NECESSARY INFORMATION

Predictive maintenance programs have a tremendous ability to extrude reams of data to people who simply want to know, "What is wrong with this @#$%! machine?". I doubt if I am the only technician or engineer to confuse someone with impertinent details. I am not aware of any guidelines for management of this information and often the decision of what is useful will be left to the technicians. Many technicians feel that knowledge is power and tend to hoard information. Other than occupying disk space how can such a wealth of information be used?

The key ingredient to a successful predictive maintenance system is documentation of information. It does not matter if records are maintained in a simple spiral bound notebook or elaborate custom designed worksheets. By recording information on each machine anyone can develop a wealth of USEFUL information that will become a plant wide reference. The vibration analysts, operators, and plant managers need to refer to records at sometime or another and there is absolutely no reason why a predictive maintenance database could not become the source of such information.

The ability to show an annual savings of $250,000 by spending $25,000 per year on a predictive maintenance program can make or break even the best consultants. Documentation of machine information and repair history is critical to cost-justified programs.

Terms of use of this document: This document is free for unlimited distribution, provided it is unmodified. No warranty of this information is expressed or implied Payments to Christopher for the effort involved in compiling this information is greatly appreciated. Formatted for viewing on 800 X 600 resolution. All graphics were designed and created by Christopher Olsen, use of these graphics for purposes other than this document is prohibited.

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Last updated: November 24, 2002