Ricky Smith is renowned in the world of reliability and maintenance. He has more than 30 years of experience working in over hundreds of plants world wide in reliability, maintenance management and training. Ricky has worked in maintenance at Exxon, Hercules Chemical, and Alumax Mt Holly (rated best maintenance department in the world for over 18 years). Ricky holds designations as a Certified Maintenance and Reliability Professional from the Society for Maintenance and Reliability Professionals (SMRP) and a Certified Plant Maintenance Manager from the Association of Facilities Engineering (AFE).
Well-known on the speaking and lecture circuits, Ricky is also a well-respected author with his published books, “Lean Maintenance” and “Industrial Repair, Best Maintenance Repair Practices” with his latest book, “Rules of Thumb in Reliability Engineering” scheduled to be out in May of this year.
After spending one year in Kuwait and Iraq as a maintenance company commander for the US Army Reserve, where he provided maintenance to US and Coalition Forces, Ricky has returned with insight applicable for every maintenance facet. He also writes regularly for various publications including Plant Services Magazine, Uptime Magazine, Reliabilityweb.com and others.
Protecting electrical controls and equipment within food and beverage plants presents unique challenges due to the sanitation requirements of the hygienic environment.