part II Any activity requiring a management process must include a check step or control system. More...
	01/05/1999 Automated Work Scheduling Development of information systems for improved maintenance management has, over the years, focused upon improved means for optimising maintenance. More...
	01/05/1999 A Case Study - Controlling Maintenance in a Chemical Processing Plant: Part 1 Any activity requiring a management process must include check steps and control systems. In maintenance, one such check would be to ensure that the maintenance objective was being met, the control systems then adjusting and directing the maintenance resource if it were not More...
	01/05/1999 The Maintenance and Millennium Problems - A Salutary Comparison? Features of the maintenance problem are compared to those of the Year 2000 (Y2K) problem. Similarities found suggest that lessons learned from one can be applied to the other. Aspects of responsibility, communication, decision making and prioritisation are addressed. More...
	01/01/1999 Asset Management and Maintenance Strategy Asset maintenance policies should offer various options in line with the plans for the future of the organisation two years or more ahead. More...
	01/01/1999 Maintenance of Robots in Automated Production. Part 2 This is the second part of a report on the study of failures in industrial robots and of the maintenance methods used. The first part, published in the last issue (Volume 13, Number 5, December 1998) described the plant, and presented a critical review of existing maintenance and collection methods were analysed, and the limitations of such systems were discussed. The paper concluded with a brief resume of the results. More...
	01/01/1999 Health Service Estates Management Policies for the next Millennium Faced with the twin challenges of improving performance and reducing budgets, in 1996 Guy�s hospital embarked on a project to achieve a major turn-around of its estates management operation. More...
	01/01/1999 The CMMS Technology Revolution - Why 'Best of Breed' will still be best New component-based architectures, particularly those following the �three-tier� (or �n-tier�) model, is set to revolutionise how �best-of-breed� CMMS software will function in an environment that increasingly craves integration, customisation and Internet connectivity More...
	01/01/1999 Web Warehousing - Next Generation Integrated Supply Over the last fifteen years, streamlining supply channels has yielded significant cost savings for larger production-based companies. Typically, significant investment is made in developing sophisticated infra-structures for reducing the �no added value� content of business transactions � which is commercially justifiable when economies of scale are present More...
	01/01/1999 Streamlined RCM in the Nuclear Industry The Maintenance Optimisation Tool (MOT) is the streamlined version of RCM that has been developed by British Energy and used in their power stations to optimise the maintenance of plant systems. More...
	01/12/1998 Maintenance of Robots in Automated Production. Part 1 - a survey of plant and data collection Robot failures are costly and difficult to diagnose. Advanced diagnostics and condition monitoring can reduce breakdowns and downtime, but it is important to have a complete picture of the problem. Breakdown data is hard to obtain, so this study has first focused on collection and analysis of robot failure information. More...
	01/12/1998 The Maintenance Benefits of Smart Technology The field of machinery maintenance is facing a revolution. The continued evolution of computing power and technology is facilitating the embodiment of intelligent tools on to the desktop. These tools are no longer the toys of researchers and academics with super-computers, but find important applications in business and in the improvement of product quality and design. More...
	01/12/1998 The Maintenance Theory Jungle An increasing amount of attention has been paid to the subject of maintenance over the past twenty years More...
	01/10/1998 Vehicle Maintenance - Reducing Vehicle Maintenance by Improving Vehicle Design & Specification Parcelforce operates a fleet of eight thousand vehicles, ranging from light vans to 38-tonne motive units and semi trailers. After briefly outlining important aspects of its maintenance management � outsourcing policy, implementation of information systems, purchasing � the author reviews the various changes that have been made, successfully, to vehicle design in order to reduce whole life maintenance costs. More...
	01/10/1998 Lubricants & WDA - A Pragmatic Approach to Lubricant and Wear Debris Analysis A lubricant may be considered as much an integral part of a machine as any of its mechanical components and it must perform many vital functions over extended periods of operation. More...
	01/10/1998 Responsible Custodianship By likening the development of maintenance strategy to the building of a house it is demonstrated that success depends first and foremost on the laying of sound foundations in the form of correctly identified maintenance needs, a process which can be expedited via the application of Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM). More...
	01/07/1998 Criticality - Criticality Analysis Revisited Criticality analysis is applied in risk and reliability studies to rank decisions on system design and operation More...
	01/07/1998 Facilities Management - How Can Municipal Facilities be run at a Profit and Maintained (part 2) Communal facilities must be properly maintained but, with today�s tight constraints on public funding, must also be run at a profit. In co-operation with eleven German municipalities, the Institute of Maintenance Engineering (IFIN) has developed a set of approaches for coping with this problem. More...
	01/07/1998 Maintenance Strategy - A Business Centred Approach A systematic procedure, for the formulation of optimal maintenance strategy for industrial plant, is explained in some detail. It is driven throughout by the identification of primary business objectives and their translation into maintenance objectives, and is therefore termed Business-Centred Maintenance (BCM). More...
	01/05/1998 MACRO - Maintenance Strategy - the MACRO view The International Eureka MAINE MACRO project has been busily collating the experiences of collaborating organisations in many industries. In addition to the development of innovative technical methods, MACRO is generating procedural guidance and training programmes to implement risk-based management techniques. More...
	01/05/1998 Msc in Mtce - Why we're studying maintenance A group of working engineers, just embarked on a part-time MSc programme in Maintenance Engineering, tell all to John Harris. More...
	01/05/1998 Reliability of Quality - Impact of an Emerging Empirical Model on Asset Management In the past four decades much has been done to highlight the importance of customers, those most critical of assets is the customer-supplier chain. It is now globally accepted that satisfying their needs and requirements is going to become more important than ever before. More...
	01/05/1998 Facilities Management - How can municipal facilities be run at a profit and maintained? Communal facilities must be properly maintained but, with today�s tight constraints on public funding, must also be run at a profit. In co-operation with eleven German municipalities, the Institute of Maintenance Engineering (IFIN) has developed a set of approaches for coping with this problem. More...
	01/01/1998 Establishing the True Cost of Downtime This paper begins with a discussion of downtime and its effects, from the point of view of directors and managers. A consideration of the effects of downtime on the organisation then highlights the need for change, the catalyst for which is provided through ideas for auditing the organisation, and which sets the platform on which to improve. More...
	01/01/1998 Asset Management - The Maintenance Perspective The relationship between asset management and maintenance is discussed and maintenance is identified as being an aspect of asset management that impacts all phases of the asset life cycle More...
	01/01/1998 Challenges for the Year 2000 in the new and Changing South Africa The new South Africa, which emerged in April 1994 from its first elections based on universal suffrage, faces formidable economic and political tasks, outlined in the government�s Reconstruction and Development Programme More...
	01/12/1997 BMS for CBM Utilising existing systems (BMS) as condiiton based maintenance tools Building Management Systems are installed in most new buildings and have been retrofitted in many older ones. The authors show that data currently being used to obtain effective control of a building�s environment can also be used as �free� data for condition monitoring. More...
	01/12/1997 What is Asset Management? An �Asset� at its most basic, anything of value or worth. So we are all �asset managers� because we look after our houses, cars money, families, friends, reputations and so on. More...
	01/12/1997 PEOPLE - Aligning Strategy with People It is recognised that the maintenance function plays a vital role in supporting the changing needs of a modern manufacturing business. This in turn brings the need to develop a coherent integrated strategy for aligning maintenance effectively with the company and its production goals. More...
	01/12/1997 ORGANISATION - A Case Study Exercise in Maintenance Organisation A case study exercise is presented, in the organisation of maintenance in a food processing plant it is taken from the author�s just-published textbook on maintenance organisation and systems. The aim of the exercise is to give the reader the opportunity to test his knowledge of the organisational principles developed and discussed in his book. More...
	01/09/1997 Maintenance in Eastern European Mining An EU consultancy project - to install a �best-in-class� maintenance system for the lignite mines of Romania - is described. Funded by PHARE, the project undertook a critical analysis of the systems for maintaining and repairing equipment in both the open pit and underground mines operated by the Lignite Regia Autonoma Oltenia (RALO). More...
	01/09/1997 How to Measure Maintenance Effectiveness The control of maintenance requires the design, implementation and use of a number of performance indicators by means of which its effectiveness can be continuously monitored. In most operations it will be found that such indicators already exist More...
	01/09/1997 An Advanced Approach to the Bending Fatigue in Spur Gears The testing and use is described of an advanced signal processing technique, called the continuous wavelet transform, for the detection and location of defects in gear teeth caused by bending fatigue. Defects of this kind were simulated on a real spur gear which was then tested on a back-to-back- gear rig, the resulting vibration signals being detected by accelerometers located around the bearing housing closest to the faulty gear. More...
	01/09/1997 Two Case Studies in the Setting of Maintenance Strategy Two case studies in the formulation of maintenance strategy are presented, one dealing with problems at a petroleum refinery, the other with problems at an open cast coal mine. Both taken from the author�s recently published textbook on maintenance strategy. More...
	01/07/1997 Maintenance Education, The Thermo King Europe Experience Increasing industrial competitiveness has seen the demise of the �oily-rag� maintenance craftsmen. High technology production machinery demands highly educated craftsmen to maintain it at its optimum efficiency. More...
	01/07/1997 The Basic Principles of Maintenance Engineering The following paper presents a set of principles of maintenance engineering which have been formulated by the Institut fur Instandhaltung GmbH (IFIN, the German Institute of Maintenance Engineering) with the aim of describing a paradigm change within maintenance More...
	01/07/1997 Maintenance Decision Analysis - its a capital mistake to theorise before one has data? With the increased size and complexity of modern process plant the cost of maintenance and consequential lost-production downtime become important parameters in the overall profitability equations. Maintenance decisions can have a material effect on minimising losses but must be based on sound, relevant and timely data. More...
	01/05/1997 Maintenance on a Mountain The objectives, problems and achievements of the Isaac Newton Group (ING), in managing the maintainable assets at the observatory on La Palma, one of the Canary Islands, are reviewed. The observatory is located at over 2400 metres (8000 feet) above sea level. More...
	01/05/1997 Systematic Functional Analysis of Plant and Equipment - Why is it there? A prerequisite for rational planning of the maintenance of industrial plant is the identification of clear definitions of - (I) the functions provided by the plant and its component sub-systems, (ii) the standard of performance required from the plant and sub-systems. More...
	01/05/1997 Engineered Maintenance of Civil Port Structures Civil port structures are usually located in a notoriously aggressive environment. In the past, the common approach to maintenance has been to act when problems are visible, or when serviceability or structural capacity is affected. More...
	01/05/1997 Concrete Durability Problems Structural Aspects, Life Cycle Analysis and Case Studies Concrete is an amazingly versatile, low cost, durable construction material which is very forgiving and tolerant of much abuse. When properly specified, mixed and placed - and provided its partner, steel reinforcement, is correctly positioned - there is no reason why the final product should not last indefinitely in non-aggressive environments with minimal maintenance and repair More...
	01/01/1997 Maintenance Management Systems: Objectives and Solutions This paper examines many of the topics which must be addressed in the selection process leading up to the installation of maintenance management systems More...
	01/01/1997 Assessing the Effectiveness of a Maintenance Programme A model has been developed for aiding evaluation of the effectiveness of existing test and maintenance programmes of industrial plant. It combines analysis of the historical data on faults and repairs with analysis of the history of functional testing and preventive maintenance programmes. More...
	01/01/1997 The Management of Assets: Stackers and Reclaimers at BHP, Newcastle, Australia Large bulk material handling machines (such as stackers and reclaimers), which are exposed to external environments, deteriorate structurally as they age. The application of an asset management plan has provided the framework to review the condition and design of seven such machines in the sinter plant at BHP Newcastle. Anticipated in the business plan is the need to provide a safe working environment and to maintain the primary assets of the business. More...
	01/01/1997 A Decision Support System Prototype for Maintenance Management A concept for a next generation Decision Support System (DSS) for maintenance management is presented. Such a system will integrate information from other systems dedicated to process control, condition monitoring, diagnosis, maintenance planning, and production planning. More...
	01/11/1996 Improving the Maintenance of Power Plants, a Key Factor for Developing Countries A very fast growth is being reported in the demand for electrical power in the developing countries More...
	01/11/1996 The Application of Neural Networks for Product Quality and Machine Condition Monitoring .... A collaborative venture is described, involving suppliers of vibration monitoring equipment and of neural network software, a major high volume manufacturer of DIY goods and a university More...
	01/11/1996 FieldBus: The Basis for an Open Architecture Condition Monitoring Revolution Over the last twelve months, a predominant subject of conversation in control systems circles has been the potential offered by open architecture automation systems based upon the Fieldbus concept More...
	01/11/1996 Diagnosis of Centrifugal Pumps The maintenance and downtime costs of pumps, in Finland, have been studied and seal leakage was found to be the fault that causes the highest such costs. More...
	01/09/1996 Improved Maintenance Planning, Scheduling and Work Control Using Integrated, Paperless ... The concept that direct maintenance costs can be reduced by making use of highly integrated, paperless, maintenance task information is examined More...
	01/09/1996 A Machine Health Index Based on Artificial Intelligence Techniques In the implementation of condition based maintenance (CBM) within complex industrial processes a measure of machine health based on condition monitoring data is beneficial to indicate operational state and highlight maintenance requirements. More...
	01/09/1996 Reducing System Downtime Using a Maintenance Information System The research described in this paper was undertaken to investigate the problems of devising a Maintenance Information System (MIS) with the express purpose of reducing downtime and also to assist a particular manufacturing company which was experiencing acute downtime More...
	01/05/1996 Integral Management of Production Assets Observing the significant costs of maintenance activities and the economic benefit to be gained from higher process availability, captains of industry increasingly show great interest in effective production asset management techniques. More...
	01/05/1996 The Maintenance of Protective Systems (Part 1) Within the home, and across a broad spread of industries, society has become increasingly dependent on protective systems and devices. More...
	01/05/1996 Automating the Diagnosis of Valve Faults in Reciprocating Compressors In the previous issue of Maintenance the authors showed that analysis of the Smoothed Pseudo Wigner Ville Distribution (SPWVD) can provide an interpretation of compressor valve vibration response and thus form a basis for valve fault diagnosis More...
	01/05/1996 The Application of Reliability-Centred Maintenance Structures Methods to Ships and Submarines Reliability-Centred Maintenance (RCM) has now been in use for over thirty years from its early beginnings in Maintenance Steering Group planning documents for the Boeing 747 and Concorde More...
	01/03/1996 A Preliminary Investigation of Valve Fault Diagnosis in Reciprocating Compressors University of Manchester, and T A Henry, WM Engineering Ltd More...
	01/03/1996 The Successful Implementation of a Vibration-Based Condition Monitoring Programme A successful predictive maintenance programme relies very heavily on its correct set-up and implementation, and on long-term commitment and support - both by the user and the supplier of the system. More...
	01/03/1996 Formulation of an Appropriate Productive Maintenance Strategy Using Multiple Criteria Decison Making Experience gained in leading manufacturing companies by the authors has shown that formulating a maintenance strategy is a difficult process with many problems More...
	01/03/1996 Managing the Utility Physical Asset Base The author draws on his consulting experience in the utilities sector to argue that effective management of the physical asset base should be a key business strategy for every utility organisation in the coming decade More...
	01/01/1996 Achieving Cost Effective Maintenance through the integration of Condition Monitoring British industry now seems partially convinced of the central role that asset care plays in the achievement of world class performance More...
	01/01/1996 Maintenance Management - a New Paradigm This paper attempts to summarise fifteen of the most important areas of change which have occurred in the field of physical asset management over the past fifteen years. More...
	01/01/1996 Reliability Centred Maintenance and its implications for Asset Management Systems It is suggested that Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) cannot be fully implemented in major industrial plant unless an effective computerised support system is in place More...
	01/01/1996 Applying the RCM Method to High Voltage Sub-Stations Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) has been extensively used in the military, aeronautical and nuclear power generation sectors. More...
	01/11/1995 Benchmarking the Human Side of Management Benchmarking is now a well-established aspect of the philosophies of Total Quality and Continuous Improvement More...
	01/11/1995 Diagnosing Turbo Generator Faults with a Rule Based Expert System Expert systems (ES) have emerged as one of the prominent application areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. The use of knowledge-based expert systems is being explored for many potential tasks, one of these being the diagnosis of faults in machinery More...
	01/11/1995 Vibration Monitoring of Rotordynamic Pumping Machinery - A Case Study` The potential benefits from pump vibration monitoring within UK industry are often not realised due to poor system design and inadequate management consideration. With the cost of pumping within the UK industrial sector estimated at �1000 million per year, the potential for savings, estimated to be between 10% and 15% of that figure, is enormous More...
	01/09/1995 Time is Money Maintenance downtimes and maintenance activity elapsed-times are extremely important factors contributing to two major yardsticks of airline and civil aircraft performance, viz Dispatch Reliability and Direct Maintenance Costs, both of which have important cost implications More...
	01/09/1995 Asset Management at the BBC World Service Between late 1993 and early 1994 the BBC World Service recognised that there was a need to move from a series of stand-alone PCs and card index systems, each handling differing aspects of asset management, to a single integrated system capable of performing the role of the stand-alone PCs. More...
	01/09/1995 Maintenance Information Systems an Assessment of General Requirements The author draws upon his considerable experience in the design and provision of maintenance management and asset care systems. More...
	01/05/1995 Moving from Maintenance Management to Asset Management The range of methodologies, software tools and visionary concepts continues to multiply. This paper scans the areas of development and comments on their penetration and degrees of impact. In many cases, the readiness to adopt a more �Asset Management� professionalism is a matter of overcoming interdepartmental barriers rather than just adopting some clever new technology. More...
	01/05/1995 Application Management in a Distributed, Object Oriented Condition Monitoring System This paper describes some aspects of a software development toolkit for industrial condition monitoring and maintenance planning applications More...
	01/05/1995 Implementation of an Integrated Condition Based Maintenance Programme A case study is presented of the planning and implementation of a comprehensive programme of condition based maintenance for a large onshore oilfield. More...
	01/05/1995 Overcoming the Difficulties of Implementing TPM in Europe In European enterprises the implementation of overall, company-wide, philosophies like Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) has proved to be rather difficult. Managers, consultants and researchers, however, tend to focus on the success stories More...
	01/05/1995 Integration of TPM Concepts in the Design of a New Plant A review is given of an approach to integrating TPM concepts into the design of new, technologically advanced, plant - a very large electrical direct-current-operated, double vat, furnace. The use of Failure Mode Effect and Criticality Analysis, Functional Analysis, experience transfer via Benchmarking, and other techniques, is discussed and design to facilitate operator self-maintenance is emphasised. More...
	01/03/1995 Use of the Smoothed Pseudo-Wigner-Ville Distribution Of the range of time-frequency methods of analysis, the Wigner-Ville Distribution (WVD) is probably the most popular. This paper explores the capabilities of the WVD, the pseudo-WVD and the smoothed-pseudo-WVD in the analysis of short duration transients embedded in noisy data More...
	01/03/1995 Inspection Methods in Condition Monitoring Despite the development of condition measurement techniques - employing data collectors for efficient administration, inspections based on qualitative assessment of plant condition predominate as a tool in maintenance. This paper examines simple inspection procedures and explains how they have been combined with numerical measurements in condition monitoring More...
	01/03/1995 Bearings, Condition Monitoring, Condition Measurement & Condition Control This paper briefly outlines, and aims to objectively compare, the vibration measurement method for monitoring the condition of rolling element bearings and the shock pulse method for doing so. More...
	01/03/1995 A Basis for the Vibration Monitoring of Diesel Fuel Injectors This paper presents the analytical and experimental procedures used in the estimation of key fuel injection parameters from monitored vibration data. More...
	01/01/1995 A Systematic Approach to Managing Risk - Reliability Centred Maintenance Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) is a systematic way of managing the risk of equipment failure More...
	01/01/1995 Creating a Pro Active Maintenance Regime - Selecting and Implementing a Maintenance Review Programme The authors explain that a Review of Equipment Maintenance (REM) - an approach to the formulation of industrial maintenance strategy which incorporates elements of RCM and some of the ideas behind TPM - can address both the human-resource-related problems of maintenance and the technical ones. More...
	01/01/1995 Experience-Based Reliability Centred Maintenance - Case Study The analysis of operating experience - e.g. of failure and corrective maintenance reports - gives valuable information on equipment behaviour in its operational and maintenance environment More...
	01/01/1995 The Truth about Computer Systems and Performance Indicators in Maintenance For a number of years computerised maintenance management systems (CMMS) have been the focus for companies wishing to improve their asset management strategy. During this period much has been promised but only a little has been learned, and even less has been delivered in terms of improved plant performance More...
	01/12/1994 We are too small to worry about maintenance Optimising the maintenance of plant has long been uppermost in the minds of engineers responsible for the effective management of assets. The introduction of new maintenance technology and practice has been readily adopted by maintenance engineers in the progressive, and usually large, national or multinational organisations. More...
	01/12/1994 The Development of Diagnostic Application from Flowcharts, without the use of Rule Sets The need to construct sets of rules has been a major obstacle to the development of pc-based diagnostic systems. Software is described which simplifies the development of such applications by dispensing with the need for rules, using instead the flowcharts prepared in the normal course of obtaining and documenting the expert knowledge More...
	01/12/1994 The Supply of Spare Parts: A Growing Problem for the Maintenance Engineer One of today�s major problems is the supply of spare parts. It is one of the main causes of the difficulties met by the economies of developing countries; it is also a growing concern of maintenance engineers in Europe itself. This paper reviews the main difficulties encountered in the national and international spare parts business and suggests some approaches to the easing of these problems. Also outlined are the principal underlying causes of the increasing tendency towards the internationalism of the spare parts business - the rapid pace of change, throughout the World, in manufacturing industry and the resultant acceleration in the obsolescence of components. More...
	01/12/1994 Trends in Maintenance Management in Europe Over the past three decades maintenance management techniques have been subject to a continuous search for efficiency. In particular, the move towards �maintenance as a profit centre� has been one of the most remarkable developments. Various factors influenced this in a positive way. More...
	01/09/1994 Practical RCM Analysis and its Information Requirements Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) was conceived and developed by airlines in the USA. Over the past ten years its application elsewhere has evolved rather slowly even though there are obvious financial benefits to be obtained. In part this has been due to the significant difference between aircraft maintenance and power, process and manufacturing (PP&M) system maintenance which makes the first steps towards RCM in these latter industries quite daunting. More...
	01/09/1994 Maintenance Strategies using RCM It is explained that Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) is a method for formulating an effective and economic maintenance strategy - an appropriate mix of the available techniques - that address the potentially conflicting profitability, safety and environmental requirements. More...
	01/09/1994 Evaluating the Intangible Benefits of Reliability Centred Maintenance Although major benefits are claimed from the introduction of Reliability-Centred Maintenance (RCM), severe difficulties have been encountered during its implementation, with the result that many applications have been delayed, or even abandoned. More...
	01/09/1994 Total Productive Maintenance and Reliability Centred Maintenance, Competing or Complementary? The author explains that Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is essentially an operating philosophy aimed - in pursuit of the business objectives of quality and delivery at low cost - at minimising the hidden costs of impaired operation, whereas Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) is a maintenance management strategy aimed at improving the efficiency of maintenance by identifying the type and quantity which is appropriate to the consequences of failure. More...
	01/06/1994 The Integration of Machinery Condition Monitoring into an Overall Maintenance Programme It is emphasised that, although a condition-based policy might be the best form of maintenance for some machines, on a total plant scale a combination of this and other policies (such as time-based maintenance) will always be the most cost-effective approach. More...
	01/06/1994 Business Centred Maintenance The authors provide some thoughts on: The roles of assets in relation to business objectives; Asset criticality; Appropriate maintenance strategies; Planning for asset availability related to business need; Strategy change mechanisms, and; Measuring effectiveness. More...
	01/06/1994 Mathematical Models for the Optimisation of Maintenance and their Application in Practice It is explained that although there has been much development, during the last twenty years of mathematical models for the optimisation of maintenance procedures, most of this has been academic and only a small part of it has found its way to the maintenance manager. More...
	01/06/1994 Cost/Benefit Analysis Methods for Condition Monitoring The traditional maintenance strategies of �Run to Failure� and �Scheduled Maintenance� are increasingly unacceptable in many process and manufacturing operations. The alternative, to use Condition Monitoring (CM) systems with predictive capabilities, provides early detection of machinery problems based on collection of machine data. More...
	01/03/1994 Bespoke Facilities Management In the context of the property portfolio of a major bank, this paper discusses the importance of business aims and objectives in the selection of an appropriate operation and maintenance strategy, and highlights the benefits to be gained from the use of Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) techniques in large, technically complex, buildings. More...
	01/03/1994 Computer Aided Maintenance Management Systems Drawing on his company's experience in providing AMIS, the DTI-supported benchmarking service in maintenance management, the author concludes that, in general, the application of Computer Aided Maintenance Management (CAMM) Systems has not been as successful as it might have been. More...
	01/03/1994 Integrated Health Assessment of Aerospace Propulsion and Transmission Systems This article explains in general terms the concept of integrated health assessment. It then draws upon experience gained with the Royal Air Force Allison T56A-15 Turboprop engine in order to highlight some of the issues involved and to provide an insight into the benefits that can be achieved by adopting such an approach. More...
	01/03/1994 Inspection, Rehabilitation and Maintenance of Concrete Structures After outlining the chemistry of the corrosive deterioration of steel reinforcement in concrete structures the authors review the principle methods - carbonation testing, chloride concentration testing, covermeter testing etc - of investigating such deterioration. More...
	01/01/1994 Thoughts on Multi-Skilling Maintenance Drawing on twenty years experience in industrial management, primarily with the Ford Motor Company where, among other posts held, he was Manager of Plant engineering for Ford Britain and Chief Engineer Asset Preservation for Ford Europe, the author stresses that, to be successful, the implementation of multi-skilling must be a carefully managed, evolutionary, step-by-step programme taking at least five years. More...
	01/01/1994 Multi-Skilling in UK Industry: A Discussion Paper It is explained (a) why multi-skilling has become a necessity for many industries, especially those involved with �high-tech� applications such as micro-processor control or IT, (b) what multi-skilling means, (c) how it should be implemented and (d) how the necessary training should be organised. More...
	01/01/1994 Manufacturing Maintenance � A Survey of Current UK Practice Data has been collected from a small but carefully selected sample of manufacturing companies with the intention of providing a representative snapshot of the current position, procedures and practice of maintenance within this sector of UK industry. More...
	01/01/1994 Plant Monitoring and Diagnostics in a B. Eng. Degree Course The design, development and implementation are described of a final year degree-course module entitled �Plant Monitoring and Diagnostics�. This optional module forms an integrated part of the Mechanical Engineering degree course at Manchester University, and attempts to complete the range of a graduate�s knowledge, ability and skill that is demanded by modern industry. More...
	01/12/1993 Major Evaluation Criteria for Real Life Maint Expert Systems. The AITEST Experience The authors have acquired several years' experience of developing and applying an expert system tool for equipment diagnosis and maintenance support. More...
	01/12/1993 A Self Learning Diagnostic System In 1989 Schiphol Airport was about to install an advanced, fully automated, baggage handling unit and it was felt that a large problem could occur, because no experience with this new type of installation was then available. It was decided that a self-learning diagnostic expert system, ie one that would be capable of continually learning from the eventual experience of running the installation, might be beneficial in supporting its maintenance. More...
	01/12/1993 Health Assessment of Royal Naval Diesel Engines Using Expert Systems The first year�s experience is reported of a three year trial of an Expert Decision Support system for handling oil data-acquired at sea - on the health of naval diesel engines. More...
	01/12/1993 Improving the Quality of Condition Based Maintenance-The Way Ahead It is argued that CBM is of greatest financial benefit when it is applied to problems of complex plant, and that the consequent high quality diagnosis and recommendation needs, in addition to the sensory data from the condition monitoring itself, a considerable body of information on operating specifications, maintenance history, regulations etc. More...
	01/09/1993 The Implementation and Development of a Computer Aided This paper describes the experiences of the Resources Recovery Board, a department of the States of Jersey administration, during the selection, implementation and development of a computer assisted maintenance system. The detailed functionality of the system is not discussed but pitfalls and areas requiring careful consideration are highlighted. More...
	01/09/1993 SEDIMAHE: An Expert System to Help the Maintenance of Machine Tools The current state of development is described of an Expert System for the detection and diagnosis of abnormal conditions and incipient failures in machine tools. More...
	01/09/1993 Applying a Maintenance Management System Offshore This paper describes the selection, and development for offshore use by BP Exploration, of an �off the shelf� MMS package. The reasons for this choice are reviewed and the current state of its application briefly outlined. More...
	01/09/1993 Computers as a Basis for Maintenance Information Drawing upon his long experience, both as a manager of computerised maintenance management information systems (MMIS�s) and as an independent IT consultant, the author spells out the basic requirements for such systems and the practical benefits that can be derived from their application. More...
	01/06/1993 Optimum Maintenance and RCM The principles of Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) are reviewed and the various problems in its practical application discussed in some detail. More...
	01/06/1993 Pen-&-Paper vs Pen-Based Computer-A Comparison of Methods used for Asset Data Collection Data collection and updating data to maintain its accuracy and reliability is an important and potentially costly business. More...
	01/06/1993 Searching for the Optimum Plant Maintenance Through Application of Maint Concepts A very full discussion is presented of the problems and challenges involved in working towards an optimal plant maintenance strategy. More...
	01/06/1993 Total Plant Performance Management Total Plant Performance Management (TPPM), a holistic approach to this task, addresses the design, purchase, installation, operation and maintenance phases of the plant life cycle. TPPM methodology is outlined and some of its achieved benefits reported, illustrated examples being mainly drawn from experience in the US steel industry. More...
	01/03/1993 Maintenance Cost Estimation in Mechanical Design and Modification Maintenance cost is usually a significant proportion of the life cycle cost of mechanical items, such as machines, or vehicles. Choosing the right construction at the design and procurement stage is therefore of utmost importance and should not only allow for purchase cost, but also for future maintenance cost. More...
	01/03/1993 Vibration Monitoring of Low Speed Hydrogenerators: Some Technical Aspects The use of expert systems in vibration monitoring of rotating machinery, for incipient failure detection and diagnosis, is a procedure adopted in various branches of industry. More...
	01/03/1993 How Planned �Protective Maintenance� Improves Plant Productivity Planned �Protective Maintenance� - The repair of wear surfaces by means of specialised welding and other metal deposition techniques - is shown to be highly cost effective, reducing overall maintenance costs and greatly prolonging plant life. More...
	01/03/1993 National Maintenance Strategies: Way Out for Developing Countries It is claimed that the under-performance of many industries in the developing countries is very largely attributable to inefficient maintenance of plant and equipment. More...
	01/12/1992 Reliability Audits of Existing Plant Reliability assessments of already operating plant are generally referred to as reliability audits. A feature of such audits is that analysis of the plant�s maintenance experience can provide plant-specific input to the assessment. More...
	01/12/1992 Optimising Preventive Maintenance Using RCM The step-by-step process of introducing an RCM regime - one which consists of the least, but most effective, maintenance that needs to be done in order to achieve design levels of reliability - is described. More...
	01/12/1992 The Maintenance Organisation Fingerprint A worldwide comparison of power station maintenance has been undertaken by the author, who, in the June issue of �MAINTENANCE�, reviewed the resulting survey of the literature on this topic. More...
	01/12/1992 Getting Started in RCM The implementation, and preliminary results, of an introductory series of pilot studies of the application of RCM to power station plant are reviewed. More...
	01/09/1992 How to Choose between the Wide Range of Computer Packages for Maintenance Management The problems of choosing a suitable off-the-peg computerised maintenance management system are fully discussed. A systematic selection procedure, used quantitatively weighted criteria, is then carefully explained and comprehensively illustrated. More...
	01/09/1992 A Maintenance Information Resource This article examines the basis for the implementation of maintenance information systems, considering why they are required, how they are selected, and the general results that they achieve. More...
	01/09/1992 The Uses and Limitations of Total Productive Maintenance In this paper he presents what he has perceived to be its essential characteristics (as deduced from his observations in both its country of origin, Japan, and in Japanese owned companies elsewhere, such as Nissan UK and also reviews experience of applying the methodology in various European Manufacturing Companies. More...
	01/09/1992 Human Aspects of Maintenance A previous paper (by the present authors in the June issue) described how plant and machinery maintenance could be made easier, safer and more reliable through better machine maintainability features. In particular, the Bretby Maintainability Index was described as a method which has been successfully used by designers and buyers/users alike to assess the maintainability of a full machine and to identify where improvements are likely to be the most cost-effective. This paper builds upon this work and describes how human error can further reduce the quality, reliability and safety of maintenance operations. More...
	01/06/1992 The Bretby Maintainability Index The paper opens by addressing the general problems of equipment maintainability in terms of the high cost to industry in both financial and health and safety terms. The paper then outlines the limitations of the information currently available to the designer and purchaser and develops the need for a comprehensive method of assessment and evaluation. More...
	01/06/1992 The Reduction of Plant Maintenance Costs Through Design The objective of this paper is to describe specific ways by which professional design engineers may reduce process plant maintenance costs. More...
	01/06/1992 Power Station Maintenance - A Survey of the Literature A worldwide comparative study of power station maintenance techniques has been carried out. More...
	01/06/1992 European Federation of National Maintenance Soc, Maintenance & Availability in Norwegian Industry This paper briefly summarises the results of an investigation into maintenance and availability in Norwegian industry. The project was initiated by the Norwegian Society of Maintenance Engineers (NFV), and was carried out by NTH/SINTEF between May and December 1991. More...
	01/06/1992 Maintenance Management - Building the Bridge to Excellence This paper uses the experience of nearly 700 AMIS audits, conducted over the past three years, to identify how a well structured self-appraisal can make a major contribution to achievement of genuine short and long term improvements in maintenance management. More...
	01/03/1992 Bridging the Production-Maintenance Gap In many UK companies production and maintenance have traditionally worked against, rather than with, each other. More...
	01/03/1992 Maintenance Excellence - A Comparative Survey of Leading European Plants The results of a survey, comparing maintenance performance in a number of leading European plants (especially in the process section) are reviewed. More...
	01/03/1992 Maintenance Aspects of a Production Employee Programme This case study illustrates how, in a carefully phased programme involving a substantial scheme of on-site and off-site training, many of the responsibilities and tasks which were formerly the preserve of the specialised engineering and maintenance functions can be successfully cascaded down to the manufacturing function. More...
	01/03/1992 Condition Monitoring - A New Approach Although there are many types of commercial bearing condition monitoring equipment none has been successful over the wide range of applications met within practice. A new technique for the detection of bearing defects, a High Frequency Acoustic Emission (HF-AE) method, has therefore been developed at the SKF Engineering and Research Centre (ERC). More...
	01/12/1991 Terotechnology The development, from its inception, of the management philosophy of terotechnology is described. Although the term �terotechnology� is seldom used and little understood today, the associated practice remains highly relevant to today�s organisations and projects. More...
	01/12/1991 Computerised Maintenance Management Systems - The End of the Line Although there are some sixty computerised maintenance packages to choose from, few are true maintenance management information systems (MMIA). More...
	01/12/1991 In Search of Maintenance Organisation Excellence Current UK trends, in design and development of strategies for organising industrial maintenance, have been studied. Information gathering was aided by applying the author�s maintenance management audit methodology. More...
	01/12/1991 The Manchester Maintenance Management Examination, 1991 Once again we offer for your seasonal entertainment and enlightenment the latest end-of-course examination taken by those candidates for Manchester degree in Engineering Manufacture and Management (most of them, in fact) who opted to take its Maintenance management module More...
	01/09/1991 Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) at Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd TPM is explained via a case study, which also shows how TPM has been modified by a UK based Japanese company for use in the UK environment. More...
	01/09/1991 The Total Cost of Maintenance Maintenance is viewed from the financial angle and the paper focuses on the value of identifying its �Total Cost� which is seen as the sum of the direct costs of carrying it out and the indirect or hidden costs, of downtime, scrap, poor running etc and also of intangibles such as inability to implement advances, and hence more profitable, manufacturing techniques. More...
	01/09/1991 Priority Based Budgeting Priority Based Budgeting is a technique applicable to all business activities. More...
	01/09/1991 Just-In-Time The JIT concept, its principal aims and the benefits that it can confer, are explained. It is then illustrated via a description of its implementation in a small manufacturing company. More...
	01/06/1991 New Thinking and Methods in Maintenance Management New tolls and techniques to assist maintenance managers are constantly emerging. More...
	01/03/1991 RCM Closing the Loop Between Reliability & Operational Reliability Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) is a method for maintenance planning developed within the aircraft industry and later adapted to several other industries and military branches. More...
	01/03/1991 A Maintenance Management Tool This paper presents a structured Maintenance Management Tool (MMT). There is a great need for such tools although very few integrated efforts were made in the past. More...
	01/03/1991 On the Ship Crew Maintenance Organisation This paper analyses the organisational aspects of a ship�s crew. In particular, crew size and task structure are analysed in the perspective of ship maintenance. The goal of this exercise was to diminish ship operational costs. This analysis domain has been constrained to merchant vessels, but it can be extended if needed to other units. More...
	01/03/1991 Maintenance Management in Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia has amassed a large capital-intensive infrastructure. Operation of this infrastructure is a continuing financial and economic commitment. More...
	01/03/1991 Which �Cure� will make me better? Technical and managerial strategy for maintenance are reviewed in outline. More...
	01/03/1991 Automatic Malfunction Diagnosis by On-Line Expert System for... In many underground workings, either for mineral production or for creating lines of communication, mobile machines have to operate under conditions that are very difficult for personnel and equipment. More...
	01/03/1991 OREDA as a Tool for Maintenance Optimisation The OREDA project, founded in 1981, has become one of the main sources of reliability data for Oil and Gas exploration and production activities. In its first phase, OREDA produced the Handbook of Offshore Reliability Data. More...
	01/12/1990 Analysis of Surface Fatigues in Rolling Bearings by Analytical Ferrography This work is concerned with the prediction of surface fatigue failures in rolling bearings by analytical ferrography. More...
	01/12/1990 A Maintenance Management Examination More...
	01/12/1990 Industrial Maintenance in Developing Countries Operating industrial plant in the conditions prevailing in most developing countries, is a technical challenge. More...
	01/12/1990 Effective Use of the Computer in Managing Maintenance Through operating AMIS, the national maintenance management audit service, MCP has been able to obtain a broad feel for the general state of maintenance management in the UK. More...
	01/09/1990 Maintenance Improvement Programmes (Part 3 of a three part series) In this, the last of a series of three articles, the author outlines the Terms of Reference for a Maintenance Improvement Programme based on an initial short, sharp audit identifying basis strengths and weaknesses. More...
	01/09/1990 Controlling the Maintenance Effort Over the last twenty years numerous authors have proposed indices for measuring the effectiveness of industrial maintenance departments. More...
	01/09/1990 Reliability Centred Maintenance - A Tool for Higher Profitability The operating costs over the life time of a plant or equipment can be significantly influenced by the effectiveness of the preventive maintenance that is performed. More...
	01/09/1990 Expert Systems for Diagnosis and Maintenance Problem diagnosis and maintenance prescription for new generations of mechanical systems is a very complex engineering task. More...
	01/09/1990 The Challenge of Change for Building Maintenance Organisations in the Public Sector in UK Public sector building maintenance organisation, in the UK, are having to adjust to such major reforms as Local Management of Schools, the Community Charge and new Capital Expenditure Controls. More...
	01/09/1990 Developing & implementing a Maintenance Strategy for Heavy Industrial Process A case study is presented of the application at a heavy industrial plant, viz a Continuous Slab Caster, of Kelly�s �Top Down, Bottom UP� approach to strategy development. More...
	01/06/1990 Expert Systems for Service in ABB After describing expert systems, and knowledge - based systems, developed by the author�s own company for specific trouble-shooting applications, a generally applicable logic for structuring expert systems to aid fault finding in technical plants or processes is advanced. More...
	01/06/1990 Management of Major Turnarounds Management of a major turnarounds is a complex project which require a very systematic disciplined approach. This paper indicates the methodology adopted by ICI to ensure that key objectives regarding duration, cost, quality and safety are met. More...
	01/06/1990 Use of Health Indices for Condition Monitoring of Machine Tools An overview is presented of modern techniques being applied to condition monitoring and fault diagnosis of machine tools. More...
	01/03/1990 Automation Concepts in Maintenance Execution The development, over the last thirty years, of maintenance philosophy in general, and of maintenance automation systems in particular, is reviewed. More...
	01/03/1990 Maintenance Policy and Management (Part 2 of the three part series) After discussing the relationships between company policy, manufacturing strategy, production planning, equipment reliability characteristics and maintenance policy, the author (leader of the recent DTI survey of UK maintenance practice) examines the need for, and benefits of, maintenance management information systems, planned preventive maintenance, and condition monitoring. More...
	01/03/1990 Key Factors in Improving Maintenance Skills After outlining the origin of the traditional maintenance specialist the author explains that maintenance, although trade and profession related, is not actually a trade or profession in itself. More...
	01/03/1990 Maintenance & Profitability - (Part 1 of a three part series) The Manufacturing and Information Technology Division of the Department of Trade and Industry commissioned March Consulting Group to undertake a study of maintenance within manufacturing industry. More...
	01/03/1990 Changing the Culture - Before and After Prior to 1988 the author�s company operated �fire-fighting� maintenance. In that year, and as part of a drive to improve quality, productivity and motivation, the company commissioned an AMIS audit of the effectiveness of their maintenance function. More...
	01/12/1989 Enhanced Maintenance Management Through Increased Knowledge A case study is presented of the implementation of a computerised maintenance management system for a large, geographically dispersed, company based in the Middle East and which already operates on ICL Mainframe computer. More...
	01/12/1989 Engineers in Maintenance This paper discusses the introduction of sophisticated technology into industry and how this has affected the maintenance organisation, citing BHP Steel, Port Kembla, as an example. More...
	01/12/1989 Maintenance Engineering in Europe - The Scope for Collaborative Technology Transfer & Joint Venture The March Consulting Group, who are shortly to report on a DTI-sponsored study of UK maintenance practice, are engaged on an EEC sponsored study of the scope for collaborative R and D initiatives aimed at improving maintenance effectiveness throughout the EEC. More...
	01/12/1989 Project Control, System and Implementation An explanation is given of how the techniques of project control system selection and system implementation were used to achieve a successful, within budget, 'crashed timescale' implementation of an effective work planning and cost control system. More...
	01/09/1989 The Predictive and Preventive Maintenance of Electrical Machinery The frequencies, causes and characteristics of the most commonly occurring faults in electrical motors and power electronic components, and the various methods available for effective condition monitoring of electrical motors, are reviewed. More...
	01/09/1989 The Skills Crisis - How Continuing Education and Training Can Help Long term trends indicate a decline in recruitment to initial technical education and training programmes while, at the same time, the demand for technically skilled manpower is expected to grow. More...
	01/09/1989 The Skills Crisis - An Answer Technical advance, increased international competition and demographic trends are creating the potential for crippling skills shortages in the UK in the years immediately ahead. More...
	01/09/1989 Monitoring Materials in Electric Power Installations The increase in the unit power of hydro and thermal turbine installations in the electric power system of Yugoslavia has made it necessary to introduce a modern, economical, approach to equipment maintenance. More...
	01/09/1989 Human Factors in Maintenance: A Case Study The benefits resulting from a wide range of measures for improving maintenance resources, organisation, control and manpower utilisation had appeared to reach a plateau. More...
	01/06/1989 Towards Better Maintenance Management The right strategy for maintaining and replacing the assets used to generate profits is of vital importance to every manufacturing company�s future competitiveness in European and world markets. More...
	01/06/1989 The life Cycle Cost Process and its Application Financial decisions are often taken with incomplete data or inadequate analysis. Life Cycle Costing (LCC) provides an opportunity to make rational financial decisions based on the best available data. More...
	01/06/1989 Case Studies in Energy Efficiency Improvement Three case histories are given to illustrate the application of an important principle in practical energy efficiency improvement. More...
	01/06/1989 A Predictive Maintenance Success with an Air Turbo Compressor A case study is presented of the successful use of vibration spectrum analysis, firstly to anticipate the onset of a serious mechanical problem with the speed control and oil pump drive of a turbo compressor, and secondly to diagnose the source of the problem as being in either the gear teeth or supporting bearings of a gear shaft. More...
	01/06/1989 The Specification & Justification of a Computerised Maintenance Management System Detailed advice, based on the experience of the author�s company, is given regarding the specification, justification, selection and implementation of a computerised maintenance management system. More...
	01/06/1989 Introducing Philosophy of PC Network Based Maintenance to a Slab & Plate Steelworks A case study is presented of the successful development and implementation, at a large steelworks of a maintenance management system based on networked PCs. Flexibility and speed of development are stressed. A case study is presented of the successful development and implementation, at a large steelworks of a maintenance management system based on networked PCs. More...
	01/03/1989 Vibration-based Predictive Maintenance Systems for Rotating Machinery Introducing a vibration based predictive maintenance system for monitoring the condition of rotating machinery gives both production and maintenance personnel lead time to avoid unscheduled plant outage. More...
	01/03/1989 Condition Monitoring of Machine Tools Techniques suitable for various aspects of machine tool condition monitoring are discussed. More...
	01/03/1989 How to Win Budget Approval for your Maintenance Management System The demand for increased productivity is requiring the maintenance function to adopt ever more sophisticated management techniques. Effective implementation of one of these, computerisation, requires a level of business understanding hitherto absent from most maintenance departments. More...
	01/03/1989 Condition Monitoring in the FMMS Environment A number of existing milling and routing machines have been converted into a Flexible Milling Manufacturing facility aimed at unmanned, round-the-clock, operation of maximum reliability and availability. This full case study focuses on the design of an effective maintenance regime, based around anticipated failure modes and using a mix of preventive and condition-based maintenance. More...
	01/03/1989 Costing Maintenance The maintenance manager should be seen as being the asset manager, who can make major contribution to the achievement of company profit if he has access to relevant, appropriately structured, job-costing information. More...
	01/12/1988 Effective Maintenance Management: Hallmarks for Success Maintenance should be considered as a value added contribution to corporate profit, not as an operating overhead. The paper reviews the various ways in which this contribution may be achieved and the broad areas - organisation character, physical asset suitability and operation, maintenance strategy - in which improvement plans need to be developed. More...
	01/12/1988 The Design, Development and Installation of Paperless Planned Maintenance System - A Case Study A case study of the introduction of a computerised planned maintenance system is presented. More...
	01/12/1988 The Corrosion, Protection & Maintenance of Structural Steelwork The corrosion of steel structures is influenced by their environment (where time of wetness and level of atmospheric pollution are the critical factors), their design, their protective systems and their maintenance. A survey of this problem is followed by an outline of the effective approaches to maintaining such structures in different situations. More...
	01/09/1988 Maintenance Systems Auditing - An aid to effective maintenance management A procedure is outlined for auditing the management systems of an industrial maintenance department. Models are shown which can be used to analyse and map the key elements of such a department. More...
	01/09/1988 Building management - Computers, a help or a hindrance? This paper briefly explores the uses of computers in building management/maintenance, the historical developments, and the dilemmas facing 'facilities managers' and their advisors. More...
	01/09/1988 Multi-skilling - Optimising skills in the work place The two terms 'multiskilling' and 'flexible working' have become fashionable management jargon in recent years, but in many people's heads they are synonymous with cost reduction and potential conflict. More...
	01/09/1988 Vibration Monitoring of Bore Centreless Grinding Machines Monitoring vibration can help to diagnose faults which affect the work quality of bore centreless grinding machines. More...
	01/09/1988 Condition-based maintenance - The way ahead The widespread adoption of maintenance based on condition has been held back by administrative and technical problems associated with the Condition Monitoring. More...
	01/06/1988 Managing Successful Change The pace of technological change is accelerating and manpower management plays a key role in coping with this. More...
	01/03/1988 Engineering Cost Optimisation Justifying Engineering Expenditure in the Anbsence of Good Data The identification of maintenance policies (e.g. selecting periodicities for cleaning, repair or replacement) which are likely to minimise overall costs need not always wait upon the collection and analysis of plant performance history. More...
	01/03/1988 Computerised Maintenance Applied to the Power and Building Engineering Services Plant at BT This paper discusses the introduction of a computer-based maintenance package and its use in the maintenance management of power and building engineering services plant in British Telecom. More...
	01/03/1988 Coping with Technological Change? This paper reviews how engineering companies are meeting the changing skill requirements of maintenance staff caused by technological change. More...
	01/03/1988 Introducing Database Management Systems into Logistics Support Despite the increasing use of computers since the 1950's, costs and complexities of hardware and software have tended to limit their utilisation. Improvements in the last decade have transformed the situation for logistics support. More...
	01/03/1988 The Approaching Crisis In those industries falling within the scope of the EITB both the total numbers employed, and the proportion of craft employment, have fallen steadily. Factors influencing the wide divergence between companies, in the proportion of the workforce engaged in maintenance, are identified. More...
	01/03/1988 Engineering Maintenance Organisation Performance - an Assessment This paper reviews quantative evidence, drawn from the first six years of a ten-year programme of research into the costs and benefits of changes in the organisation and job content of engineering maintenance. More...
	01/03/1988 Multi-skilling - It's Development and Impact on Industry A trade union view is presented. It is explained why the introduction of microprocessor technology is forcing the drive towards multi-skilling, especially in maintenance. More...
	01/03/1988 Asset Care - Maintenance Plus Corporate Responsibility In an earlier paper ('Maintenance, June 1987) on the role of CAMM systems the author touched upon the current and potential role of maintenance management in the corporate structure, and the effect of computer technology on this role. This topic is now developed further, emphasis being placed on the impact on this role of the access to information provided by new computer hardware and software tools. More...
	01/12/1987 Energy and Maintenance Management in the Process Industries - Controlling and Improving Energy Usage Via plant modification and process change, informed by and accompanying and comprehensive energy, audit, a mineral extractive industry has achieved not only considerable savings in energy usage but also maintenance benefits (eg in reduced plant cool-down times). More...
	01/12/1987 Practical Aspects of Integrated Energy and Maintenance Management Systems - Refrigeration Systems Two cases studies involving refrigeration plant illustrate that it is only thought the understanding of the basic technical principles underlying the design of plant, combined with careful measurement of appropriate parameters of performance, that the most effective maintenance policies and procedures can be identified More...
	01/12/1987 Practical Lessons in Use of Energy Management Systems for Improving Overall Management of Bldg Srvcs The principal areas of building services cost reduction available with advanced control systems are reviewed and also the UK experience with such systems. More...
	01/12/1987 Energy and Maintenance Management in a Manufacturing Industry A case study is presented of the installation of a computerised energy management system for a large works manufacturing electrical power generation plant. More...
	01/09/1987 Unifying the application of expert systems and conventional software in maintenance manaement This paper summarises some personal impressions of applying Expert Systems techniques in aircraft maintenance engineering in the Royal Air Force. More...
	01/09/1987 Expert Systems for Building Services Expert Systems are briefly explained and the background to their development outlined. More...
	01/09/1987 Expert Monitoring Systems in Nuclear Power Stations This paper discusses the application of simple expert system techniques to monitoring and fault diagnosis on the Active Maintenance Facility (AMF) of Hunterston B Nuclear Power Station. More...
	01/09/1987 Case Study: Maintenance Expert Systems for a Casing Complex Expert Systems are briefly explained and the background to their development outlined. More...
	01/09/1987 Data as an asset It is explained that data should be viewed as an asset that has most, if not all, of the attributes we assign to physical assets such as items of plant, and that older paperwork systems for handling maintenance data 'imprisoned' this asset ie rendered it difficult to access for plant - wide managerial analysis. More...
	01/06/1987 The Implementation of, and Operational Experience with, a Large Maintenance Management System A commercially - supplied computer system in support of maintenance management has been successfully implemented in seven Shell Operating Companies. It is an option for several others. More...
	01/06/1987 Maintenance in Today's Car Body Manufacturing This paper gives a brief insight into what maintenance was like prior to the introduction of new technology, what was felt necessary to maintain the new facilities and equipment and what changes were required to improve maintenance in the light of three years experience of Sierra production More...
	01/06/1987 Expert Systems for Maintenance Engineering Expert Systems (ES) are a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) technique which promises enormous advantages to manufacturing industry. Many people interested in ES now have the same goal. How can expert systems be applied to 'real life' problems? More...
	01/06/1987 The Changing Role of Computer Based Maintenance The background to the formation of the CAMM users group is described and the group's initial objectives and findings reviewed. The author identifies the outstanding problem in this area as being that of accommodating the very divergent needs (as regards function, software and hardware) of the potential users of computer systems. More...
	01/06/1987 Factory Engineering Purchasing Control with your own Micro for less than �3500 A short case study is presented of the benefits that were achieved by replacing a manual purchase order control system by a simple micro- computer based operation. More...
	01/06/1987 CAD/Database Developments in Inspection, Repair and Maintenance (IRM) Some of the problems of transferring data from the design and engineering phases of offshore plant to its operating and maintenance phase are examined. More...
	01/06/1987 PMS 857 - A Computer Application for the Management of Maintenance in Generating Stations The Electricity Supply Board, Ireland, is at present commissioning a 900MW coal-fired station at Moneypoint on the Shannon estuary. The ESB has developed its own computerised Maintenance management system, PMS 857, to assist in optimising the safety, reliability and efficiency of the new station. More...
	01/03/1987 Building Component Durability and Maintenance The information needed for meaningful prediction of the durability of building materials and components is outlined and the difficulties of achieving such a prediction explained. More...
	01/03/1987 New materials and new technologies - their effect on building design and maintenance Attention is drawn to the lack, in the UK, of a systematically collected and carefully appraised database on the long-term behaviour of new materials and building techniques More...
	01/03/1987 Project Management of Repair and Refurbishment Work This paper discusses the additional skills and facilities required for a modern project management approach to repair and refurbishment work. The practical advantages of such an approach are also reviewed. More...
	01/03/1987 Renewal of a Heating System at British Aerospace Bristol The renewal of the heating system for an aircraft assembly shop of very large volume is described. More...
	01/03/1987 Building and Estates Maintenance Objectives The reasoning leading to the decision to reorganise the maintenance function for the very large building stock owned by Surrey County Council is explained. More...
	01/03/1987 Tendering for Maintenance - the Consultant's Role The role of the consulting engineer in providing information and advice on the operation and maintenance of buildings is highlighted More...
	01/12/1986 On-Condition Information Management System The last twenty years have seen an explosion in machinery monitory techniques. New sensors and new data logging and analysis systems mean that almost any physical attribute of a machine can be instrumented and monitored. More...
	01/12/1986 How to use Maintenance Information to Cut Costs Collecting information on maintenance does not in itself improve performance or reduce downtime. This paper explains how to choose the appropriate information and to use it to identify problems and initiate improvement More...
	01/12/1986 Optimising Operating Conditions of Rolling Element Bearings using SPM This paper describes how the use of the SPM method can be taken one step further than merely the avoidance of unexpected failure or premature replacement. More...
	01/12/1986 Acoustic Emission as A Simple Sensor Acoustic Emission (AE) the generation of transient stress waves by material in distress, is explained and the technology of its monitoring (in order to provide the basis of a simple sensor with diverse applications) is proposed and discussed in considerable practical detail. More...
	01/12/1986 Condition Monitoring Methods and Economics The economics of the decision as to whether or not to introduce condition monitoring are reviewed and a strategy is outlined for selecting the equipment which is to be monitored and the techniques which will be the most appropriate. More...
	01/12/1986 Advanced Maintenance on Ships This paper describes the development of a maintenance and management system using condition and performance monitoring as the main influence in determining when maintenance should be done. A summary of fifteen years operating experience of this system is given. More...
	01/09/1986 Controlling Maintenance Costs The objectives, principles and problems of maintenance budgeting are reviewed. More...
	01/09/1986 Using Indices to Monitor Maintenance Performance The 'state of the art' of Performance Indicators is reviewed, and their application in both profit-making and non-profit making organisations discussed. Their use in maintenance management is described by a full practical example. More...
	01/09/1986 Establishing a Maintenance Plan, Organisation Schedule and Control System A case study is presented of the introduction of a rationalised system of maintenance management for a clay mining company operating at a number of geographically distributed sites. More...
	01/09/1986 What Should Maintenance Cost Maintenance problems are reviewed and principles established for deriving a practical strategy for bringing maintenance costs (direct and in-direct) under control. A successful implementation of strategy is described. More...
	01/09/1986 Comparing Management Performance 'Management Ratios� are defined and their use as a measure of business success, and as indices for management control, explained. More...
	01/06/1986 The Application of Computer Systems in Manufacturing Maintenance and Process Information and Control Specific computer systems applications, principally in the areas of plant-breakdown repairs and production-operation in manufacturing plants within the Mars Group, are described and points of interest highlighted. The benefits derived, and the problems of system development, are stressed More...
	01/06/1986 Computer Aided Information Retrieval and Plant Maintenance A case-study illustrates how the diagnosis of, and prescription of correction action for, recurrent faults in a complex-engineering plant may be facilitated by the adoption of a CAR (Computer-Aide Retrieval from micro-film) system for storing and accessing failure information. More...
	01/06/1986 Expert Systems in Plant Engineering The next decade is likely to see significant changes in the methods of use of computers in all field of industry. Some of the new techniques will involve artificial intelligence and one such form is currently described under the heading of �Expert computing systems� and describes how they can benefit fault-finding in complex plant engineering situations. More...
	01/06/1986 A Developing System for Maintenance Management The development, introduction, utilisation and benefits of a mini-computer based maintenance management system, at a large paper mill in the North of England, are described. More...
	01/06/1986 On-Line Maintenance Management Maintenance Planning and Scheduling with a Relational Database A case study of the computerisation of the planning and control of offshore plant shutdowns shows the considerable benefits derived from a very flexible methodology. More...
	01/03/1986 Developments in Computer Applications for Maintenance Management The increasing importance of engineering maintenance and the resultant major requirements of the maintenance control function in general, and of computerised systems in particular, are highlighted. More...
	01/03/1986 Maintenance Management through Effective Information Systems The practice of maintenance is evolving from black art to precise science. To achieve this latter status reliable, concise and easily accessible data is essential. More...
	01/03/1986 Computer Applications for Condition Based Maintenance For certain items of plant, condition based maintenance (CBM) is now widely accepted as a more appropriate strategy than fixed time maintenance. Computers are now involved in all aspects of CBM More...
	01/03/1986 Systems in Maintenance Expert systems are defined and explained. More...
	01/03/1986 The Computer aided Maintenance Management (CAMM) Group The CAMM Group, first formed in 1977, has regularly surveyed the needs of maintenance managers with regard to the computerisation of maintenance operations. More...
	01/03/1986 Development and future of Computer-based Systems for Maintenance Control Computers were introduced in the process industries only a couple of decades ago. More...

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Conference Communication, Monks Hill, Tilford, Farnham, Surrey GU10 2AJ, England. + 44 (0) 1252 783111
All Conference Communication�s activities are focussed to encourage the pursuit of excellence in Asset Management, Engineering, Maintenance & Manufacturing by publishing the bi-monthly Maintenance & Engineering Magazine and Maintenance & Asset Management Journal, monthly maintenanceonline ezine, organising conferences, seminars and exhibitions and publishing technical books and papers.