Mar 01, 2013

The Voice of the Internet

Orion "The Big O" Samuelson might be a national treasure, but he's a Midwestern icon. He is best known for hosting the U.S. Farm Report and was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2003. But those of us who grew up in the Chicagoland area know him as the first person we ever heard say, "pork bellies." He was the guy on that radio station old people listened to. Our parents or grandparents would have it playing on the clock radio in the kitchen every morning and sometimes all day long.

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Apr 24, 2013

Your April 2013 Plant Services magazine is online and ready to view

Plant Services is an MRO (maintain, repair, replace, retrofit, overhaul and operations) publication that features problem-solving editorials and articles related to a variety of plant issues. Plant Services magazine features articles, news items and case histories written by industry insiders, including David Berger, Peter Garforth, Sheila Kennedy, Tom Moriarty and more.

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Jun 12, 2008

How would you stimulate the economy?

Those of us who live in the United States probably have or will soon receive a check from the U.S. Treasury, issued as part of the government's economic stimulus act. I expect mine any day now, but I haven't decided how to use it, so I ask you, our wise, worldly and experienced Plant Services readers – what do you think I should do with it?

How can we spend our stimulus checks in a way that will do the most for our economy?

What other ways to improve the economy would you recommend?

The idea here is to spend it in a way that grows the economy. Should I roll the dice with some stock in an es ...

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Nov 03, 2010

10 Tips on How to Use Your Eyeometer

I was musing with an old industry friend the other day about condition monitoring. He and I both have strong roots in condition monitoring dating back to about 1990. During those early days, we were enamored by the sex appeal of high-end condition monitoring techniques and technologies. We loved the bells and whistles.

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Mar 20, 2012

Is cutting technology costs good for your plant?

You've see the financial and economic news that we all see, thanks to the folks working in the media. Although this country is still in the economic doldrums, at least the situation seems to have stabilized at a plateau that's somewhat lower than what we'd all prefer to see.

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Oct 24, 2012

Learning lean practices at AME Chicago 2012

I had the pleasure of attending AME Chicago 2012 last week. Despite the rather dreary weather, the atmosphere inside the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers was one of optimism, intrigue and camaraderie. Lean manufacturing is not a new concept, but rather an evolving mindset that takes time to implement and even more time to sustain, and the attendees bustling from one presentation to another were eager to learn from their peers' real-world experiences.

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Mar 05, 2013

3 Steps for Tapping into Sneaky Maintenance Data

A fully populated CMMS with complete bills of materials (BOM) and spare parts inventory records for all assets is a beautiful thing. If it is complete with transaction records assigning labor and material cost to assets and linking everything to production loss records and maintenance work instructions, life is very good indeed. In fact, if you'll show me that island we'll go there. The first round of umbrella drinks is on me.

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Dec 20, 2012

Prognosticators are normally wrong- predict your own successful future!

Here we are on the eve the latest end of the world prediction, I can't help but recall an incident while in college where someone interpreted a Nostradamus quadrain and predicted that a mass murder would occur at a university that is perpendicular to train tracks in a certain area of latitude and longitude on a Friday morning on March of 1986.

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