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Survey respondents confident in their own job prospects, but wonder if their companies can draw (and keep) fresh talent

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TABLE OF CONTENTS FEBRUARY 2017 / VOL. 37, NO. 2

SPECIALISTS 32 / ASSET MANAGEMENT

Mobility Adds Momentum Portable asset management information puts knowledge where it’s needed 37 / CONDITION MONITORING

Listen to Your Bearings Here’s how to use ultrasound to perfect bearing lubrication and extend machine life 40 / ALIGNMENT

A.C.T. Up: Troubleshoot Parallel-Shaft Drive Systems Your parallel-shaft drive systems will thank you for the extra attention and TLC 43 / COMPRESSED AIR

FEATURES 24 / COVER STORY

Help Wanted Respondents to our 2017 workforce survey are conﬁdent in their own job prospects but wonder whether their companies can land fresh talent 31 / WORKFORCE

Appraising Today’s Apprenticeships Your future success will depend on how well you’re training the next generation

5 Tips for Tackling Compressed Air Optimization Set yourself up for success with a compressed air optimization project 50 / BIG PICTURE INTERVIEW

David Heubel, Manufacturing Engineering Supervisor, Endress + Hauser

“The most important thing in bringing on a new product line or with any project for us is getting involved as early as possible. We don’t want one person driving, and I want maintenance involved early.”

07 / FROM THE EDITOR

A Tale of Two Teams At your plant, do you #TrustTheProcess? 09 / HUMAN CAPITAL

Stop One-and-Done Training Want to ensure your leadership training actually works? Don’t take the generic route 11 / TECHNOLOGY TOOLBOX

Condition Monitoring On The Go New portable solutions let you monitor machines from anywhere – even your couch

15 / ASSET MANAGER

Revisiting Reliability and Your CMMS How to use all of the tools your system offers to lift reliability and justify investments 19 / PALMER’S PLANNING CORNER

The Pillars of Maintenance Planning Apply these 12 planning and scheduling principles and watch your productivity climb

DEPARTMENTS 21 / AUTOMATION ZONE

Make Your Move Toward Smart MRO Harness asset intelligence to optimize spare-parts management, reduce reliability risk 22 / TACTICS & PRACTICES

Electrical Maintenance for the Win Your electrical infrastructure is too important not to be a maintenance priority 47 / PRODUCT ROUNDUP

Lubrication Increase equipment reliability, from visual inspection to contamination control 48 / CLASSIFIEDS / AD INDEX

PLANT SERVICES (ISSN 0199-8013) is published monthly by Putman Media, Inc., 1501 E. Woodfield Road, Suite 400N, Schaumburg, IL 60173. Phone (630) 467-1300, Fax (630) 467-0197. Periodicals Postage Paid at Schaumburg, IL and additional mailing Offices. Canada Post International Publications Mail Product Sales Agreement No. 40028661. Canadian Mail Distributor Information: Frontier/BWI,PO Box 1051, Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada, L2A 5N8. Printed in U.S.A. POSTMASTER: Postmaster: Please send change of address to Putman Media, PO Box 1888, Cedar Rapids IA 52406-1888; 1-800-553-8878 ext 5020. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Qualified reader subscriptions are accepted from PLANT SERVICES managers, supervisors and engineers in manufacturing plants in the U.S. and Canada. To apply for qualified-reader subscriptions, please go to www.plantservices.com. To non-qualified subscribers in the U.S., subscriptions are $96 per year. Single copies are $15. Subscription to Canada and other international are accepted at $200 (Airmail only) © 2017 by Putman Media, Inc. All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part without consent of the copyright owner. In an effort to more closely align with our business partners in a manner that provides the most value to our readers, content published in PLANT SERVICES magazine appears on the public domain of PLANT SERVICES’ Website, and February also appear on Websites that apply to our growing marketplace. Putman Media, Inc. also publishes CHEMICAL PROCESSING, CONTROL, CONTROL DESIGN, FOOD PROCESSING, THE JOURNAL, PHARMACEUTICAL MANUFACTURING and SMART INDUSTRY. PLANT SERVICES assumes no responsibility for validity of claims in items published.

WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM FEBRUARY 2017 5

Motor analysis without the downtime APPLICATION NOTE

Why you should add motor analysis to your maintenance routine Four keys to understanding motor efficiency, and causes for failures

Electric motors transfer electrical power to mechanical rotational forces that are the muscle of the industrial world. Measuring and analyzing those forces—mechanical power, torque and speed—as well as power quality characteristics are important to assessing performance of rotating equipment. These measurements can not only help predict failure and thus help avert downtime, they can also help quickly determine whether additional inspections, such as vibration testing, shaft alignment analysis or insulation testing, are needed to corroborate the findings. Traditionally, obtaining accurate motor analysis data required costly equipment shutdowns to allow for the installation of mechanical sensors. Not only can it be extremely difficult (and sometimes impossible) to properly install mechanical sensors, the sensors themselves are often cost prohibitive and introduce variables that decrease overall system efficiency. Modern motor analysis tools make it easier than ever to troubleshoot direct on-line electric motors by significantly simplifying the process and reducing the number of components and tools necessary to make critical maintenance decisions. For instance, the new Fluke 438-II Power Quality and Motor Analyzer enables technicians to discover electrical and mechanical performance of electric motors, and evaluate power quality by measuring the three-phase input to the motor, without mechanical sensors.

Troubleshoot direct-on-line motors while in service, without mechanical sensors—so you don’t sacriﬁce uptime. New technology is available that can obtain accurate motor analysis information—mechanical power, torque and speed—that can help predict failures and help avert unplanned downtime. Download the free app note, “Why you should add motor analysis to your maintenance routine,” to learn the 4 keys to understanding motor efﬁciency and causes for failure.

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FROM THE EDITOR

IN MEMORY OF JULIE CAPPELLETTI-LANGE, Vice President 1984-2012 PUTMAN MEDIA, INC. 1501 E. Woodfield Road, Suite 400N, Schaumburg, IL 60173 (630) 467-1300 Fax: (630) 467-1120 MIKE BRENNER Group Publisher mbrenner@putman.net

EDITORIAL STAFF THOMAS WILK Editor in Chief twilk@putman.net

CHRISTINE LaFAVE GRACE Managing Editor clafavegrace@putman.net

ALEXIS GAJEWSKI Associate Editor, Digital Media agajewski@putman.net

STEPHEN C. HERNER V.P., Creative & Production sherner@putman.net

DEREK CHAMBERLAIN Senior Art Director dchamberlain@putman.net

DAVID BERGER, P.ENG. Contributing Editor

PETER GARFORTH Contributing Editor

SHEILA KENNEDY, CMRP Contributing Editor

TOM MORIARTY, P.E., CMRP Contributing Editor

DOC PALMER, P.E., MBA, CMRP Contributing Editor

PUBLICATION SERVICES CARMELA KAPPEL Assistant to the Publisher ckappel@putman.net

JERRY CLARK V.P., Circulation jclark@putman.net

JACK JONES Circulation Director jjones@putman.net

RITA FITZGERALD Production Manager rfitzgerald@putman.net

RHONDA BROWN Reprint Marketing Manager Foster Reprints (866) 879-9144 ext.194 rhondab@fosterprinting.com

EXECUTIVE STAFF JOHN M. CAPPELLETTI President/CEO

THOMAS WILK, EDITOR IN CHIEF

A TALE OF TWO TEAMS Do you and your coworkers #TrustTheProcess at your plant? In January, while the Plant Services editors were reviewing the results from our 2017 workforce survey, two interesting developments took place in the NBA: • The Philadelphia 76ers won more than half their games in January, and the city rejoiced while celebrating every win • The Chicago Bulls won more than half their games in January, and the city watched in mounting dismay as their team imploded from within. If you’re not a sports fan and just want to see the results of the new workforce survey, then go straight to page 24, where our cover story awaits. Some of the key findings that emerged this year include a high level of alarm among front-line workers over lack of executive direction, communication, and follow-through and the strong sense of concern among respondents across all areas of the plant that their company’s recruitment programs may not be getting the job done. So, what do the Bulls and 76ers have to do with this survey? In a word, trust. One team has it, and one team doesn’t, and it doesn’t take a crystal ball or an ultrasound gun to predict which one of these teams is on the verge of failure. “Trust” specifically is embedded in #TrustTheProcess, a hashtag that has become the unofficial slogan of the 76ers. It’s a slogan that has been hard-earned over the past three years, as the support of players, fans, and executives was tested by a strategy put in place in 2013 to rejuvenate a team that hadn’t won a playoff series in 10 years and posted mediocre records hovering around the .500 mark. The strategy, drawn up by 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie, was simple on paper – a concrete plan based on quantitative analysis. Yet it was stressful in the day-to-day reality: Refill the talent pool by acquiring high draft picks, and

acquire high draft picks by losing even more games than the team already had been – losing so many, in fact, that the team appeared to be deliberately sabotaging morale and fan support, if not the value of the team itself. Fast-forward to January 2017, and the 76ers just posted one of the best months since beginning their experiment. Their star player, rookie Joel Embiid, was named Eastern Conference Rookie of the

ARE YOU ALREADY EYEING YOUR NEXT OPPORTUNITY ELSEWHERE? Month, and a hashtag once used by fans in irony or disgust is now used in pride. And the Bulls? Once January headline blared “Mistrust of the front office runs deep,” charting how players have separated into warring factions in the locker room, with none of them trusting the strategic direction that is being set by general manager Gar Forman and VP operations John Paxson. Indeed, many of the players believe that the front office is spying on them for the sake of winning PR battles and not games. This year’s workforce survey turned up something quite similar in that two types of plants exist in about equal shares: those that do and those that don’t invest in their human capital. Do you trust the process, or are you already eyeing your next opportunity elsewhere?

Thomas Wilk, Editor in Chief twilk@putman.net, (630) 467-1300 x412

KEITH LARSON VP, Content and Group Publisher

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STOP ONE-AND-DONE TRAINING Want to ensure your leadership training actually works? Don’t take the generic route. Here’s a familiar scenario: A plant manager knows

there’s a gap between what he/she anticipated in terms of leadership performance from managers and supervisors and actual leadership performance. The plant manager puts the human resources department on the task of finding a leadership training provider. Several trainers submit bids, and the one with glossy brochures and a low cost is selected. A dozen supervisors and junior managers attend the training. A couple of them report that it’s really good training, and they’re appreciative of the opportunity to attend. A couple of others grumble that it was a waste of time. The rest feel like it was good information but are skeptical that they will be able to apply what they learned. The trainer gets paid. The attendees go back to work. Very little changes. This is a one-and-done approach: short-term activity with little lasting benefit. What has happened? First, the plant manager and human resources staff treated the gap in leadership as a single issue that could be solved with a single training event. In fact, the issue reflects a systemic problem. Most plants today don’t have effective leadership development and sustainment programs. They expect a high-performing hourly employee to somehow have all the right leadership attributes, skills, and tools to magically become a solid leader because his or her title changed. The 2015 Plant Services/Alidade MER Leadership Survey indicated that less than half of supervisors and managers get adequate leadership training. Many plants have no recurring program for refreshing skills or developing potential leaders. The second problem is the content typical of one-and-done leadership training. This training might be conducted at a local hotel conference room by trainers who were working with hospital staff or local bank supervisors the week before. It likely will cover time management, communication skills, group decision-making, yadda, yadda, yadda. Generic leadership training lacks comprehensive content presented in a way that resonates with plant operations and maintenance people. Productive leadership training must include background on why good leadership practices are important, the attributes of good leaders, and different leadership roles, as well as the typical skills listed above. There should be practical exercises offering tools that attendees can use to delegate tasks and help leaders comfortably and assertively correct behaviors when needed.

The third problem is that once the attendees complete the training workshop, they go back to work and get consumed by the demands of the day. They aren’t supported in their attempts to use what they just learned. Training participants’ managers assume that they learned time management and communication skills. They expect that attendees will apply those new skills automatically. That’s wrong. Senior and midlevel managers should participate in productive leader-

GENERIC LEADERSHIP TRAINING LACKS COMPREHENSIVE CONTENT PRESENTED IN A WAY THAT RESONATES WITH PLANT OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE PEOPLE. ship workshops to ensure that best practices are used. The fourth problem with one-and-done leadership training is that the value of the training isn’t measured. Many organizations do workplace climate surveys or culture surveys that may indicate gross movement in morale or satisfaction, but there is no accountability. A productive leadership program should discretely measure team effectiveness and motivation levels (as was done in the 2015 Plant Services/ Alidade MER Leadership Survey). “Discretely” means tying measures for hourly personnel to these workers’ supervisors, and measures for supervisors to managers. When this type of measurement system is in place, plant managers can get two critical pieces of information: first, whether leadership training has affected performance, and second, whether individual managers and supervisors have improved. Stop one-and-done leadership training. Initiate a leadership training program that includes relevant content, exercises, and tools. New leaders should be trained within six months of their assuming a leadership position. Leaders should receive refresher training every two years. This frequency isn’t overkill but is often enough that a support system emerges and best practices are emphasized. If you’d like a baseline Productive Leadership© Survey or more detail or discussion on Productive Leadership© program development/services, contact me. Tom Moriarty, P.E., CMRP, is president of Alidade MER. Contact him at tjmpe@alidade-mer.com and (321) 773-3356. WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM FEBRUARY 2017 9

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CONDITION MONITORING ON THE GO New portable solutions let you monitor machines from anywhere – even your couch Portable tools for condition data collection and monitoring provide an efficient and economical alternative to earlier approaches. Portability gives equipment-facing personnel in operations and maintenance an opportunity to capture and act on changing conditions as needed – at any time, from anywhere. ON-SITE CONDITION REPORTING

Portability is ideal for addressing unexpected or intermittent conditions as well as routine concerns on the plant floor. The FactoryTalk TeamONE smartphone app from Rockwell Automation focuses on increasing worker productivity by providing near-instantaneous incident and device data and allowing for collaboration among plant-floor, engineering and IT workers. Incidents are posted in the iOS or Android app and shared with others for analysis; the identified solution is then posted for execution. “We are able to drive a reduction in mean-time-to-repair through team collaboration, live device diagnostics, and interactive machine alarms,” says Kyle Reissner, mobility platform leader at Rockwell Automation. WALK-AROUND CONDITION MONITORING

Solutions designed for walk-around condition monitoring let analysts spend less time collecting data and more time analyzing it. GE’s Bently Nevada SCOUT200 Series is a rugged system that features a lightweight hip-mounted wireless vibration data collector (the intrinsically safe SCOUT220IS model or COMMTEST220 non-IS-rated model) that ROCKWELL AUTOMATION

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streams data via Bluetooth to a durable Android smartphone. The system has full connectivity with GE’s System 1 software for diagnostics. “Portables provide a solid foundation and are a valuable component in any condition monitoring program,” says Chris McMillen, GE distributed hardware product manager. The small, military-grade, IP67-rated Auguscope from Augury records vibration and ultrasonic sensor data for

PORTABILITY IS IDEAL FOR ADDRESSING UNEXPECTED OR INTERMITTENT CONDITIONS AS WELL AS ROUTINE CONCERNS ON THE PLANT FLOOR. mechanical diagnostics, leak detection, pump cavitation, and steam-trap issues. The technician attaches a magnetic sensor to the machine’s body and initiates recording from his or her smartphone. That data is sent to Augury’s servers for analysis. If you can use Facebook or Twitter, then you can use the Auguscope, suggests Saar Yoskovitz, CEO and co-founder of Augury. “The Auguscope app combines an extremely intuitive user interface with cloud-based algorithms to deliver real-time machine diagnostics and treatment recommendations to users’ smartphones,” he says. The TRIO line of vibration data collectors and analyzers from Azima DLI can be worn on a belt, carried, or slung over the shoulder by technicians or operators. TRIO features four simultaneous channels of vibration data and a dedicated tachometer, plus wireless Bluetooth acquisition and voice recognition technology that allows routine or complex troubleshooting data to be collected from a safe distance. Putting the data in the cloud gets more people involved in diagnosis and repair decisions. “Data is data; it is what you do with it that really matters,” explains Michael DeMaria, director of product management and training at Azima DLI. IMI Sensors manufactures a suite of accelerometers to optimize walk-around vibration monitoring routes. The sensors include 5000g+ shock protection to guard against damage from accidental overloads during sensor mounting and removal. Integral magnetic bases and/or cables minimize sensor installation time at each individual route stop. WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM FEBRUARY 2017 11

TECHNOLOGY TOOLBOX

Coiled cables and breakaway connectors enhance convenience and safety for the technician. “IMI Sensors provides tools that facilitate expeditious measurements

while ensuring the safety of the technician,” says Meredith Christman, product manager at IMI Sensors. The OM-DAQXL Series data logger from Omega Engineering is a handheld

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With Fluke Condition Monitoring, rugged wireless sensors for voltage, current, temperature, and power can be easily connected and left in place or disconnected and moved where needed. A gateway receives the sensor signals from up to 30 feet away and sends the measurements and alarms to cloud-based soft ware that is viewable from a computer or mobile device. “The Fluke Condition Monitoring system allows maintenance managers to see more of what is going on in their plant without needing more people,” says Weishung Liu, Fluke product planner. “They can even monitor from their couch.”

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REFERENCE WEBSITES: www.rockwellautomation.com www.gemeasurement.com www.augury.com www.azimadli.com www.imi-sensors.com www.omega.com www.ﬂuke.com

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REVISITING RELIABILITY AND YOUR CMMS How to use all of the tools your system offers to lift reliability and justify investments Reliability is one of the oldest concepts in asset management, but in recent years it has become a hot focus area for companies. To a large extent, this is because we have become so reliant on automated equipment, the internet, and information systems. Many CMMS vendors have been enhancing reliabilityrelated functionality, accelerating the trend. Below is a summary of basic CMMS features and functions that can help you reduce costs when you establish and use a reliability management program. Criticality analysis: Most CMMS packages are able to calculate or at least record the criticality of each piece of your equipment and its component parts as a coded field on the equipment master file. Preventive and predictive tasks can then be defined to avoid failure of assets flagged as having a higher criticality. In addition, the user can record corrective tasks required in the event of mechanical breakdown. In some cases, redundancy or “mirroring” can be a relatively inexpensive way to minimize asset downtime. Failure analysis: Coded fields on the CMMS simplify data collection and force consistent reporting of failures. Most CMMS packages also offer descriptive fields, allowing for input of more-detailed failure explanations. A “problem” code refers to how a breakdown is reported. It is usually tied to a given class of assets – for example, motors, pumps, or rooms. In a facilities operation, a tenant might report that a room is excessively hot or cold. A “cause” code is determined by the maintainer upon investigating the problem. The more-advanced CMMS packages tie a set of cause codes to a given problem code of a certain asset class, thereby creating a nested hierarchy of codes. In the example above, possible causes tied to asset = “room” and problem = “too cold” may be failed thermostat, blown circuit breaker, inoperative fan, and so on. The “action” code records what work was done to fix the problem. Again in the example above, nested and hierarchical action codes might be “repaired fan,” “reset circuit breaker,” or “replaced thermostat.” Finally, a “delay” code explains why operations have temporarily ceased – maybe there’s a wait for raw materials, or an operator break, or a product changeover. Identifying the most frequent and time-consuming reasons for the delay will provide valuable insight into the priority of problems that need to be addressed.

Pareto analysis: Failures can be prioritized in terms of impact on safety, operational output, cost, and other factors. Use statistical analysis of equipment history to determine the high-frequency, high-impact problems, their underlying causes, and most cost-effective actions. Pareto analysis is one such tool. A Pareto chart is nothing more than a frequency distribution of problem codes that can be plotted on a simple spreadsheet. More-sophisticated CMMS packages

ONE WAY TO FOCUS ON ASSET CARE IS TO SHOW THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EQUIPMENT RELIABILITY AND OPERATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY. can assist with this kind of analysis. Diagnostic analysis: The most advanced CMMS software is moving away from simply reporting on coded history. Far more useful is a knowledge-based or rules-based troubleshooting database for identifying the best course of action for a given problem. If, for example, a motor fails in a given piece of equipment, the diagnostic tool determines the statistical likelihood of each cause code and suggests corresponding actions to consider. Additionally, correlations can be made with equipment or part vendors to determine whether there is a higher failure rate originating from a given vendor. This allows you to take preventive or predictive steps to minimize costly downtime and/or approach the vendor to fix the problem. Asset performance analysis: One effective way to focus attention on asset care is to show the relationship between equipment reliability and operational productivity. This can be accomplished by tracking simple measures on the CMMS such as maintenance cost per unit of output or operations cost per minute of equipment downtime. More important than the actual value of each measure is the trend over time. Analysis of other measures: CMMS vendors have other useful measures of reliability. Two such measures that are rising in importance are mean time between failure (MTBF) and mean time to repair (MTTR). By tracking MTBF and MTTR for each critical asset, companies can determine whether they’re making reliability progress. Condition monitoring and analysis: This is an important feature of every CMMS. The simplest packages let WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM FEBRUARY 2017 15

ASSET MANAGER

users manually input data such as set points or equipment use meter readings for triggering PM routines. The more sophisticated CMMS is connected to automated data collec-

tion sources via the internet of things, through integration with third-party soft ware, or via a direct connection to the source. The soft ware then analyzes incoming data to ensure that

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it trends within user-defi ned control limits. When data strays outside the control limit, users are alerted and/or automatic action, such as issuance of a work order, is taken. PM cost analysis: Everyone agrees that a planned environment is far superior to a reactive environment with its constant firefighting. What isn’t always clear is the break-even between these two worlds. A technique sometimes referred to as Weibull analysis graphs the decreasing cost of planned maintenance compared with the increasing cost of unplanned maintenance as the PM interval increases. Where the two curves meet at a given PM interval, cost is optimized. Predictive maintenance analysis: A simple example of this is comparing the history of engine failures with the condition of the lubrication oil before the failure. It may then be possible to predict the need to replace the oil, the rings, and so on, given the trends in oil temperature, viscosity, and the amount and type of particulate in it. Lifecycle analysis: One of the key decisions in any reliability management program is when to repair or replace a given asset. Suppose in my earlier example that the problem “insufficient heat” had been caused by a failed thermostat in, say, 80% of the cases reported in equipment history. The average cost of repairing the unit may have been $225 for parts and labor. Further analysis reveals that to replace all of the thermostats would cost only $125/unit. Moreover, preventing failure would ensure that tenants are not left in the cold, especially during extended cold spells. Thus, repair/replace decisions can be justified based on statistical analysis of equipment history and cost data. Email Contributing Editor David Berger, P.Eng, executive partner and president of StraNexus Inc., at david.berger@ stranexus.com.

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THE PILLARS OF MAINTENANCE PLANNING Apply these 12 planning and scheduling principles and watch your productivity climb Back in September (“How to Make Maintenance

Planning and Scheduling Work for You”), I laid out major precepts of making planning and scheduling successful. In my column last month, “Plan-It Fitness: The Great Value of Maintenance Planning,” I more fully explained why there was an opportunity for crews to complete more proactive work through planning and scheduling and the value of that work. This month, I’m taking a closer look at the principles within those overall precepts. We’ll explore each in greater detail in coming months. To begin, there are six principles involved in planning as a Deming cycle of improvement: 1. First, management must protect planners from having too many other duties. Planners also should not be under the direction of crew supervisors. 2. Second, planners should be working on “future work” – work that has not yet been assigned to craftspersons. Craftspersons must accept that plans are not perfect, and they should continually provide feedback on individual work orders for areas of recommended improvement. 3. Third, planners must save plans and job feedback in component-level files. Large files holding all the work orders in an entire system don’t allow for quick retrieval. Associated concerns include equipment numbering and tagging, types of feedback, and even planner qualifications. 4. Fourth, planners must quickly estimate times for job plans. They cannot become bogged down in creating “perfect” time estimates such that it keeps them from planning enough of the work to run the improvement cycle. 5. Next, planners, too, must quickly plan job details. Planners should enter only as much detail for jobs as will allow them to be able to plan nearly all the work. 6. Finally, the concept of wrench time gives the opportunity to complete more work, but management doesn’t have to measure wrench time if it can maturely accept that nearly all workforces are at 35% wrench time without proper planning and scheduling, and near 50% or 55% with it. Nevertheless, any measurements of wrench time should be made with a statistical sampling technique. Similarly, there are six principles involved in starting crews with a full batch of work each week as a goal to defeat Parkinson’s Law (“work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”). First, jobs must have plans in the backlog to provide estimated labor hours and craft skills

required. Second, the plant must have a credible priority system. This system will let personnel know when breaking the schedule is appropriate. The priority system can’t be too simple or too complex. Third, crew supervisors must provide a forecast of labor capacity available for the next week. The week period is long enough to allow for smoothing of generally inaccurate time estimates and to permit grouping jobs for convenience. It’s

MAINTENANCE IS SO DYNAMIC ON A DAILY BASIS ... THAT DAILY SCHEDULING SHOULD BE LEFT TO THE CREW SUPERVISOR. also short enough to provide a reasonable goal for motivation and to protect the schedule against some interruptions. Fourth, the schedule must be fully loaded to account for 100% of the available crew capacity. (Other schools of thought, such as scheduling 120% or 80%, merit discussion.) The scheduler will deliver a batch of work mostly without specifying days on which tasks will be accomplished. Fifth, maintenance is so dynamic on a daily basis, with jobs taking longer or shorter than expected and team members dealing with interruptions, that daily scheduling should be left to the crew supervisor. Sixth, managers must measure the success of the schedule. Routine scores over 90% usually indicate that schedules aren’t being adequately loaded. Finally, consider two other issues in addressing reactive maintenance. First, because plants do not operate in a perfect world, management must freely allow breaking of the weekly schedule. Second, all plants have some urgent work that isn’t emergency in nature and doesn’t have to be started immediately. Recognizing that plans do not have to be perfect, planners can provide quick plans for this work. Properly considering these principles will let you use planning and scheduling to greatly accelerate maintenance productivity. Doc Palmer is the author of McGraw-Hill’s Maintenance Planning and Scheduling Handbook and helps companies worldwide with planning and scheduling success. Visit www.palmerplanning.com or email docpalmer@palmerplanning.com. WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM FEBRUARY 2017 19

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AUTOMATION ZONE

RYAN WILLIAMS, ROCKWELL AUTOMATION

MAKE YOUR MOVE TOWARD SMART MRO Harness asset intelligence to optimize spare-parts management, reduce reliability risk Most manufacturers and industrial operators still take a discrete approach to managing their assets and inventory. When new machinery or equipment is rolled out, their maintenance and storeroom teams develop a maintenance strategy and determine spare-parts needs, and then enter that information into their CMMS to be used across the machine or equipment’s life cycle. However, it’s becoming clear that this approach does not meet the needs of today’s operations. Many companies are making the move to smart manufacturing – they are upgrading their plants to be more productive in a highly competitive global environment. As a result, operations are faster, more high-tech, and more reliant on integrated machinery and equipment to increase throughput or produce a wider variety of products and packaging types. These upgrades have added significant complexity to maintenance and storeroom activities. At the same time, organizations are under increasing pressure to get the most out of their assets at the lowest possible cost. Internal costcutting measures have put spare-parts inventories in the crosshairs, and engineering positions have been repositioned from the plant floor to central engineering. On top of all of this, an evolving workforce is complicating matters. Companies’ most-experienced workers are retiring, and they risk taking their organizations’ critical “tribal knowledge” of equipment and processes with them. The cumulative effects are 1) less support on the plant floor for ongoing maintenance needs, 2) greater complexity in spare-parts management, and 3) an increased risk of losing vital expertise. Many manufacturers and industrial operators are struggling to stay ahead of maintenance issues, and are creating a reactive or run-to-failure mentality and unnecessary downtime. It’s time for manufacturers and industrial operators to evolve their MRO strategies from reactive or time-based programs to a proactive, modern, asset-management program. Using a connected, data-driven approach to do so can do more than improve maintenance repair and operations (MRO) – it can deliver bottom-line cost reductions through improved OEE and reduced downtime. A smart MRO approach can help organizations be more proactive in addressing risks before they become downtime events. For example, workers can use centralized asset intelligence to easily locate and identify the status of

troubled devices, keep track of device service cycles, and better manage device and system firmware. They also can use health-based alerts and notifications to identify devices that are experiencing problems and take action before they fail. From a storeroom perspective, asset intelligence can help optimize the management of critical spares. From an MRO perspective, asset intelligence from converged information technology (IT) and operations

USING A CONNECTED, DATA-DRIVEN APPROACH CAN DO MORE THAN IMPROVE MRO – IT CAN DELIVER BOTTOM-LINE COST REDUCTIONS. technology (OT) systems can help organizations streamline maintenance and storeroom activities, reduce reliability risks, and create proactive maintenance strategies – all in support of greater productivity. Implementing this “smart MRO” approach begins with a comprehensive understanding of a company’s installed asset base. Although this can be done through a manual audit of assets, a better alternative is a diagnostic reliability service that automates the data-collection process. This involves using a control-layer application that can scan and autodiscover all active networked devices. The application collects identity information for each asset, such as its location, series, catalog number, and firmware. It also collects health information, such as current, temperature, and voltage; this information is crucial to understanding asset integrity. Once collected, the asset intelligence data can be sent to a database where it is stored, analyzed, and modeled and then delivered to workers in the form of actionable information through reports, dashboards, alerts, and notifications. The data also are continuously scanned and updated to support ongoing asset tracking and monitoring. Automated device-identification and health-monitoring capabilities are at the heart of a smart MRO approach, and in 2017 and beyond, they will provide the foundation for creating data-driven maintenance and storeroom strategies. Ryan Williams is product manager of asset management and reliability services for Rockwell Automation (www.rockwellautomation.com). WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM FEBRUARY 2017 21

TACTICS&PRACTICES

ELECTRICAL MAINTENANCE FOR THE WIN Your electrical infrastructure is too important not to be a maintenance priority by Jeramy Freeman, Schneider Electric

Nothing operates without electricity, so the health of the electrical infrastructure that works behind the scenes should be a vital concern to your plant. Like any engineered system, electrical power distribution systems cannot be designed and constructed to operate 100% of the time indeﬁnitely. To help ensure electrical reliability, facility management should: 1) Make room in the op-ex budget for planned maintenance activities; and

A WELL-ADMINISTERED ELECTRICAL PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE PROGRAM REDUCES THE RISK OF ACCIDENTS AND HELPS AVOID COSTLY BREAKDOWNS. 2) Put a strategy in place to optimize the budget and reduce unplanned downtime. A properly planned and executed electrical maintenance strategy is a vital component in supporting electrical workplace safety, business continuity, and optimized total cost of ownership. Plant managers should schedule proactively and employ a variety of approaches to maintain electrical distribution equipment. Even though reactive maintenance activities typically cost three to four times more, planned maintenance activities often are deferred because of high productivity objectives and tight maintenance budgets. NFPA 70B-2016 Annex Q-2 provides an example of costly reactive maintenance: An industrial plant experienced damage totaling $100,000 (USD), not counting the cost of downtime. It was discovered that dirt, gummy deposits and iron filings in the main switchgear caused the failure. The cost of this event would have supported a comprehensive electrical preventive maintenance program covering all of the plant’s electrical distribution system for several years. The best way to avoid such a major financial loss is to reduce the risk of an unplanned outage. This requires time, effort, planning, and money. A comprehensive maintenance strategy should incorporate all electrical power distribution equipment, regardless of the manufacturer, to ensure that electrical equipment and components operate safely and reliably as they were originally designed and intended. It is important to keep in mind that any individual main22

FEBRUARY 2017 WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM

tenance on separate pieces of equipment or components does not ensure a completely coordinated and reliable power system. In a basic, everyday example, you probably have your vehicle’s tires rotated and balanced on a routine basis and purchase new tires when it’s time to do so. Does that ensure that your vehicle is reliable? A holistic view is required. Preventive maintenance is the traditional time-based maintenance strategy, typically built around a manufacturer’s recommended guidelines. For electrical distribution equipment, the industry-accepted OEM frequency is once every three years. For equipment in extreme operating environments, the maintenance schedule is likely more frequent. Fast-forward to today’s increasingly complex, automated, and connected systems. Developing the proper maintenance strategy can be a quite an undertaking, given the different types and manufacturers of equipment within a facility. When budgets are tight and processes are critical, a reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) strategy may be a viable consideration. RCM focuses on the operation of the power system as a whole by identifying the functions and failure modes of the most critical assets. Maintenance tasks are then determined and prioritized to minimize the possibility of failures. RCM lets facility management make quantifiable decisions on maintenance costs while increasing power system reliability. RCM integrates preventive maintenance, predictive testing and inspection, run-to-fail, and proactive maintenance techniques. Companies looking to implement RCM should refer to the SAE standard JA1011, Evaluation Criteria for Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) Processes. Whether the selected maintenance strategy is preventive, predictive, condition-based, or reliability-centered, proper planning and adequate resources are crucial. Most planned maintenance activities are conducted during a scheduled shutdown to minimize the impact on business operations. Following are key preparedness steps to take to help ensure a smooth, productive shutdown. Ensure that electric maintenance personnel are qualified, as defined by OSHA/NFPA 70E. Facility personnel are rarely knowledgeable or effectively trained in the speciﬁc electrical equipment or power distribution systems that make up the electrical infrastructure of their respective facilities. Therefore, routine electrical equipment maintenance often is outsourced to outside maintenance contrac-

tors or local electrical contractors. Service personnel should be experienced in the specific electrical equipment or power system to be maintained. Have updated one-line diagrams available. This type of diagram provides clear and precise information concerning the exact interconnections of all pieces of electrical equipment that make up the entire power distribution system Obtain OEM operations and maintenance manuals. If this documentation has been discarded, misplaced, or lost, contact the manufacturer (or manufacturer’s rep) and request replacement copies. An internet search for these documents may yield positive results, as well. Verify that equipment to be maintained is properly rated, set, and labeled. Before any maintenance program is initiated, it’s strongly recommended that a licensed professional electrical engineer perform a short-circuit analysis, a time/current coordination study, and an arc ﬂash analysis of the power distribution system. The electrical engineer can also identify safety concerns and power system issues that need to be addressed before maintenance is performed. Arrange for power during shutdown. Temporary electrical

PS1701_22_23_Tactics.indd 23

power during a planned maintenance shutdown might take the form of the use of the on-site optional standby generators. Communicate expectations with the service provider. Facility management needs to be clear as to which equipment is to be cleaned, inspected, maintained, serviced, and tested, and in what order. With very few exceptions, electrical equipment should not be serviced while it is energized. Doing so exposes personnel to the risk of shock, burns, or death. Section 4.2.1 of NFPA 70B-2016 best sums up the case for having a maintenance strategy in place: “A well-administered electrical preventive maintenance (EPM) program reduces accidents, saves lives, and minimizes costly breakdowns and unplanned shutdowns of production equipment.” Impending troubles can be identified – and solutions applied – before they become major problems requiring more-expensive, time-consuming solutions. Jeramy Freeman has more than 10 years of professional experience in sales and marketing strategy with Schneider Electric. He has a B.S. in engineering and an MBA from North Carolina State.

2/16/17 12:55 PM

HELP WANTED! By Thomas Wilk, Editor in Chief

Industry respondents conﬁdent in their own job prospects but wonder if their companies can draw (and keep) fresh talent

In fall 2015, Plant Services conducted an in-depth

Generation breakdown

2015

2017

survey of manufacturing and industrial production professionals, asking readers for their thoughts on a comprehensive set of workforce-related topics. From that survey, a portrait emerged of an industry that was quietly dividing itself into haves and have-nots based on whether organizations were (1) embracing more proactive, data-driven approaches to maintenance and reliability, and (2) investing in their own human capital. Fast-forward to the start of 2017, and results from our follow-up survey indicate that although these familiar patters persist, a new set of concerns on the part of both managers and front-line workers is emerging: • Where is next-generation talent hiding? • Do I have to look outside the company for my own next career opportunity? • Will my executives do the things they say they will do? Th is article presents key trends and fi ndings from the Plant Services 2017 Workforce survey, sketching out an updated portrait of the actions and attitudes shaping our industry’s response to social, technological, and demo-

Millennial / GenY (1981-2000)

7.5%

8.5%

Generation X (1965-1980)

30.6%

39.3%

Baby Boomer (1945-1964)

60.0%

49.8%

Pre-Boomer (before 1945)

1.9%

2.5%

Job Title breakdown

2015

2017

Management

45.1%

32.9%

Plant Manager

10.6%

4.0%

FEBRUARY 2017 WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM

9.4%

9.5%

Manager

13.8%

11.4%

Supervisor

11.3%

8.0%

Front-line

45.1%

53.8%

Maintenance / Reliability

18.8%

25.9%

Engineering

21.9%

22.4%

Operations

2.5%

1.0%

Production / Manufacturing

1.9%

4.5%

Dept. Head

Figure 1. Who took the 2017 Workforce survey?

COVER STORY / 2017 WORKFORCE SURVEY

• Friction among co-workers based on gender or ethnic differences also is a lower-level concern Both groups were also asked about concerns specific to their level of responsibility. Managers specifically sent up an alarm on the ability of their organizations to recruit and retain workers and to capture employee knowledge effectively. In fact, the level of managerial concern over recruitment effectiveness shot

graphic change. Key questions from the initial survey were repeated in order to chart the extent to which attitudes and priorities might have changed over the past year, and an entirely new set of questions was added to pin down the types of training and certifications being extended to you and your peers. In sum: If you’re stressed about where to find new talent, and you already have an eye out for your next job, you’re not alone.

When asked what they thought were the biggest challenges to successful workforce change (see Figure 2), both managers and front-line workers agreed on several points: • A lack of communication, direction / follow-through, and strategic effectiveness exists at the executive level • Effectiveness of knowledge capture/ transfer initiatives is a top concern • The threat of plant closures or offshoring initiatives is a lower-level concern

WORKFORCE CHALLENGES

FRONT LINE (OPERATIONS, MAINTENANCE, RELIABILITY, ENGINEERING, PRODUCTION, CONSULTANT)

To get a better understanding of our readers, we asked survey respondents some baseline questions. The vast majority of respondents fit into one of two generational categories: Boomers (49.8%) or Generation X (39.3%), with Millennial respondents increasing slightly from 2015 to 8.5% (see Figure 1). It’s worth noting that although Boomers still represent the majority of respondents, there was a significant increase in GenX participation; this was mirrored by a nearly equal decline in Boomers’ share. Although the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that women comprise 27.6% of personnel in manufacturing, only 4.0% of our 2017 survey respondents are women. Also, respondents were nearly evenly split when indicating whether their plant’s location was urban (30.3%), rural (26.9%), or suburban (42.8%). Finally, it’s worth noting that the number of manager-level respondents declined by 27%, whereas the frontline workers – maintenance, reliability, engineering, operations, and production – increased by 16%. This shift may reflect the ongoing wave of industry retirements, given that data from our 2017 survey so clearly indicate a general anxiety on where to find new workers. It also agrees with similar data from our 2016 PdM survey, which uncovered a significant rise in the number of positions available falling under a “reliability” heading.

Challenge

2015

2017

Overwork due to lack of skilled workers in the field

74.6%

57.8%

Overwork due to lack of budget for skilled workers

47.5%

44.0%

Lack of access to training / career development opportunities

49.2%

53.4%

Lack of follow-through at the manager / executive level

37.3%

54.3%

Knowledge capture / transfer

57.6%

52.6%

Offshoring / plant closures

18.6%

9.5%

Job automation

8.5%

12.1%

Personal relocation

13.6%

9.5%

Lack of communication between departments

55.9%

50.0%

Lack of direction / communication from executive level

49.2%

55.2%

Friction among coworkers of different ethnic backgrounds

13.6%

6.9%

Friction among coworkers of different genders

8.5%

6.0%

MANAGEMENT (PLANT MANAGER, DEPARTMENT HEAD, MANAGER, SUPERVISOR) Challenge

2015

2017

Recruiting talent

69.4%

75.0%

Retaining talent

77.6%

60.7%

Knowledge capture / transfer

46.9%

55.4%

Reduced labor budget

32.7%

21.4%

Reduced capital budget

28.6%

17.9%

Reduced training budget

22.5%

21.4%

Lack of strategic effectiveness at executive level

26.5%

32.1%

Lack of direction / communication from executive level

49.0%

35.7%

Lack of communication between departments

34.7%

30.4%

Offshoring / plant closures

10.2%

7.1%

Friction among coworkers of different ethnic backgrounds

4.1%

3.6%

Friction among coworkers of different genders

4.1%

1.8%

Figure 2. What do you think are the biggest challenges to successful workforce change? Please check all that apply. WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM FEBRUARY 2017 25

COVER STORY / 2017 WORKFORCE SURVEY

Question

Yes

I am confident that my job will exist in five years.

75.4%

24.6%

I believe my company knows the skills required to compete in a changing business environment.

65.6%

34.4%

Figure 3. Worker confidence

Question

Yes

2015

2017

2015

2017

Do any of your current responsibilities include additional locations beyond your primary location?

40.0%

47.3%

60.0%

52.7%

I am often asked to multitask/work on tasks outside my job description.

81.9%

79.6%

18.1%

20.4%

I am often asked to work beyond my scheduled number of hours per week

63.8%

36.2%

41.4%

58.6%

Figure 4. Workload and overtime

Very effective

2.7% Effective

10.3%

20.0%

8.6%

1.7%

Satisfactory 21.1%

Not effective

15.4%

25.6%

2015 Figure 5. Please rate the performance of your company’s recruitment program over the past 12 months.

Challenge Attracting a diverse pool of candidates for open positions Retaining female and ethnic minority employees Attracting young people to the manufacturing/industrial production field Intergenerational integration

2017

48.7% 45.9% Needs some improvement

1=very high

2=high

up by more than 7% over the past 18 months, as did concerns over knowledge capture and transfer. Interestingly, managers did not rank budget concerns of any kind very high in the 2017 Workforce survey. It is also telling that managers expressed less concern this year with the quality of communication from the executive level but more concern with the effectiveness of executive strategy. These findings align with similar data collected in our 2016 PdM survey, which found that budget for more proactive MRO initiatives was increasing despite a fairly widespread dissatisfaction with PdM program effectiveness. A look at front-line workers’ responses to this question reveals a much higher level of alarm, as a majority of respondents ranked each of the following as a top challenge: • Overwork due to lack of skilled workers in the field • Lack of access to training / career development opportunities • Lack of follow-through at the manager / executive level • Lack of direction / communication from executive level • Lack of communication between departments • K nowledge capture / transfer Perhaps the most surprising result is the continuing lack of concern among

3=medium

4=low

5=not a factor

2015

2017

2015

2017

2015

2017

2015

2017

2015

2017

23.5%

17.6%

31.8%

33.5%

27.3%

25.0%

10.6%

15.4%

6.8%

8.5%

1.5%

5.3%

22.0%

17.0%

22.0%

27.1%

34.8%

26.1%

19.7%

24.5%

22.0%

23.4%

37.9%

40.4%

22.7%

20.2%

10.6%

8.0%

6.8%

8.0%

5.3%

11.8%

23.5%

30.5%

36.4%

31.6%

28.8%

16.6%

6.1%

9.6%

Intercultural integration

3.0%

7.5%

20.5%

20.9%

34.1%

27.8%

31.8%

31.0%

10.6%

12.8%

Interdepartmental differences

12.9%

13.4%

29.5%

25.1%

32.6%

32.1%

19.7%

23.0%

5.3%

6.4%

Deskilling as a result of retirements

32.6%

20.9%

22.0%

34.2%

20.5%

21.9%

15.9%

12.8%

9.1%

10.2%

Figure 6. What do you see as the greatest workforce challenges in your facility? Please rank each in importance.

FEBRUARY 2017 WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM

Challenge

1=not a factor

2=low

2017

2015

21.9%

24.8%

17.1%

10.9%

16.2%

Pay / compensation

9.4%

6.0%

16.2%

Better opportunities elsewhere

6.8%

4.4%

15.4%

2015

Promotion at current company

20.5%

New job in same field

3=medium

2017

2015

32.2%

30.8%

23.0%

4=high

5=very high

2017

2015

2017

2015

29.5%

19.7%

9.3%

4.3%

2017 7.1%

28.2%

31.7%

29.9%

23.5%

8.5%

10.9%

13.1%

19.7%

29.0%

29.1%

32.2%

25.6%

19.7%

10.9%

20.5%

24.0%

40.2%

41.5%

17.1%

19.1%

Changed career path

15.4%

13.7%

30.8%

31.7%

38.5%

33.3%

11.1%

16.9%

4.3%

4.4%

Overwork / burnout

13.7%

15.8%

34.2%

29.0%

23.1%

30.1%

19.7%

18.0%

9.4%

7.1%

Relationship with manager / supervisor

14.5%

10.4%

31.6%

29.0%

28.2%

30.1%

16.2%

18.0%

9.4%

12.6%

n/a

13.1%

n/a

24.6%

n/a

21.3%

n/a

27.3%

n/a

13.7%

Downsized due to budget reduction

29.9%

37.2%

23.9%

25.7%

24.8%

14.2%

15.4%

18.0%

6.0%

4.9%

Retirement

Downsized due to automation

56.4%

56.8%

29.1%

33.3%

11.1%

5.5%

2.6%

3.3%

0.9%

1.1%

Downsized due to outsourcing

51.3%

58.5%

23.9%

23.0%

12.8%

9.8%

7.7%

6.6%

4.3%

2.2%

Downsized due to offshoring

66.7%

73.6%

17.9%

15.4%

6.0%

5.1%

3.8%

4.3%

1.1%

Dismissed / terminated for cause

22.2%

25.7%

42.7%

43.2%

23.9%

18.6%

4.3%

9.3%

6.8%

3.3%

Figure 7. What are the most common reasons for employee departures at your plant? Please rank each in importance.

front-line workers over the increase in automation. For all the talk of the potential threat of automation to eliminate or otherwise adversely impact jobs in manufacturing and related industries, only 12.1% of respondents identify automation as a top challenge; this data point was reinforced by a separate survey question, in which more than 75% of respondents said they were confident that their job would still exist in five years (see Figure 3). Finally, although concern about overwork still ranks very highly with front-line workers, a lower share of respondents in 2017 indicated that they were being asked to work an excessive number of hours, or work on tasks outside of their immediate job description (see Figure 4). Instead, the number of respondents who told us that their current responsibilities include additional sites beyond their primary location increased in the past year. This data point was also reinforced by another question on the survey, in which respondents reported that a high number of new roles which lend themselves to multiplant operations had been created in their organizations over the past 12 months (i.e., remote/ condition monitoring, automation, and data analytics). RECRUITMENT, RETENTION, AND TRAINING

There’s no getting around it: The top finding of this year’s survey it that industry is highly dissatisfied with the effectiveness of company recruiting programs. As Figure 5 shows, more than 65% of 2017 survey respondents were dissatisfied with recruitment efforts, with 20% saying these efforts were flat-out ineffective and only 2.7% saying these efforts were very effective.

Figure 6 adds nuance to these data, charting a series of more subtle shifts in priority and satisfaction across various aspects of workforce recruitment and retention. For example, “attracting young people” in particular remains the most pressing challenge identified in the survey, with 84.0% of respondents indicating it as a heightened concern. High majorities also consider “deskilling as a result of retirements (77.0%) and “attracting a diverse pool of candidates” (76.1%) as leading specific concerns. On the other end of the scale, several responses in Figure 6 point toward the “tale of two cultures” first identified in our 2015 survey. For example, when it comes to workforce integration, plants seem to either consider it worth making a special effort to succeed or see it as not much of a priority or problem at their facility. The widest level of difference centered on “retaining female and ethnic minority employees,” where 49.4% of respondents considered it of importance and 50.6% thought it was either of low importance or was a nonfactor at their facility. Findings on employee retention also stood out: The trend of industrial workers who are willing to job-hop is increasing. The good news is that, based on responses to a separate question, the share of respondents prepared to move on in less than a year declined over the past 12 months. However, there was a significant increase in the share of respondents willing to look for a new position within 1-5 years and a decline in the share of people who thought they would be with the same organization after more than 10 years. At first glance, these data seem to match the observations of many generational researchers that Millennials WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM FEBRUARY 2017 27

COVER STORY / 2017 WORKFORCE SURVEY

2015

2017

53.9%

56.2%

Opportunity to learn new skills

47.0%

48.6%

Opportunity to use new technology

45.3%

33.5%

Pay / compensation

77.8%

70.3%

Work-life balance

64.1%

56.2%

Relationship with manager / supervisor

56.4%

51.9%

Positive corporate culture

45.3%

43.2%

Ethical corporate culture

39.3%

29.2%

Access to training

32.5%

30.3%

Leadership / management

46.2%

49.7%

Factor Opportunity to advance within the company

Figure 8. Which of these factors would most impact your personal decision to stay or go? Please check all that apply.

Program type

Yes

2015

2017

2015

2017

Learn more about the field

53.4%

46.4%

46.6%

53.6%

Be more successful in their current role

60.3%

54.1%

39.7%

45.9%

Develop the skills needed for new roles

62.1%

46.4%

37.9%

53.6%

Develop leadership skills

57.8%

49.2%

42.2%

50.8%

Figure 9. My company has formal workforce training/development programs in place to help employees

CMRP 7.1% CRL 2.7%

MMC 1.1%

Lean / Six Sigma 28.4%

None of these 50.8%

REC 1.6%

Other 7.1%

CRE 1.1%

Figure 10. Which certifications does your company invest in for employees?

FEBRUARY 2017 WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM

often defer traditional life markers (i.e., marriage, parenthood, first house) to later in life than previous generations. However, Millennials composed only about 8% of 2017 survey respondents, indicating that the willingness to jobhop crosses into GenX and Boomers, at least among those who participated in our study. When asked about the specific reasons why our respondents would leave their jobs, the most-cited reason was the somewhat vague “better opportunities elsewhere,” with a whopping 84.6% indicating this is a reason that would drive their departure (Figure 7). Few patterns emerge when examining the other responses in this question to identify more precise motivations. Respondents still ranked “pay/compensation” highly (80.9%); it was followed distantly by “new job in same field” (66.1%). Also, respondents appear not to be concerned with the possibility of being downsized for any reason and only slightly concerned with the potential for dismissal or termination. Finally, although 60.7% of respondents indicated that they would consider departing based on their “relationship with manager/supervisor,” there was no shift in response from 2015 to 2017. In other words, the saying that “people don’t leave good jobs, they leave bad bosses” plays a role in whether workers stay or go, but perhaps not as significant a factor as generally thought. If anything, the data from Figures 7 and 8 suggest that these types of decisions often do come down to pay and compensation. However, the data in Figure 8 also include a constellation of drivers that, when taken together, suggest that industrial workers are picking up on whether their plant is part of an organization that is one of the “haves” – an organization that has decided to invest in both technology and human capital, and which thereby represents a “better opportunity” for workers. Consider the following factors cited by between 45% and 60% of survey respondents as affecting their decision to stay or leave: • Work-life balance (56.2%) • Opportunity to advance within the company (56.2%) • Relationship with manager / supervisor (51.9%) • Leadership / management (49.7%) • Opportunity to learn new skills (48.6%) The factors have something important in common: the sense by an employee that he or she is being invested in by both the larger organization and by their direct managers. These results complement the other survey findings that executive-level communication, direction, follow-through, and strategic effectiveness are top-level worker concerns. (This also may explain why “ethical corporate culture” was the response that ranked dead last in Figure 8, as respondents to our survey generally valued organizational competence and support more than they did organizational ethics.) A review of survey responses to questions on training adds further depth to the value workers place on the ways

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Testing 17.5% None of these 38.3% Earning certification 21.3%

Figure 11. How does your site measure the effectiveness of training?

Documented application of new skills or processes 23.0%

their organizations invest in them. Figure 9 captures the results when respondents were asked about the types of formal workforce training/development programs in place at their facility. Across the board, respondents indicated that training and development program opportunities have declined at their facilities, dropping from an average of 58.4% available in 2015 to just 48.3% available in 2017. Even more striking, when asked about the types of professional certifications that were made available to workers by their organizations, half of respondents said that none of the leading certifications was available to them (see Figure 10). And, although 91.8% of respondents in a separate question indicated that some sort of professional development option, from e-learning to coaching, was available, 38.3% of respondents added that their workplace did not measure training effectiveness in any way (see Figure 11). Taken together, the survey data on training and certifications reinforce the larger picture of an industry divided into organizations that do and do not invest in human capital, as well as a workforce that is increasingly attuned to the degree to which the organization is committed to their personal success and well-being. In their report “The Skills Gap in U.S. Manufacturing: 2015 and Beyond,” Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute claim that “eighty percent of manufacturing executives reported they are willing to pay more than the market rates in workforce areas reeling under talent crisis. Still six out of 10 positions remain unfilled. ... Additionally, executives reported it takes an average of 94 days to recruit employees in the engineer / researcher / scientist fields, and an average of 70 days to recruit skilled production workers. Facing these numbers, it comes as no surprise why manufacturers report the most significant business impact of the talent shortage is their ability to meet customer demand.” Respondents to our 2017 Workforce survey clearly recognize how challenging it can be for an organization to recruit effectively and execute to plan. It remains to be seen how many organizations in our industry will be able to rise to the challenge of finding new talent while investing enough in their current workforce to reduce turnover and increase job satisfaction.

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2 0 1 7

WORKFORCE/ TRAINING

by Heinz Bloch, P.E.

APPRAISING TODAY’S APPRENTICESHIPS Your future success will depend on how well you’re training the next generation. Reading about renewed interest in apprenticeship programs caused me to recall my three-year apprenticeship after graduating from my German hometown’s high school in 1950. Elementary school students entered high school after passing a competitive exam, which is one reason why we had only about 60 students. (My hometown then had a population of 62,000; the population has since grown to 109,000.) Only half of the graduating class found employers willing to take in and train apprentices. The other departing students either obtained employment as industrial workers or opted for a university education. Apprentices worked an average of 52 hours in a workweek that fi lled the time from Monday morning until noon Saturday. However, one eight-hour day each week was taken up by mandatory attendance at the county’s Trades & Crafts Training School. This is where the theory of a particular craft segment (electrical, mechanical, construction, etc.) was taught to apprentices, most of whom had not attended high school. Having secured an apprenticeship as a telephone installer, I spent my trade-school days with the future electricians. Some of what I learned I already knew from high school, but I still benefited in a variety of ways. One of the texts that had to be read and absorbed by the electrical apprentices dealt with the development of craftsmen, the folks who added value by using their hands. The book’s author, a Mr. Laufer, had it published in 1920 under the fitting title “Werkstattausbildung” (shop training), and I brought the book with me to America in 1953. Translating from the foreword as I write this column, I realize that the introductory pages are part lament and part admonition: “…regrettably, an apprentice’s career choice is not always determined by his general aptitude and serious inclination, but rather by the boy’s random and superficial desires, his father’s occupation, or easy access to a shop location.” Laufer continued: “It is of special importance in the machine construction environment that the future apprentice is bodily able and is at least an average student, one with sufficient comprehension and a demonstrable degree of motivation.” Finally, this 97-year-old text informs its readers that “a variety of large-scale employers are therefore making the

hiring of their apprentices contingent upon passing entry tests that are linked to the applicant’s school background, attentiveness, perceptiveness, and technical understanding.” And that, perhaps, best explains why I’m selective when it comes to my choice of automobiles and why my 1966 GrundigKonzertboy radio is still playing. While I understand that today’s and tomorrow’s criteria for the selection of apprentices will differ from those expressed in “Werkstattausbildung,” my point is simple. I strongly advise the people who will make far-reaching apprenticeship decisions to make wise and wholly deliberate choices. Hopefully, these decision-influencers will realize that the reputation and success of an industrial society is grounded in the wisdom with which its many job functions – its engineers and designers and workers and operators – have been trained. Notwithstanding one major European automaker’s recent deplorable glitches in management judgment, sound and uncompromising apprenticeship training will remain an essential ingredient of a prosperous future. In the mid-1950s we understood that the United States ranked first worldwide in terms of mathematics skills and science education. Several decades later, in 2015, the country ranked 35th out of 64 countries surveyed. This should be of interest to us because the individuals who are now in school or have just started employment are the country’s present or future technicians, craftsmen, maintenance-reliability professionals, and equipment operators. The needs and wants of many of these individuals are out of sync with reality; some are mere consumers who misperceive the value they actually add. There will be a significant gap between their expectations and the realities of life. Employers will see that turning an uninformed or unrealistic person into a value-adder will require considerable patience. Use a large amount of forethought when you develop an apprentice program. Heinz P. Bloch, P.E., is owner of Process Machinery Consulting in Westminster, CO, and the author of more than 630 articles and 19 books, including “Pump User’s Handbook — Life Extension” and “Practical Lubrication for Industrial Facilities.” Contact him at heinzpbloch@gmail.com.

WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM FEBRUARY 2017 31

ASSET MANAGEMENT / MOBILITY

By Sheila Kennedy, Contributing Editor

Portable asset management information puts knowledge where itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needed

FEBRUARY 2017 WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM

Source: NorthWestern Energy

Figure 1. NorthWestern Energy hydro plant operators use the mobile solution for inspections.

Our love affair with mobile devices has quickly spread to the modern workplace. The lucky maintenance professionals who have already experienced the benefits of mobile asset management would surely be lost if their portable devices were taken away now. And why not? Much of today’s workforce has grown up quite literally having information at their fingertips. Even the Baby Boomers have rapidly adapted to the information age. If they can navigate the complexities and nuances of a smartphone, then they can undoubtedly handle simple tasks on a rugged mobile device. NorthWestern Energy and Loram Maintenance of Way are examples of companies that have successfully incorporated mobility into their maintenance practices – one for inspections and the other for service management – and neither one is looking back. Their mobile strategies demonstrate how once-stodgy work practices can be transformed by incorporating advanced technologies. INSPECTIONS AT NORTHWESTERN ENERGY

Power generation, transmission, and distribution operations are prime candidates for mobile technology. NorthWestern Energy (www.northwesternenergy.com) inherited a mobile solution during a 2014 acquisition of 11 hydroelectric facilities and associated assets in Montana with a net aggregate generation capacity of 633 MW.

“Our hydro plant operators use the mobile solution for daily, weekly, and monthly safety, security, and operational inspections,” says Amber Osterman, business analyst at NorthWestern Energy’s business technology department. “Over a month’s time period, we gather about 15,500-plus reading documents. That is about 500plus readings per day for 11 plants.” The handheld devices contain client software that synchronizes with NorthWestern Energy’s enterprise asset management (EAM) system. “The operators pick their inspection list for the day, walk through their routes with the device in hand, and check off their inspection points,” explains Osterman. “The tasks are presented in the order that they do their rounds.” She adds: “It’s a disconnected device, so when they’re finished with their rounds, they dock their device via a USB port, and the data is transmitted.” Visibility for plant management is improved with this solution. “Everybody wants to be more proactive rather than reactive,” says Osterman. “The group that’s in charge of our preventive maintenance heads up this program.” The current process is more efficient than the previous method of using paper logs with all of the inspection points listed on the left and readings on the right. “Some of the plants put their information in Excel, but there was still a lack of consistency between the plants and the information was not centralized,” remarks Osterman. WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM FEBRUARY 2017 33

Source: NorthWestern Energy

ASSET MANAGEMENT / MOBILITY

Figure 2. NorthWestern Energy inherited a mobile solution with its acquisition of 11 hydroelectric plants.

“Now the information is centrally available for analysis and reporting. This is especially helpful when gathering data for auditing and compliance as opposed to manually gathering hand-written logs and Excel spreadsheets of various formats,” adds Osterman. “In addition, it is possible to trend the data and make changes in operating procedures or equipment maintenance if needed. When additions or changes are made to the inspection lists, the changes are available the next time the device is synchronized, which is daily.” NorthWestern Energy’s situation is unique in that it inherited an existing mobile solution. “Ours were not the challenges that you typically have with a new mobility project,” says Osterman. “As part of the hydro facility acquisition, we kept their existing hardware but implemented a new software solution that integrated with our enterprise system.” She continues: “A new solution can be perceived as more work at first due to the learning curve, but training and support can go a long way to mitigate this.” Mobile, remote operators appreciate the reassurance that they are not alone. “The fact that our operators knew they had somebody to call for help eased them. I don’t know if it’s unique to us but that really worked. Make it known in the beginning that someone will be available and accessible to help, and that will save a lot of frustration,” recommends Osterman. 34

FEBRUARY 2017 WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM

ASSET MANAGEMENT AT LORAM

Mobility is essential at Loram Maintenance of Way (www. loram.com), a Minnesota-based company dedicated to maintaining and improving the railway infrastructure of railroads, transits, and commuter rail around the world. Since its founding in 1954, Loram has become one of the leading global suppliers of track maintenance machinery and services. Vast amounts of track are managed by Loram service personnel. Rail grinding, drainage maintenance, ditch cleaning, and excavation are among the many tasks performed on site, in the field, over great geographic distances. Loram’s field workers needed a mobile EAM solution to access, capture, and communicate timely and accurate maintenance information. “It had to be easy for us and it had to be mobile,” says Denis Zilmer, director of IT at Loram Maintenance of Way. Documenting service performance and customer value was crucial. “If we service an asset five times over five years, the first thing the customers ask is what is its history, and how did our last service affect the problem that is there today?” Timeliness of information was a key benefit of the chosen solution. “Our customers not only required that we record all the maintenance we’ve done, but they wanted to see it in a timely manner – not a month later with the bill, but within a day. With our mobile work-order solution, we can do that.

As soon as the data is replicated, it gets exposed to our customers,” explains Zilmer. “If you think about what we did in the past, our guys had pieces of paper where they recorded everything they did. I’ll bet that maybe 70% of that information would make it back to the office and it would be at a much later time, so it would be dated,” added Zilmer. Now, the teams can bring their devices into the field and take pictures and add information to the system on site. The data is in the system right away if they are connected, or it replicates the next time the device is in a cellular service area. “Those guys will log everything in their mobile device – when they start the job, the materials they consume, actions taken, photographs taken, and when they finish the job. If you were the customer online, you could within minutes see exactly what that technician did because it’s automatically reported,” adds Zilmer. “The data history that’s recorded by the technicians is great, but one of the biggest sources of feedback from my technicians is the camera. The fact that we can take pictures with the camera really reduces the number of questions about the state of the asset. It also helps to justify insurance claims with photographic evidence,” explains Zilmer. UNIVERSAL BENEFITS OF MOBILITY

Source: NorthWestern Energy

Making the decision to introduce mobility into an enterprise is easy. “You can’t really expect people who are working in the field, maintaining complex assets, to write everything down on little pieces of paper and then come back and type it all in,” says Rick Veague, chief technology officer at IFS North America (www.ifsworld.com). “It seems perfectly reasonable to capture what you’re doing, while you’re doing it, and keep feeding that information into the life cycle system in real time and at a safe distance from the machines.” Applying the technology properly eliminates paper-based processes and offers freedom from stationary computers, resulting in a multitude of benefits. Mobility is an enabling technology that improves the ability to: • Improve service efficiency • Reduce maintenance costs • Increase equipment uptime

• Extend asset life • Maximize customer satisfaction • Avoid compliance violations and penalties • Enhance the bottom line Real-time operational visibility proves invaluable for service personnel as well as plant management. For the end user, mobile solutions draw knowledge from existing back-office systems and share it when and where it is needed. Work schedules, work orders, equipment history, inventory balances, lockout/tagout procedures – it’s all potentially accessible from the field. The devices also capture information in real time, which improves data accuracy by avoiding dependency on ones memory or handwritten notes. From the management perspective, mobility speeds insight into current activities, schedules, service levels, and backlogs. It simplifies oversight of compliance requirements, labor utilization, and operational metrics. It helps to ensure that properly skilled and qualified personnel are ready to work with the right work instructions, materials, tools, and safety instructions in hand. It also enables on-the-fly adjustments as unexpected situations arise. Naturally, maintenance is fraught with surprises. In a perfect world, there would be no equipment failures or production downtime, but reality requires agile handling of unplanned problems and unexpected opportunities. Decisions must be based on the circumstances as they arise and ever changing priorities. Eliminating data latency via mobile solutions and remote instrumentation allows the data to be acted on much more rapidly. For this reason, sensors and the internet of things (IoT) can also be classified as mobility enablers. Rather than waiting for conditions to be entered into a central computer or reported to an individual, the data is pushed electronically from the field directly into the information system. “Without that mobile aspect, you usually don’t know when something breaks until someone calls you up on the phone, and at that point it’s too late,” explains Veague. A wealth of human resource advantages come from mobility. For the older workforce, mobile devices facilitate knowledge capture. “The oil and gas industry and energy, too, seem to be dominated by an older workforce that carries a lot of information and experience in their head. They don’t always need this rich device with lots of information, because they just know it,” says Veague. “But with that mobile device and the right kind of systems in the back end, you start to have the ability to collect some of that data from the older workforce, such as work instructions, notes, blogs, wikis, and other forms of collaboration.” Likewise, mobile devices are effective recruiting and retention tools. “A younger person who has less experience needs lots of support. Studies have shown that this generation of digital natives behaves very differently; they learn differently, and they have very different expectations about WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM FEBRUARY 2017 35

how long they’re going to stay in a job. If you don’t have the sort of working environment that motivates them, they’ll go someplace else,” cautions Veague. “This group benefits from the wisdom of their predecessors and will ultimately share their own knowledge via these mobile devices.” Physical and environmental safety can also be improved by introducing mobile solutions in industrial environments. Safety risks are lessened with improved access to: • Proper work instructions and revisions • Proper workflows, including inspection and electronic signoffs • Collaboration tools that increase awareness of what people nearby are doing Safety is further enhanced when anyone with a mobile device can photograph and record any safety hazard, problem, or noncompliance issue they encounter. Some apps will even grab the geolocation from the device and picture so that only a simple incident description is needed. This encourages everyone to proactively register safety concerns rather than hoping someone else will notice and act on them. COMMON CONCERNS CAN BE ALLEVIATED

Implementing a new technology may require a culture change. “Spend time out in the field talking with the end Document1.qxd

1/5/2006

7:44 AM

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Clean, Dry Compressed Air Starts with The Extractor/Dryer ® Manufactured by LA-MAN Corporation • Point of Use Compressed Air Filter to Improve and Extend Equipment Life • Removes Moisture and Contaminates to a 5-Micron Rating; Lower Micron Ratings are Available • Models with Flow Ranges of 15 SCFM to 2000 SCFM Rated Up To 250psi are Standard • Differential Pressure Gauge Built In to Indicate Required Maintenance • Mounting Hardware Included for Easy Installation • Weep Drain is Standard; Float Drain or Electronic Drain Valves Optional

users, observing how they work, and listening to what is helpful and what is challenging for them,” suggests NorthWestern Energy’s Osterman. “Provide on-site support if possible during the initial rollout and provide a clear support plan with who to call if issues arise.” The design of the user interface will influence the rate of adoption. In order for a technician to remain focused on the machine and not distracted by the handheld device, the interface needs to be very natural and easy to use with consistency in appearance and navigation. Bolton solutions that look and behave differently will reduce efficiency and threaten data integrity. News reports of data and security Figure 3. NorthWestern Energy compromises have gathers 500-plus readings heightened awareness per day for 11 plants. of the need to mitigate such risks. For mobile solutions, this means protecting the device itself as well as the information it contains. Basic device security methods such as encryption, strong passwords, and secure communications should be used. Minimizing the amount of data that actually resides on the device is also effective. In cases where data must be collected in offline mode, encryption will ensure that the data stored on the device is not usable to others. Another security strategy is to use the cloud as an intermediary device. This involves having mobile apps communicate through an intermediate cloud-routing service rather than exposing them to the corporate network directly. “What this means is a secure connection to the cloud, and from the cloud a secure encrypted connection back into the IT platform (whether that’s also in the cloud or on-premises),” says Veague. “By establishing this air gap between the device and your back-end solution, if the device picks up viruses or malware of some kind, they aren’t transmitted through your firewall and onto your corporate premises.” As the NorthWestern Energy and Loram cases show, mobile asset management solutions deployed with proper training and precautions will provide benefits that extend well throughout the organization. Email Contributing Editor Sheila Kennedy, CMRP, managing director of Additive Communications, at sheila@addcomm.com.

Source: NorthWestern Energy

ASSET MANAGEMENT / MOBILITY

EQUIPMENT / BEARINGS MAINTENANCE

by Adrian Messer, UE Systems

Here’s how to use ultrasound to perfect bearing lubrication and extend machine life As maintenance and reliability professionals, we must

ensure that the assets that we are responsible for are operating as they were designed and installed to do. The hope is to move toward more predictive rather than reactive maintenance. It has been proved that when plants and facilities have a robust proactive maintenance program, that facility will operate more safely, with less downtime, and with improved product quality. Maintenance and reliability professionals have tools at their disposal to use to monitor asset health on a routine basis. Similar to the way a doctor may use a stethoscope to listen to a patient’s heartbeat or a thermometer to measure the patient’s temperature, the maintenance and reliability professional uses condition monitoring tools that can help assess the health of a mechanical asset.

ULTRASOUND: A PRIMER

All operating equipment, most leakage problems, and electrical discharges produce a broad range of high-frequency sound. Ultrasonic instruments, sometimes referred to as ultrasound translators, sense and receive these high-frequency sound waves. High-frequency sounds are above the range of normal human hearing. Typically, sound waves sensed by human hearing are between 20 Hertz and 20 kilohertz, with average threshold of normal human hearing around 16.5 kilohertz (kHz). If a maintenance professional uses an ultrasound instrument with frequency tuning capabilities, the lowest frequency that it can be adjusted to is 20kHz. If the instrument being used is on a fixed frequency, it is usually centered around 38kHz. As a result, the ultrasonic instrument is already listening for sounds that are beyond the range of normal human hearing. By nature, high-frequency sound waves are short-wave signals; therefore, they are very low-energy and tend not to travel very far from their source. This makes it easy for users of ultrasound technology to pinpoint the location of a compressed air leak or a particular mechanical problem.

There are three main sources of ultrasound for typical plant/ facility maintenance applications: 1. Turbulence, such as a compressed air/gas leak to atmosphere, air in leakage (as with a vacuum leak), or a leaking valve or steam trap. 2. Friction, created by a bearing lacking lubricant, which helps dampen the stress distribution between the bearings and the contact area. Along the same lines as friction, as a bearing begins to wear and show fatigue, there also are increases in high-frequency sound, even to the point of the user being able to hear and identify bearing fault frequencies such as inner race, outer race, cage, and ball-pass faults. 3. Ionization created from electrical anomalies such as corona, tracking, and arcing in energized electrical equipment. Ultrasound instruments give both qualitative and quantitative information. Qualitative information is given via the headset because of the ability to be able to “hear” what the bearing sounds like. Qualitative information also is given on the ultrasound instrument’s display by way of the decibel (dB) level once contact is made with the bearing or once an air leak is detected. Some ultrasound instruments have the ability to view the FFT or time wave form of what the inspector hears in real time as the data is being collected. The ability to analyze and view FFT and time wave form data of recorded ultrasound sound files brings about a more diagnostic use for ultrasound. Now bearing fault frequencies can be identified, or a lack of lubrication condition can be noted. If ultrasound is being used for electrical inspection, corona, tracking, and arcing can be easily identified through FFT or time-wave form analysis of previously recorded ultrasounds. BEARING INSPECTION WITH ULTRASOUND

Vibration analysis has long been the instrument of choice to use for bearings and other rotating equipment. More commonly, ultrasound is being used in conjunction with vibration WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM FEBRUARY 2017 37

EQUIPMENT / BEARINGS MAINTENANCE

condition of some of the more-critical assets before the service provider enters the facility. The service provider can then prioritize work based on the ultrasound findings. Another scenario in which ultrasound may be used first over vibration analysis is with the monitoring of slow-speed bearings. Slow-speed bearing monitoring with ultrasound is actually easier than you might think. Because most high-end ultrasound instruments have a wide

analysis to help technicians confirm the condition of mechanical assets. Because of ultrasound’s versatility, if a facility does not have a robust vibration analysis program in place, ultrasound can be implemented to detect early-stage bearing failures as well as other issues. If the vibration analysis is performed by an outside service provider on a quarterly or monthly basis, ultrasound can be used during the interim. This will help the facility know the 100

Major Bearing Fault Detected

80 Slight Abnormal Condition

60 40 Amplitude

20 0 -20 Normal Bearing Noise

-40 -60 -80 -100 2.0

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Bad bearing: 1 rpm bearing on a furnace application. Note all of the anomalies that appear in the time wave form from the “crackling and popping” sounds that were produced by bearing fatigue. Source: UE Systems -22 -25 -30 -35

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175Hz

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Frequency (Hz) FFT screen from an ultrasound spectrum analysis software that shows a comparison between motor outboard points on four identical motors. The outlying spectrum shows an inner race fault harmonic. Source: UE Systems

FEBRUARY 2017 WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM

sensitivity range and frequency tuning, it’s possible to listen to the acoustic quality of the bearing, especially at slower speeds. In extreme slow-speed bearing applications (usually less than 25 rpm), the bearing will produce little to no ultrasonic noise. In that case, it is important to not only listen to the sound of the bearing, but also to analyze the recorded ultrasound sound file in spectrum analysis software, focusing on the time wave form to see if any anomalies are present. If “crackling” or “popping” sounds are present, then there is some indication of a deformity occurring. In bearing speeds above 25 rpm, it’s possible to set a baseline decibel level and trend the associated decibel level readings over time. To get the most out of an ultrasound bearing condition monitoring program, it’s best to establish routes for data collection. Through this effort, maintenance technicians can set baselines and bearing condition alarm levels. This approach is called the historical method. Using this method, the inspector first establishes a route in the ultrasound software of the points where the data will be collected. Once the route is created, the inspector loads the route into the ultrasound instrument. While collecting initial data to build the history, the technician should record both the decibel level readings and the sound file recordings. It may be prudent to collect the readings more frequently than is necessary to establish the history until the baseline and alarm levels are set. With the baseline established, alarm levels can be set. For most bearings, an increase of 8dB above baseline represents a lack of lubrication for that bearing. An increase of 16dB above baseline means the bearing is in a failure mode that is beyond just a lack of lubrication. For slow-speed bearings, these alarm levels may need adjusting; slow-speed bearings don’t produce as much high-frequency sound. Alarm levels for slow-speed bearings should be set according to what the initial historical decibel level trend shows.

100 80 60

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Time wave form view of a recorded ultrasound of a bearing that has been overlubricated. Note the gradual rise in amplitude (right) as too much grease is added. Source: UE Systems 100 80 60

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40 20 0 -20 -40

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-60 -80

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-100 0.0

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Time wave form view of a recorded ultrasound of a bearing properly lubricated. Note the amplitude before lubrication (left) and after lubrication (right). Source: UE Systems

After the baselines and alarm levels have been set, it is necessary only to record the data or dB readings. From that point forward, a sound file recording is taken only once the point has reached the low or high alarm. The alarm-level sound file recording can then be compared with the original baseline sound file. This is important for diagnosing the current bearing condition. In spectrum analysis software, technicians may also be able to compare the baseline sound file FFT to the current sound file or compare as many as four identical points on four identical machines.

ULTRASOUND-ASSISTED LUBRICATION

Studies have shown that the majority of premature bearing failures can be attributed to poor lubrication practices, whether in the form of using the wrong grease for the wrong application, lubricant contamination, or overor underlubrication. Either way, most premature bearing failures result from lubrication failures. Ultrasound can be used to prevent over- and underlubrication related failures. In addition, with respect to using ultrasound for bearing lubrication, industry is moving toward condition-based rather than time-based lubrication. The concept is simple: It’s based off

friction. When a bearing needs lubrication, there is an increase in amplitude or the decibel level. If a technician is using ultrasound to listen to the bearing while greasing and watching the associated decibel level on the ultrasound instrument, if the bearing needs grease, there will be a gradual drop in the dB down to a more normal or baseline dB. At that point, the technician should stop lubricating. If the bearing is already sufficiently lubricated, the technician would see a gradual increase in the dB as grease is added. As more grease is added to a sufficiently lubricated bearing, there will be an increase in pressure and friction inside the bearing housing – and therefore, more noise. In this scenario, the technician should stop applying grease when a dB increase is noted. If the technician is applying grease to a bearing and there’s no dB change, then a follow-up inspection that includes rerecording the ultrasound sound file or using a complimentary technology such as vibration analysis is recommended to determine why the dB didn’t change. If the bearing has physical damage or is in a different failure mode, then there will be little to no dB change while greasing. Airborne and structure-borne ultrasound instrumentation has become a must-have for any reliability program. Because of its enhanced sensitivity and ability to detect slight changes in the amount of high-frequency sound produced by rotating equipment, ultrasound is ideally suited to detect early-stage bearing fatigue resulting from lack of lubrication. By translating the high-frequency sound into the low-frequency or audible range, these instruments let users hear, see, and diagnose bearing faults. Through ultrasound-assisted lubrication, bearing and machine life can be extended, and failures caused by over- or underlubrication can be eliminated. Adrian Messer is manager of U.S. operations at UE Systems. Contact him at adrianm@uesystems.com.

WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM FEBRUARY 2017 39

MAINTENANCE / ALIGNMENT

Your parallel-drive systems will thank you for a little extra TLC by Richard Knotek, Motion Institute

An effectively implemented, comprehensive preven-

tive and predictive maintenance program for a parallel-drive system will reduce downtime, bring down costs, and create a safer working environment. Parallel-shaft drive systems include v-belts, synchronous belt drives, conveyor systems, and chain drives. These power transmission systems are used for transmitting power and in some cases conveying product. Optimum performance and maximum service life can be achieved if the systems are correctly installed and properly maintained. All aspects of the inspection, installation, and maintenance process should be measured and documented in an organized and easily accessible manner. The pie chart shown in Figure 1 depicts common problems in a parallel shaft system; individual slices’ share at a given facility will vary depending on different factors the facility faces. In any event, correct design, proper installation, and proper maintenance will have a significant positive effect on the drive’s life and performance. Figure 1.

SOURCES OF DRIVE PROBLEMS Defective components

Poor drive design

source: Gates Corp.

Improper drive maintenance

Environmental factors

Improper belt/pulley installation Improper storage/ handling

FEBRUARY 2017 WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM

Before troubleshooting the drive, all safety procedures should be followed, and a lock-out/tag-out verification start process must be performed. (No exceptions!) This process includes but is not limited to the following: • Electrically de-energizing the system • Load leveling or mechanically neutralizing the drive (a shift in load, pressure changes within the system, or the mechanical inertia present may cause things to move) • Ensuring that all rotating components are properly guarded to prevent access when rotating • Wearing all required PPE – work smart and safe! A useful acronym for troubleshooting parallel systems is A.C.T., which stands for Alignment, Condition of the equipment, and Tension. These are the three most important considerations for installing and maintaining parallel shaft drives. ALIGNMENT

Alignment is needed for the drive to be able to run troublefree. Misalignment of the sheaves, pulleys, and sprockets can cause vibration, premature wear of components, and additional loading on bearings. The alignment process of the sheaves or sprockets can be accomplished using levels, straight edges, string, and/or laser systems. There are two types of misalignment: angular and parallel (offset). Parallel misalignment occurs when the driver and driven shafts are parallel, but the driven components, such as a sheaves, lie on two different planes. If the shafts are not parallel, then the drive has angular misalignment. There are two forms of angular misalignment: vertical and horizontal (Figure 2). The easiest way to correct parallel misalignment is to shift the driver, which is usually an electric motor, or to change the placement of the rotating components on their respective shafts.

Vertical angularity

Offset

Horizontal angularity

Alignment reference lines

source: Gates Corp.

Offset marks

Figure 3. Groove gauge in action

Figure 2. Types of misalignment

Angular vertical misalignment can be corrected by inserting or removing shims from under the front or back mounting pads of one of the machines. Angular horizontal misalignment can be corrected by shifting, preferably with pusher bolts, the driver’s position so that the shaft centerlines are parallel. A general guideline for v-belt drives is that they should have less than ½ degree of angularity and offset/parallel of 1/10” per foot of center distance. All synchronous belts and chain drives require alignment tolerances of half of that. Offset is easily measured by placing a straightedge across the face of rotating components; any gap is measured with a feeler gauge. Angularity can be measured by laying a straightedge across the face of the two components – and ideally having at least three points of contact. Measure the gaps with a feeler gauge and use the following formula: 57.3 × (big gap X minus small gap Y) divided by the distance between the measured gaps, which is usually close to the diameter.

be checked with a go/no-go gauge called a groove gauge (see Figure 3). Sprockets should be changed when noticeable wear occurs in the form of rounding or shark fining of the teeth. Never use a pry bar or a screwdriver to install belts. Their use may damage the tensile members and rotating components. The amount of TIR (total indicator runout) should be measured radially and axially and should not exceed .001” per inch of diameter. The radial TIR is a measure of roundness; axial TIR is a measure of wobble or side-to-side movement of the components when rotated. It results from not properly tightening the fasteners of the tapered bushing used to mount components. The fasteners should be alternately and gradually tightened to the recommended specifications using a torque wrench. An air wrench will cause uneven draw-up, creating a wobble in the sheave as it rotates. It may even burst spoke-type sheaves, especially if an anti-seize compound is applied to mating surfaces. It’s probably best if anti-seize material is left out of the equation entirely when installing bushed sheaves and sprockets.

CONDITION OF THE COMPONENTS

The drive’s foundation must be solid. Guards should be up to industry standards. The belts or chain should not be worn, glazed, or cracked. Avoid the use of belt dressing if at all possible – if you need it, there are problems with your drive. The sheaves should not be worn more than 1/32”; this can

TENSION

Tension is vital to all belting and chain drives. If there’s too little tension, slip, noise, heat, and vibration may occur. If there’s too much, the life of the belt, chain, and supporting bearings will be dramatically diminished. Several methods WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM FEBRUARY 2017 41

source: Gates Corp.

MAINTENANCE / ALIGNMENT

Figure 4. Scale-type tension tester

PS1702_40_42_Alignment_featr.indd 42

can be used to properly tension a vbelt or chain – none of these involves the thumb. For the roller chain, the amount of measured deflection at the midpoint between shafts is used to determine tension, and it works out to approximately ½” for every foot of center distance on horizontally mounted drives and half of that for vertical drives. With v-belts, you can measure belt elongation, calculate the deflection forces, use a sonic tester, or use a scaletype tension tester. Of these, the scaletype tension tester is the most affordable and the easiest to use (see Figure 4). The two variables when tightening v-belts are how far of a deflection and how much force. Belt manufacturers publish instructions for the proper use of the scale along with tables listing the amount of deflection at midpoint in pounds based on 1/64” per foot of span (center distance).

Introduce and perform A.C.T. procedures on your parallel drive systems. It’s all about the life of the components, and the better you maintain the drive, the longer it will operate efficiently and trouble-free. And remember… safety first! Richard R. Knotek is a technical training specialist with the Motion Institute, a division of Motion Industries. He has worked for 42 years with Motion Industries. A former adjunct instructor with Northern Michigan University’s industrial maintenance program, Knotek is also the published author of Mechanical Systems & Principles. For more information, visit www.motionindustries.com or video channel MiHow2.com. MiHow2 features educational videos such asRotating Equipment Alignment Basics, created to offer solutions for industrial applications.

2/16/17 12:59 PM

RELIABILITY / COMPRESSED AIR

5 TIPS FOR TACKLING COMPRESSED AIR by Neil Mehltretter, Kaeser Compressors

OPTIMIZATION

Here’s how to set yourself up for success with a compressed air optimization project

Chances are, your compressed air system is the lifeblood of your production line. And although compressed air is vital to production, compressed air optimization projects tend to be myopic, failing to take into account how each piece contributes to plant processes. A successful optimization project, by contrast, will allow time for analysis of the current state of the entire system. It will rely on a holistic approach to help personnel understand how individual components work together and impact overall efficiency. It will take into account leakage, maintenance, pressure control, and energy use, and will result in the creation of a customized plan to move forward. In short, it will depend on looking before you leap. Success with compressed air optimization requires some careful planning and strategy. Here are five tips for approaching one. 1. CONDUCT A SYSTEM ASSESSMENT

Before you start on the path of optimization, you need a reliable road map to guide your actions. Beginning with a thorough system assessment will help prevent missteps later on. A system assessment (also sometimes

Figure 1. A compressed air system assessment can identify production demand, total capacity, available capacity, and nonproductive loads.

referred to as a compressed air audit) will establish your plant’s demand profi le. A demand profi le can help you understand how much compressed air you are using, how much extra capacity you have, and also how plant demand changes over different shift s and days of the week. Many optimization projects begin

with the assumption that more capacity is needed. This is sometimes true, but it’s quite often the case that purchasing additional equipment would be wasteful. However, this is something that can be confirmed only by taking careful measurements over a period of time and then analyzing the data. See Figure 1 for one example: The WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM FEBRUARY 2017 43

RELIABILITY / COMPRESSED AIR

A leak detection program to find and fix leaks can add ongoing savings opportunities.

chart shows an actual demand profile from a manufacturing plant. The plant wanted to purchase additional compressors to address downtime and pressure fluctuation problems. It conducted an assessment to help determine the size and number of compressors needed. The actual findings, however, revealed that the plant was using only half of its available capacity and that leaks accounted for 45% of plant demand. In this case, the plant saved a considerable amount of money on energy, maintenance, and capital costs by addressing system issues instead of buying more compressors. As illustrated in the chart, an assessment can also identify nonproductive loads, such as leaks. Although it will not show the amount and location of each individual leak (this is something that can only be done with a leak detection audit), it can give an overview of the amount of air you are wasting to leaks. If you know that your plant has a high leak load, you may want to conduct a leak detection audit to identify the leaks and fix them prior to conducting the compressed air assessment, as this will give you a much more accurate demand profile. Further, fixing leaks provides immediate savings – something that can go a long way in persuading upper management to proceed with additional energy-efficiency initiatives. A single quarter-inch 44

FEBRUARY 2017 WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM

leak for a system running at 110 psig, 8,760 hours a year, and $0.10/kWh costs $17,818 annually. And that’s just one leak. Think of how many you probably have in your system – the savings potential is huge. 2. GET BUY-IN

Having the best plan of action for your energy-efficiency improvements means absolutely nothing if you don’t have the support from key decision-makers to implement the changes. Unless you control all of the resources necessary to source, select, purchase, and install new equipment or make changes to existing equipment, you need to begin your optimization project by getting buy-in from those who do. Getting buy-in from the start will pave your optimization project with more than just good intentions. This is how many projects get derailed before they begin. Plants may conduct an assessment or have a consultant make recommendations for improvements, but when it comes time to put those recommendations into practice, they never follow through. The report is emailed for review, lost in the black hole of inboxes, and ultimately forgotten (or ignored). If, however, you begin by getting everyone on board with the optimization project and you

work together to set specific, realistic goals, your project will have a much better chance of success. The compressed air assessment will provide you with cold, hard truths about your system and will explain the system in terms upper management understands: cold, hard cash. The assessment will provide energy saving recommendations and different options for obtaining different levels of savings. Use the language of dollar signs to communicate with management, and don’t forget to include cost savings for maintenance and downtime. This is especially important if you are looking at replacing aging equipment and your production demands cannot tolerate downtime. Often, the cost of downtime for compressed air equipment can exceed the cost of a backup compressor. Plus, the extra savings resulting from using your compressor as a heat source either for space heating or process water heating can far exceed any energy-efficiency savings potential.

3. FIX THE LEAKS

We’ve already mentioned the cost of leaks, but it bears repeating: Failing to fi x the leaks in your system is leaving money – potentially a lot of it – on the table. The U.S. Energy Department estimates that as much as half of all compressed air generated is wasted, with around 25% going to leaks. And that is a conservative estimate; we’ve seen plants with leak loads as high as 50%. Because fi xing leaks provides immediate savings and leaks are an ongoing concern for every compressed air system, consider adding a leakdetection program as part of your optimization project. A comprehensive leak-detection program will consist of annual leak detection and a specific plan for tagging leaks and repairing them based on their size. Education is also key to a leak-detection program’s success. Empowering employees to be vigilant in monitoring piping, hoses, and quick-release fittings will pay dividends when it comes to leak detection. That single quarter-inch leak

Don’t neglect piping with an optimization project.

costing $17,818 annually could be in the form of a ball valve cracked open on a receiver. A no-loss air drain, by contrast, could be installed typically for less than $1,000. That would be a great return on investment! 4. THINK LONG-TERM

When it’s finally time to implement changes to your existing system based on the assessment results, it’s important to think long-term. Avoid the temptation to simply grab existing equipment from other plants or to use something that you can get for a deal at an auction. Think long-term and make sure you select the right equipment for the right reasons. This may mean more than taking any old compressor that can produce the required amount of flow to meet the demand stated in the assessment charts. There are other factors to take into account. Consider, for example, the compressor’s communications capabilities. With the advances in technology and the emergence of the IIoT, now more than ever it’s important to understand how purchasing decisions today will impact the plant five and 10 years down the road. Take a look at how the compressor can communicate with the plant and with a system master controller. Without a system master controller, you won’t be able to achieve maximum efficiency as the compressors will run independently (causing multiple units to cycle unnecessarily) and typically operate the system at a higher pressure than required. In addition, system master controllers offer robust remote monitoring, energy monitoring, and predictive maintenance capabilities. Having equipment that easily connects to these controllers will save a lot of headaches as plants move toward the realization of the “smart factory” concept. Secondly, part of thinking longterm is understanding the cause-andeffect relationship of your system’s issues. Don’t focus only on the problem WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM FEBRUARY 2017 45

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RELIABILITY / COMPRESSED AIR

in front of you: There may be underlying issues in need of a fix. Once these are addressed, you could end up saving a lot of money over a number of years. Low pressure is a common compressed air problem, and many plants respond by increasing system operating pressure or adding compressors. If, however, the pressure at the point where the air leaves the last air treatment component or the storage receiver is greater than 5 psig above the real requirement of the point-of-use equipment, the actual problem is probably with the distribution system. The piping could be undersized; it could be leaking; or poor connection practices could be in place.

Don’t focus only on the problem in front of you. Keep in mind that every 2-psig increase in system pressure costs an extra 1% in compressor efficiency. Cranking up the system pressure may be a quick fix, but it will cost you a lot more in the long run than addressing the actual problem with the piping would. 5. CONFIRM THE CHANGES ARE WORKING

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After you’ve implemented the changes based on the assessment findings, check to make sure they are as effective as anticipated. This can be done with a follow-up assessment. Depending on the system size, it’s good practice to conduct an assessment annually given that demand can change over time. Another option would be to utilize the equipment’s built-in energy monitoring capabilities. Some compressors can save performance data for later download and analysis. Better still, advanced system master controllers can record data for the entire system – pressure, flow, temperature, and energy – analyze it, and generate reports on demand. This is an invaluable tool for proactive energy management and also for compliance with ISO 50001 energy management standards. Whatever route you take, be deliberate about confirming the changes’ effectiveness and about monitoring system energy consumption on a regular basis. This is an exciting time in manufacturing as plants move to improve processes and embrace new technology to improve their business. Using compressed air assessments as a tool to understand your system and to explain system performance to upper management can mean the difference between a fully realized optimized project and a dead end. Neil Mehltretter is engineering manager for Kaeser Compressors (www.us.kaeser.com). He manages design and engineering services for Kaeser, including energy improvements and compressed air selection. Contact him at neil.mehltretter@kaeser.com.

PRODUCT ROUNDUP

LUBRICATION Increase equipment reliability, from visual inspection to contamination control DES-CASE SIGHT GLASS

Des-Case Corp. has launched a redesigned oil sight glass (OSG) that is designed to push the boundaries of what oil sight glasses can do. A clear cylinder that installs in the drain port of the oil reservoir of pumps, gearboxes, bearing housings, and other pieces of equipment, the sight glass provides continuous fluid monitoring of the clarity, color, sediment, and water contamination of the equipment’s oil. Most OSGs have clear bottoms, making it more difficult to visually detect the presence of sediment in oil. DesCase’s OSG has a white bottom that makes detection far easier and more reliable. The redesigned device also has a dual-mount versatility for use in both horizontal and vertical applications, and the sight glass’s polyamide casing not only provides a crystalclear view of the oil but also is strong enough to withstand the toughest environments. Des-Case www.descase.com FOOD-GRADE SPRAY LUBRICANT WITH FOAM TECHNOLOGY

Klüber Lubrication introduces Klübersynth NH1 4-68 Foam Spray, an NSF H1-registered product suitable for the lubrication of spindles, open gears, hinges, sliding rails, and chains. Klübersynth NH1 4-68 Foam Spray offers excellent adhesiveness by using the foam to hold the lubricant at the friction point and reduce wear. The innovative foam technology of the spray allows for easy overhead application without dripping, avoiding unwanted contamination of surrounding components and surfaces. Klübersynth NH1 4-68 Foam Spray is available in a convenient aerosol spray and allows for application directly to friction points to maximize the effect of the lubricant’s performance. Klüber Lubrication www.klubersolutions.com M-106 / M-400 MATERIALS FOR SUBMERGED APPLICATIONS

Metallized Carbon Corp. offers its Metcar grades M-106 and M-400 resin impregnated carbon-graphite materials for mechanical parts that must run submerged in liquids. These materials replace oil-grease lubricated parts in submerged applications where oil-grease lubricants could dissolve,

wash away, or contaminate the product being handled. Operating at temperatures up to 500°F, these materials are self-lubricating throughout, are nongalling, self-polishing, dimensionally stable, and high in compressive strength. Rubbing or sliding parts made from these materials provide low friction and long wear life. Additionally, these materials are chemically resistant to all liquids except for extremely strong oxidizing acids and alkalis. Metcar Grades M-400 and M-106 are also “GRAS,” generally recognized as safe, by the FDA for food processing applications. Metallized Carbon Corp. www.metcar.com BIO-SYNXTREME HYDRAULIC FLUID SERIES

These hydraulic fluids from Lubriplate are designed for demanding industrial and marine applications that require environmental sensitivity, fire resistance and excellent anti-wear properties over wide temperature ranges. They are polyalkylene glycol (PAG)-based fluids that are water-free. They do not break down to form sludge and they do not hydrolyze in the presence of water. They do not cause sheen or discoloration on the surface of the water. They are VGPcompliant, environmentally acceptable lubricants. Lubriplate www.lubriplate.com PROFLO USB-IR ADAPTOR AND ASSIST SOFTWARE

Compressor Products International (CPI) introduced the Proflo USB-IR Adaptor and Assist Software for condition monitoring of reciprocating compressor lubrication equipment. The software reads and transfers information from the Proflo PF1 monitoring device, which records the average cycle time for each 30-minute block of lubrication system operation to a laptop, tablet, or other USB-equipped device through the use of infrared technology. The CPI Proflo Condition Monitoring Tool and Software monitors a compressor lubrication system, alerting an operator or engaging shutdown protection based on the cycle time of the system. CPI www.CPIcompression.com WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM FEBRUARY 2017 47

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A3 Association for Advancing Automation. . . . . . . . 51 Allied Electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Atlas Copco Compressors . . . . . 42 AutomationDirect.com. . . . . . . . . 2 AVO Training Institute. . . . . . . . 10 Endress + Hauser. . . . . . . . . . . 13 Eventful Conferences . . . . . 29,46

La-Man. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Life Cycle Engineering. . . . . . . . . 4 MARCON 2017 . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Mobius Institute. . . . . . . . . . . . 14 NLB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Noria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Quincy Compressor. . . . . . . . . . . 3

Fluke. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Rabalais Instrument & Electrical Constructors. . . . . . 17

IMVAC 2017 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

SPM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Kaeser Compressors. . . . . . . . . 52

SPX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

SALES OFFICES MIKE BRENNER, GROUP PUBLISHER AR, AZ, Northern CA, CO, ID, IL, MN, MT, NE, NV, NM, ND, OK, OR, SD, UT, WA, WI, WY Phone: (630) 467-1300, ext. 487 Fax: (630) 467-1120 e-mail: mbrenner@putman.net BETH ROLFE, REGIONAL SALES MANAGER AL, Southern CA, CT, DE, FL, GA, LA, ME, MD, MA, MS, NH, NJ, NY, NC, PA, RI, SC, TX, VT, VA, DC, WV Phone: (630) 467-1300, ext.440 Fax: (630) 467-1120 e-mail: Brolfe@putman.net

FEBRUARY 2017 WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM

MICHAEL CONNAUGHTON, ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE IA, IN, KS, KY, MI, MO, OH, TN, Canada, Literature Reviews, Inside Print and Digital Sales Phone: (513) 543-6432 Fax: (630) 467-1120 e-mail: mconnaughton@putman.net POLLY DICKSON, INSIDE SALES MANAGER Classifieds Phone: (630) 467-1300, ext.396 Fax: (630) 467-1120 e-mail: pdickson@putman.net

SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION (888) 644-1803 or (847) 559-7360 REPRINTS RHONDA BROWN Reprints Marketing Manager Foster Reprints (866) 879-9144 ext.194 rhondab@fosterprinting.com PUTMAN MEDIA, INC. 1501 E. Woodfield Rd. Suite 400N Schaumburg, IL 60173 Phone: (630) 467-1300

1.866.643.1010 ClearSpan.com/ADPS2

WE MANUFACTURE t WE INSTALL WE SAVE YOU MONEY BUILDINGS OF 1,000 USES

Fabric Structures Natural Light & Low Cost Per Sq Ft

Hybrid Buildings Benefits of Metal & Fabric Buildings

Foundation Solutions Build Anywhere & Quick Construction

ZERO PERCENT FINANCING AVAILABLE ADVERTISE IN PLANT SERVICES CLASSIFIEDS

RESTRICTIONS MAY APPLY

OIL MIST & SMOKE IN YOUR SHOP?

Contact Polly Dickson at 630.467.1300 x.396

www.mistcollectors.com Tel: 1-800-645-4174

MRO MARKETPLACE YOUR SAFETY PROGRAM STARTS HERE Occupational Safety and Health provides an overview of potential workplace hazards, necessary safety practices, and how various processes need to be managed in order to maintain a safe workplace. This reference is designed for use in introductory safety courses and by professionals who want to advance in the ﬁeld as well as individuals who need to understand and implement safety programs. 708-957-1100 x304 • www.atplearning.com American Technical Publishers

WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM FEBRUARY 2017

BIG PICTURE INTERVIEW

HOW TO OPTIMIZE ADDING A NEW LINE Get the right people involved at the right time when you’re expanding production David Heubel is manufacturing engineering supervisor for Endress+Hauser Flowtec A.G. Division USA (www.us.endress.com) in the company’s Greenwood, IN, facility. In January, the company debuted its Proline 300/500 smart Coriolis mass and electromagnetic flow instruments; the tools feature innovations to the existing Proline product line, including remedy-based diagnostics that identify the steps needed to resolve particular events. Heubel spoke recently with Plant Services about the maintenance and reliability challenges associated with starting up new product lines while keeping existing lines going.

PS You’ve talk about the need to do the small things today that prevent big headaches tomorrow. What does that look like for maintenance teams when it comes to adding a new production line? DH The most important thing in bringing on a new product line or with any project for us is getting involved as early as possible. We don’t want one person driving, and I want maintenance involved early. We calculated that we have in the maintenance department more than 140 years of experience. So we have a lot of stuff to bring to the table, and we’re able to identify and mitigate design issues if we can get involved early. We also want to make sure that we’re getting maintenance instructions in place and preventive maintenance, spare parts, training, and all of that done before the machine even shows up to be installed. PS How many people, then, are on your facility’s overall project team for adding a new line? DH There are two project leaders and about 20 people between production, engineering, and other management who are involved in it. Particularly on new products and machine launches and such, we try to put a technician onto each launch team so that rather than the team lead trying to interpret needs and time and everything, the guy that’s actually going to do the work is sitting in there. And then he can walk out and go, hey, this is going to take us about 20 hours to get this done. PS That gets to a great point – creating accurate timelines for launching a new line or expanding capacity is a big challenge. DH It was a problem for us. I used to be the person who was always in the meetings. I’d been in engineering for quite a 50

FEBRUARY 2017 WWW.PLANTSERVICES.COM

few years, and I hadn’t been on the floor that much. I was estimating time. The guys were coming back to me upset with me because I was setting unrealistic targets. So we decided from that point in time that any time there’s a project team formed, I’m sending the team lead and the actual technician who’s going to do the work. I also let that technician go out to do evaluations. We give him time to go out and make a materials list, do any interpretations of the designs, and estimate his time. PS That kind of proactive mentality and collaborative approach, is a crucial part of a total productive maintenance strategy, which you’ve been working to implement. What has TPM meant for your facility? DH A big part of TPM is going from “operators operate and maintainers maintain” to “we all are responsible for this machine.” It’s not an easy job. We’ve got a lot of operators that are very motivated and want to help and want to get involved and want to learn. But there’s always a few that only want to do what they’ve been trained to do up until today. Our operators aren’t to the point yet where they’re making adjustments to the machines. But there will be a point in time where that is going to be the expectation as their skills and abilities grow. PS With earlier detection of possible issues with equipment and operators getting involved in reliability-centered maintenance, that changes the maintenance dynamic. There are a lot of maintenance crews out there that are expert 911 fixers. Was that the case for your team, and how has that changed? DH Yeah, that’s were we were at. With the introduction of TPM, we’ve been able to take emergencies down from about 30% of our overall department time two years ago to 12% right now. The goal is to get it down to 5% or less.

APRIL 3-6, 2017 | MCCORMICK PLACE | CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

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COMPRESSORS

Sweet Savings! A compressed air audit opens a world of savings opportunities PROBLEM:

One of the world’s leading candy and gum manufacturers had no idea how much their compressed air system was costing them. Four compressors (totaling 290 hp) supplied the air needed for pneumatic controls, packaging, and wax line extrusion applications. Excessive water in the compressed air lines, steep maintenance costs, and high noise levels had them looking for a new solution.

SOLUTION: A comprehensive Air Demand Analysis (ADA) established a demand profile for the plant and showed how they were using compressed air throughout the week. It also identified areas of waste and inefficiency. By installing a 100 hp variable frequency drive compressor and two 75 hp fixed speed compressors, they would have all the air needed—with one of the fixed speeds acting as a back-up. This split system solution would bring energy—and noise levels—well under control. A Sigma Air Manager 4.0 master controller could provide on demand energy reports so they would always know how their system was performing and what it was costing.

RESULT:

In just over 9.5 months, the project has paid for itself. Annual energy costs

have been cut by more than 800,000 kWh. Part of these savings came from reducing the plant pressure from 125 psi to 100 psi. Additionally, the new energy efficient dryers installed have taken care of the moisture concerns. Needless to say, these savings couldn’t get any sweeter.

Specific Power of Previous System: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47.16 kW/100 cfm Specific Power of New System: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17.77 kW/100 cfm Annual Energy Cost of Previous System: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $128,756 TOTAL ANNUAL ENERGY SAVINGS: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $80,235 Utility Incentive: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $80,200

Let us help you measure and manage your compressed air costs!

Kaeser Compressors, Inc. • 866-516-6888 • us.kaeser.com/PS Built for a lifetime is a trademark of Kaeser Compressors, Inc.

customer.us@kaeser.com