Features
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Acquiring skills for future automated processes
The shift to automated processes brings mixed blessings. Savings and efficiencies are offset by new challenges, including skills training and new product specifications.
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The next phase in industrial dust explosion protection
For a wide range of facilities that manufacture, process, blend, convey, repackage, generate or handle items that could be categorized as combustible dusts or particulate solids, new NFPA Standards and even the first deadline to conduct a dust hazard analysis…
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Track progress by keeping a close eye on production rates and yield
A SCADA solution is intended as a platform for continuous improvement. It eliminates the lag between the collection of data and the availability of that information to inform decision-making.
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Benefits of rental equipment
Dayton, Ohio – A common problem among growing companies is whether purchasing heavy equipment needed on the job really saves money or if renting is the wisest way to go. There is a lot of research out there on this…
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A laser alignment trainer passes along wisdom on skilling up, giving back
A laser alignment trainer joins a trade school advisory board and shares his experience with the next generation.
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Corrosion-resistant plastic cooling towers cut costs for sintering operations
When it comes to process cooling, few industries rely on the application of heat as much as the sintering process in powder metal manufacturing. With temperatures in the “high-heat” section of a sintering furnace reaching several thousand degrees Fahrenheit, the…
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A maintenance manager builds her risk-management skills
Suzane Greeman is a seasoned maintenance professional who set out to master asset management and learned how to apply risk mitigation to maintenance.
Paving the way forward for digital maintenance
Further digitalization of established technologies such as condition monitoring and smart sensors could have a revolutionary effect on manufacturing, says Bernie van Leeuwen, Director Product Management Digitalization at SKF.
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Work Orders – Make sense of maintenance, storeroom and purchasing reports
Knowing the requirements and creating the right reports from the get-go will allow maintainers to perform relevant tasks.
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Showstoppers – IFPE 2017 post-show roundup
Fluid power innovations at IFPE confirmed that keeping pace with technology is critical for the industry’s success.
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An emergency response plan speeds up return to normal operations
As the new wildfire season began on March 1, Fort McMurray residents were still reeling about the wildfire that razed the northern Alberta community last year. After sweeping through the city, the wildfire, dubbed “the beast,” would destroy about 2,400…
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Abrasive blasting operation improves safety with heavy duty vacuuming system
Replacing manual removal of steel shot with vacuuming to handle ergonomic concern reduces unscheduled downtime by 80 per cent, manpower by more than 50 per cent and provides more efficient maintenance of cleaner environment.
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High Rollers – large bearings make their rounds
In a quest to find the oldest bearing, we marvelled at the fact that the Ancient Egyptians used a form of roller bearings to help move massive bricks during the construction of the pyramids. But we were hardly surprised. Why…
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What’s Up Doug? Where did that bearing come from?
With globalization, traditional perceptions of what is a good bearing and what is not has become clouded. In addition, counterfeiters go the extra distance to replicate bearings leaving end-users with ever more concerns about what’s real and what’s fake. So…
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Optimizing reliability centered maintenance
Reliability Centered Maintenance methods compliant with the SAE standard JA-1011 (“Evaluation Criteria for RCM Processes”) all have common features – they must, or they won’t comply with the standard. Those requirements are “minimum” requirements, as they are with any standard. RCM-R complies. But what makes it different and why?
IIoT and RCM3: Digital Transformation spawns new approach to Reliability Centered Maintenance
Reliability centered maintenance (RCM) is a rigorous optimization process for asset-intensive organizations. Typically, assets covered by an RCM initiative are mission critical because of the requirements for health, safety and the environment (HSE), but also because of the financial impacts of downtime.
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What maintenance professionals should know about tribology
The study of friction, wear, and lubrication – otherwise known as Tribology – is of enormous practical importance to industrial maintenance professionals because it can not only optimize functionality but also help prolong the life of mechanical equipment. However, there…
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Test & Rewind – Electric motor maintenance
Regular inspections, maintenance and finding the right shop to repair critical motors will reduce costly, unplanned shutdowns.
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What’s Up Doug? Prevention of electrical damage in variable frequency drive motors
When I first joined the industry in 1987, bearing damage from current leakage was rarely seen. I can still remember who the first person was that showed me the first case of current leakage – and that was about 1996…
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Roll-In replacement circuit breakers provide refurbishment options that minimize downtime
Aging electrical power distribution systems often contain legacy switchgear that have reached end-of-life conditions. Preventative maintenance shutdowns can prove difficult and cause concern about not being able to reclose circuit breakers and restore power when the shutdown is complete. With…
