Challenges answered with advice

t has been a busy and challenging period for us at the magazine over the past couple of months. There have been many industry events to attend and interesting stories to cover. It’s a symptom of the time of year, it seems.

These circumstances have helped to make our June issue a pretty compelling read. For us, it really comes to light when we do a final proofreading of the whole issue, even after all our careful pre-planning. Up to that stage, we mainly concentrate on individual stories and pages.

And although our contents page lists every major article in the magazine, there are a few I want to highlight specifically for you. First, our cover feature on Abitibi-Consolidated’s Belgo paper mill in Shawinigan, Que., is a fascinating and informative read. With a huge facility and more than 90,000 pieces of equipment to maintain, the Belgo team is constantly learning and improving, and I think you’ll pick up some useful insights from this case study.

There’s additional practical advice in Peter Phillips’ column on how to manage your work order system using computerized maintenance management software, with several handy tips to keep it under control based on his on-the-job experiences. If you feel your work orders are out of control, you’ll see that you’re not alone, and Phillips has plenty of advice to get back the order you need.

Further advice comes from Cliff Williams, who provides an analysis of the relationship between Lean manufacturing and Lean maintenance practices. Follow the concepts here and you’ll find maintenance productivity soaring.

Another way to raise productivity, reports Safety File columnist Simon Fridlyand, is to bolster efforts related to occupational health and safety. He refers to case studies that show how safety programs pay back way more than they cost.

A highlight of this issue is our Made in Canada report, where we talk with companies that are making great industrial products here. These features are supplemented by a special Product News section highlighting several items that bear the Made in Canada stamp.

If you’re involved in the power transmission industry, check out the photo montages and reports from recent meetings of the Bearing Specialists Association and the Power Transmission Distributors Association that we attended. You’re sure to see some familiar faces.

Finally, we hope you’ll take a careful look at the accompanying issue of our Industrial Lubrication supplement, where you’ll find more news, feature articles and products of interest to those whose work relates to lubrication, tribology and hydraulics.

Our next issue will be coming to you from a new location, as we’re moving offices in August. While it may be chaotic around here, it will also give us a chance to clean up some of those stagnant work orders of our own and boost our own productivity. After all, we believe in taking our own advice.

Bill Roebuck
Editor & Associate Publisher