FUNDAMENTALS
Edited by Paul J. Heney • VP, Editorial Director
Ensure that your leak tag system is working Leakage is usually a significant add-on to the cost of operating any compressed air system. Almost every factory employee knows there are air leaks, and often can identify where the big ones are — but the follow-through on this knowledge is often a problem. This is where a good system of leakage detection and repair comes in handy. During a recent visit to an industrial plant, an auditor heard from the plant manager about their excellent leak tag system — well, at least he thought it was excellent and fool-proof. All employees had the option of identifying leakage using an innovative inhouse leak tag system. Whenever a leak was identified, the employee could grab a leak tag from a tag bin and fill it out, identifying the location and severity, and hang it on the leak. A perforated part of the tag would then be ripped off the main tag and put in the maintenance department’s mailbox for repair. This sounded like a great system until the auditor started looking, or rather listening more closely. Leaks were everywhere in this plant and no tags were to be found. A quick check of the compressor during non-production time showed the plant compressor was 60% loaded, even while the plant production machines were idle. The auditor asked about seeing what the plant’s innovative tags looked like, but it seemed as if nobody knew where they were. Finally, they were located under the maintenance manager’s desk. It seemed like the tags were a good idea at the time, but the tag and repair system was not really a system, because it lacked follow-through. This sort of problem is not uncommon; the auditor regularly sees numerous leak tags flapping in the breeze from major leaks in sites he visits, sometimes years after the leaks were identified.
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FLUID POWER WORLD
Fundamentals_FPW_6-19_V3 MG.indd 30
6 • 2019
A leak tag system needs to be followed through until repairs are completed.
www.fluidpowerworld.com
6/13/19 1:10 PM
