It’s time once again for our annual roundup of insightful and inspired quotes from the pages of Plant Services magazine and PlantServices.com. 2021 was yet another difficult year for manufacturers. From pandemic variants and supply chain disruptions to semiconductor chip shortages and a lack of skilled workers, this year tested the strength of many industries and manufacturers. But hard work, combined with new tech, helped many overcome these seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
“Small or medium-sized plants can often be more flexible and have the agility within the organization to make decisions and necessary adjustments. Large plants have complex safety challenges and change management is often a bigger challenge, but they tend to have more resources available. Plant-specific solutions that are scalable from simple to complex are available to accommodate these varying customer needs.”
Tony Downes, Honeywell
The safety opportunity enabled by IIoT
“PdM is only effective if carried out at regular frequencies and with appropriate follow-up. That means that a PM needs to be in the CMMS to be worked according to schedule. After completing the work order, it is important that the PdM results are used to generate corrective actions, otherwise it’s not working.”
Alex Ferrari, CMRP
Your PdM Primer: Transitioning From Reactive To Proactive
“PLC manufacturers have guidelines for mounting the device. Always ensure that you have left adequate space around the PLC for airflow. It is also a good idea to leave three to four inches below the PLC device or chassis for wiring. If mounting a PLC that does not have a fixed chassis, leave extra DIN rail space to the right of the last I/O module for future expansion. Don’t paint yourself into a corner, space-wise.”
Jim Davis, Motion
8 good design practices for PLC systems
"Data analytics is exciting and promising—if you’re confident in the quality of your data. When planning to analyze your business data, you need to respect the saying “Gold in, gold out.” Always validate the integrity of the data source prior to making decisions based upon its analysis."
Rich Jansen, Life Cycle Engineering
How to gain confidence in data quality
"Sometimes it’s hard to translate that helicopter mechanic blowing up tanks in the Gulf War to how is that going to add value to you over here at Google or IBM or Amazon. We’re helping the veterans be able to articulate what they’re doing, and then helping the employers to give a little bit of grace and how to maybe dig out that information that they’re looking for."
Dr. Kim Bynum, Operation New Uniform
Next steps forward: New skills and careers for veterans
"Rather than feeling limited by the competition for resources from other priorities areas within the company, the energy manager should view each of these areas as an opportunity to demonstrate the real value energy and climate management brings. Interestingly when viewed through this lens, the senior management challenge often flips to being whether more should be invested in the energy plans to accelerate the capture of collateral benefits."
Peter Garforth, Contributing Editor / Energy Expert
ROI alone will not sell your energy plan
"Even before the pandemic, the world had become more aware of and sensitive to a person’s mental health. After more than a year without in-person events (or much people time at all), many attendees’, exhibitors’, and presenters’ emotions will be multiplied. Remember, some people will be experiencing the same feelings and concerns that you are."
Lori Ditoro, SEPCO
Moving out of your pajamas and back to industry trade shows, events, and in-person training
“MFG Chemical is undergoing tremendous growth in volume along with the addition of many new product lines. PLCs do not have the same scalability and flexibility as a full distributed control system. A DCS was the right choice for us to facilitate the rapid change our operation is experiencing.”
Dr. George Graham, MFG Chemical
Case study: Chemical manufacturer undergoes multi-plant control system upgrade
"Education is the first step of every process. Without the why, the correct implementation method—the how—will not be achieved. Lubrication can be done the wrong way. A common example is greasing. If you give someone a grease gun and say, “Go grease a bearing,” the user will grease a bearing until grease comes out."
Ed Duda, CMRP, CRL, Motion
Implementing a predictive lubrication reliability strategy
“We now are approved by our customers to purchase raw materials and components ahead of time. We “risk buy” hard-to-source metals, copper as well as electronic components. Our customers give us coverage. IMS Manufacturing customers have moved to orders with six-month and longer lead times.”
Steve Tokarz, IMS Manufacturing
How are you mitigating supply chain risk?
"When asked if people think they will be with their current organization in two years, a whopping 82% said “yes”. Furthermore, when asked about the kinds of factors that would prompt them to consider leaving, only one jumped to the top of the list – better pay or benefits."
Thomas Wilk, Editor In Chief
Plant Services 2021 Workforce Survey: Is the grass always greener?
"I think people have increasingly realized that there’s a commonality here, which is their dark data. A lot of the areas that are being digitized are areas where there’s that six-inch binder or those decades of tacit knowledge. People are starting to see that replacing the six-inch binder and tacit knowledge with modern digital tools can actually touch all areas."
Lawrence Whittle, Parsable
What does the next manufacturing workforce think about industry?
"There are two primary types of apprenticeship programs in the U.S.: Registered Apprenticeship Programs (RAP) and Industry-Recognized Apprenticeship Programs (IRAP). A RAP is a proven apprenticeship model approved by the Department of Labor or a state apprenticeship agency. IRAPs are recognized as high quality by a Standards Recognition Entity pursuant to the DOL’s standards."
Billy Hamilton, Motion
How to leverage apprenticeship programs in the manufacturing industry
"I had lost my job because of the pandemic, but that provided an opening for me to reflect on my career and switch gears. When I got presented this opportunity at PFES, I dug into the energy, gas, and electric sector and realized this was the field I wanted to join. I find it so fascinating to know more about what goes on behind the scenes for a typical power line, and I love being able to see the whole process involved in building substations.”
Alicia Moore, PFES
2nd annual Plant Services class of young professionals
"Vibration readings confirmed by ultrasound helped to prevent a PC combustion blower motor from failing and shutting down the whole potato chip department. IR analysis of the main pole for the plant’s GES automated warehouse detected a hot fuse holder, helping to avoid a shutdown of the entire warehouse. Increased acid levels were detected in oil samples from a baked extruder gearbox, indicating oil degradation, which enabled prevention of a shutdown of Cheetos Puffs production. Ultrasound analysis findings led to a Fritos quill replacement, avoiding downtime, lost sales, and extra sanitation steps."
Sheila Kennedy, CMRP
Push the needle: How 6 companies are achieving predictive maintenance success
"Both in the products of operations in running a plant and also in cloud capabilities like that, we’re going to see that technology change so much that it’s going to be so complex. Maintenance departments are going to have a hard time having that depth of knowledge to keep up with that complexity. I think what that’s going to, in turn, lead to is more reliance on original equipment manufacturers to help with the maintenance. I think there’s going to be a partnership."
Brad Budde, Emerson
The fast evolution of on-site maintenance teams
"As a maintenance and reliability practitioners we need to understand what we miss when we are around these lines all day. Some people would say that “I know this machine” so I can tell you what is wrong with it. Not true! The truth is we as a team lack the knowledge and unbiased way of thinking that will allow us to solve problems and see sustainability that comes from improvement."
Kevin Moore, The Little Potato Company, and Joe Anderson, CMRP, CRL, CARO, ReliabilityX
Case study: Improving production line throughput
"When you have storerooms that are not well-managed, you tend to have a lot of reactivity. And it goes hand in hand because when we talk about the role that maintenance plays in the stockroom, you have organizations with great processes, and then you have organizations with nothing. Relative to that, you’ll see that the organizations that tend to have the higher level in the storeroom practices from a process perspective tend to be a lot more proactive."
Jeff Shiver, CMRP, CRL, People and Processes
Is your storeroom supporting your maintenance goals?
"I have observed talented engineers move from one industry to another, only to struggle for several years while they develop an understanding of the context of the plant. What is important in a pharmaceutical facility for a mechanical engineer may be different when compared to a phenol plant or a chip fabrication plant. A strong discipline skill combined with a deep contextual understanding of the plant provides a strong foundation."
Brian Y. Webster, CRE
How to build an in-house reliability team
"What’s acceptable in the workplace has changed drastically over the past 50 years; I would argue for the better. I suspect that much of this gap in perspective (between team members and their supervisors) arises from the stresses resulting from the pandemic. Perhaps there is resentment related to policies on remote work. It may be that legacy employees feel new hires are afforded more latitude or better compensation than has been allowed in the past."
Tom Moriarty, P.E., CMRP, Contributing Editor / Human Capital
Do industry leaders understand their teams?
This story originally appeared in the December 2021 issue of Plant Services. Subscribe to Plant Services here.