Aggregates Manager

September 2013

Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine

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Three basic tools — Before joining the cast vibration analysis, infrared of Gold Rush, Turin served as vice president oil quarry thermography, andand sample manager of his family's business, Mt. Hood analysis — can be usedRock. to implement a world-class predictive maintenance program for your operation. Predictive Maintenance What you need to know to develop a world-class program. by Alan Maio T he discussion about predictive maintenance needs to start by drawing a distinction between predictive and preventive maintenance because there has been a tendency to use these terms interchangeably. While they are similar in nature, there are important differences to note. Predictive maintenance is a defect prevention strategy that analyzes observed data to predict the likelihood of future maintenance issues, downtime, and loss of production on mobile and fixed plant equipment; i.e. improve the reliability of your equipment. Preventive maintenance, on the other hand, is preplanned, routine activities whose purpose is to prevent major downtime events and lost production. A world-class maintenance program incorporates both of these types of maintenance into its overall maintenance planning activities. The importance of predictive maintenance Of all of the concepts I was taught in engineering school (many of which I've forgotten over the years), 20 the Second Law of Thermodynamics continues to influence me. Very simply, it has shaped the way I look at the world. In brief, the Second Law of Thermodynamics states that the entropy of an isolated system never decreases. In more simple terms, all things go from a state of order to a state of disorder. This means that all our equipment will eventually begin to fail and require maintenance. Using predictive maintenance techniques allows you to assess the current condition of critical equipment, estimate when failures will occur, and attempt to diagnose their root causes. Predictive maintenance tools There are three basic tools employed in predictive maintenance: vibration analysis, infrared thermography, and oil sample analysis. Let's take a closer look at each of them. Vibration analysis. Vibration analysis monitors the condition of equipment and detects faults by analyzing the level of vibration within it. By placing accelerometers strategically on the equipment, it gathers AGGREGATES MANAGER Setpember 2013 SpecialReport_AGRM0913.indd 20 8/16/13 2:11 PM

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