Many years ago, the vice president of a major steam turbine manufacturing company was called to give a legal deposition in Canada. It had been alleged that oversights or engineering malpractice by his firm had caused issues with the companys mechanical-drive steam turbines. During the unavoidable back-and-forth arguments, the VP made the statement that the same problems tend to reappear in 30-year cycles. In essence, he believed that corporations have memories that go blank every 30 years. A recent email from a reader reminded the author of the VPs 30-year cycle comment. The reader wrote: I work for a well-known petroleum company, and have a role in a project that focuses on designing our maintenance strategy for 2020 and beyond. It had me wondering whether you could point us in a few right directions. Here are my three questions: 1. Which companies are standing out as the worlds leading practitioners of maintenance excellence? 2. After viewing our present-day involvement and realistic oil and gas industry environment (increasing complexity, safety challenges, catastrophic risks, etc.), are there any specific thought leaders you might point out? 3. Where in US academia is the best research and thinking going on in the maintenance area? I knew that the readers employer was counted among the very best-run companies roughly 30 years ago. Then, somebody discovered the catchy term lean and mean, and claimed that reducing the number of subject matter experts (SMEs) on the employers payroll was a smart move. The heads of the company had been misled, to say the least. However, I decided to reply to the reader and share my experience-based comments with interested managers and reliability engineers who read this publication. My answers to the readers questions, and some additional points, are outlined here: 1. Best and/or leading companies are those that groom their own talent, pay them well, give them a written role statement, and then hold these maintenance and reliability personnel accountable. 2. There has never been, nor will there ever be, a good substitute for guided learning. The expense and responsibility for learning must be shared equally between employer and employee. 3. Truly exceptional companies are those that realize that learning begins after graduating from college or university. Therefore, these companies institutionalize a rigorous training program. This training is mapped
out in extensive detail and consists of four phases.
Within each phase, there are activities such as (Phase 1) shared reviewing of trade journals, and (Phase 2) conducting shirt-sleeve seminars for maintenance/technical employees and participation in structured weekly meetings with operator/ maintenance/technical representatives. Training also includes (Phase 3) giving presentations to a plant steering committee, attending local evening events for ASME/STLE/Vibration Institute meetings, and being involved in organizing lunch-and-learn sessions with the emphasis on learn, not lunch. Most of these training activities cost next to nothing and precede Phase 4attending out-of-state technical conferences. 4. There is no Internet only approach; also, no magic bullet will ever lead to best-of-class performance. Only a consistently pursued training approach will yield excellence in the highly interdependent areas of safety, reliability and maintenance cost effectiveness. 5. Reliability and maintenance cost effectiveness always start with a cost-estimating manual with prices for reliable equipmentnot just the bare-bones, cheapestavailable equipment. Projects use lists of competent vendors, sound specifications and a budget that includes the outlays needed for machinery quality assessment. 6. While at least three US universities offer a maintenance curriculum or degree, there are good reasons why the remaining hundreds of universities are not offering such curricula. When all is said and done, an employee must have the desire and motivation to be a top performer. So, hire, reward and further train those who wish to excel. They are the doers, not the talkers. What ultimately causes a few individuals and a few companies to become leaders in the maintenance and reliability fields is worth acknowledging. But, unless acted upon by responsible, fair-minded managers (who will then fight for drastic changes in the prevailing mindsets), lessons will have to be relearned every 30 years. The VP gave us this admonition after all the lawyers had left the room. HEINZ P. BLOCH resides in Westminster, Colorado. His professional career commenced in 1962 and included long-term assignments as Exxon Chemicals regional machinery specialist for the US. He has authored over 620 publications, among them 19 comprehensive books on practical machinery management, failure analysis, failure avoidance, compressors, steam turbines, pumps, oil-mist lubrication and practical lubrication for industry. Mr. Bloch holds BS and MS degrees in mechanical engineering. He is an ASME life fellow, and maintains registration as a professional engineer in New Jersey and Texas. Hydrocarbon Processing|DECEMBER 201523
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