Ask The Experts

PlantServices.com has assembled a roster of leading authorities in many fields to help you address technical issues. Send your industrial plant maintenance and asset management question to us via one of the categories below. We'll direct it to one or more experts in the field and send you their full response. While you must include your name, title, company, its location (city/state), and e-mail address, this information will not be published. If you wish, you may have your inquiry "cloaked" so that not even our experts will know who you are.

Compressors and compressed gas systems
Hank, Scott and Don van Ormer, AirPower USA
Compressed air, the so-called fourth utility, is a standard part of nearly every manufacturing plant in this country. Most of them are trying to minimize the unit cost of each cubic foot of air while maximizing the air system reliability and efficiency. It’s a tough job, but it can be done. Contact our expert, not for high pressure, but plain-spoken straight advice.
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Computerized maintenance management systems
David Berger, P.Eng., Western Management Consultants
It may be merely a glorified database, but a CMMS can guide the entire maintenance operation at plants both large and small. Enter data accurately and completely, and the software will be your faithful servant in helping to achieve the competitive edge you need in a world market. Send your question and use the advice to operate an omniscient database.
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Electric power, motors & drives
Benjamin D. Miller, P.E., B. Miller Engineering
The ubiquitous prime mover we call a motor needs support from quite a bit of additional infrastructure and technology. Here is where you can learn to make the connection and put those horses to work in the most efficient manner. Send a question and get a spark of inspiration from our experts.
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Fluid handling systems
Dr. Lev Nelik, P.E., Pumping Machinery LLC
Moving a liquid from point A to point B efficiently and reliably is a common activity at most manufacturing plants. Come back here when the industrial arteries that keep your plant’s lifeblood flowing need some attention. Don’t just go with the flow when you can have a professional’s opinion.
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Instrumentation & control
Béla Lipták, Bela Liptak Associates
The wiring, software and hardware that forms the information path connecting a sensor to the boardroom is a big part of the productivity improvement that keeps American manufacturing plants healthy. These systems get more sophisticated by the day. Include our expert in your network of resources when difficulties arise.
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Management
Ricky Smith, CMRP, CPMM, Maxzor
The soft science that too often includes the hardest problems for technical professionals to solve, management issues are critical: Without good management, nothing can be well done. Whether top-down, bottom-up or peer-to-peer, pose your industrial maintenance and engineering-related management questions here.
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Reliability (predictive technologies and failure mode analysis)
R. Keith Mobley, CMRP, Life Cycle Engineering
Run to failure is no longer an option. You must know when an asset is going to become problematic and have the appropriate solution in place to capitalize on a planned outage. Don’t let a lack of information be the root cause of your difficulties.
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Safety
Gary Glader, CSP, Network Safety Consultants
Avoid harming your most valuable asset, the people who make your plant hum along generating profit. Lost time and accidents can drag down the performance of even the best plants. Here’s where you get ironclad advice from someone who knows how to make the world a safer place.
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Training
Joel Leonard, MPACT Learning Center
A person can never get too much education or training. Properly armed, the human mind can solve any problem that is keeping the plant from achieving world-class performance. If your crew needs new thinking caps, you’ll definitely learn something from our expert.
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Challenge us
Russ Kratowicz, P.E., and Paul Studebaker, CMRP, Plant Services
Not every question falls into a neat category, or at least not one of the above. But that certainly doesn’t mean it can’t or shouldn’t be answered. Here’s the place to pose those thorny problems that appear to be outside the purview of our avowed experts.
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