Most Recent

• The road to prescriptive maintenance

  By Sheila Kennedy, CMRP, contributing editor

  Who would have imagined how dramatically the industrial internet of things (IIoT) would elevate reliability and maintenance practices? Today, we have sophisticated sensors monitoring multiple variables, closing information gaps, eliminating data silos, and populating Big Data repositories in the…

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• Money in your pocket: Fix your compressed air system leaks

  By Ron Marshall, compressed air efficiency consultant

  Using compressed air to provide power to plant production equipment is quite costly because you must supply the compressor with about 10 times more energy than what you typically get out of the machine. Air compressors produce mostly heat, with only about 10% to 15% of the energy remaining to use…

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• You might not be ready for prescriptive maintenance, but it's time to pick a lane

  By Thomas Wilk, editor in chief

  George Harrison is my favorite Beatle.He’s not the Beatle who wrote the song referenced above (that’s Paul), and he’s not the most prolific songwriter (Paul) or touring musician (Paul again) of the bunch. He didn’t even wear many rings.However, he is the one who took on the most technical…

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• 5 steps to kick-starting a modern maintenance strategy

  By Paul Lachance

  The world of manufacturing maintenance is evolving as we all witness the progress of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.  Like steam power, assembly-line manufacturing and then robots, this industrial internet of things (IIoT) movement is changing manufacturing. The plant floors of today are filled…

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• Heavy-asset industries are ripe for renewal

  By Sheila Kennedy, CMRP, contributing editor

  When it comes to sustaining profitability, “better, faster, cheaper” is no longer sufficient in heavy-asset industries. Simply making and delivering large and heavy products, equipment, or facilities is not enough for the manufacturers to survive and thrive in an unpredictable economy. Even…

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• How to navigate the choppy waters of energy policy today

  By Peter Garforth

  It would be a glaring understatement to say that there is uncertainty about strategic policy as it pertains to many energy-related topics. Debates over the speed and even the need to reduce and ultimately eliminate the use of fossil fuel continue to divide public opinion and policy direction. These…

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