News

Posted On: 02/16/2006

How to enter the Plant Services Best Practices Awards competition

PlantServices.com

Our Best Practices Awards recognize management techniques, work processes, product and service implementations as expressed in a short application story. The contest is open to anyone with a good story and the right to tell it.

Plant Services subscribers will be given the opportunity read the story, weigh its usefulness and value to industrial plant performance, maintenance, reliability and asset management, and vote for the best applications.

Stories that meet these guidelines will be posted on www.plantservices.com, announced via our e-newsletters and in the magazine, and included in our electronic ballot system. Voting will take place in October, and winners will be published early the next year. Awards will be made to the implementing facility and, where applicable, the primary product or service provider.

The entry deadline is September 1.

Guidelines for entries

Entries are to be in the form of short articles describing implementation of a maintenance or asset management practice, service or product in an industrial facility. Winners will be chosen by Plant Services subscribers instructed to judge on the basis of short- and long-term return on investment, innovation and breadth of applicability. Awards will be made in appropriate practice, product and service categories dependent on the number and nature of entries.

Articles should focus on ROI, problem-solving, technology and implementation. Some points to include:

1. Background information on the situation: facility type, name, location, size, problem, etc.
2. Elements of the analysis that led to the implementation.
3. Critical aspects of the implementation that contributed to its selection and success.
4. Any problems encountered during the implementation along with an explanation of how these problems were addressed.
5. Quantitative results: reliability (MTBR), cost savings, ROI, payback, etc. Qualitative results may be given if quantitative results are unavailable.

Articles should not exceed 1,200 words. Graphics (photos, tables, charts, graphs, etc.) are encouraged.

Include a short abstract of points 1, 3 and 5 that does not exceed 250 words.

Deliver the article as a Microsoft Word or similar text document and provide any photos at minimum 3x3 inches at 300 dpi (900x900 pixels) in any format. Preferred formats for charts, graphs and drawings are image or Excel files, but may be delivered in any format including data tables.

Plant Services reserves the right to edit published entries for style, length and clarity.

Direct any questions to Editor in Chief Paul Studebaker, pstudebaker@putman.net.  Send entries to pstudebaker@putman.net with “Best Practices Awards” in the subject line.