Maintworld 1/2019

1/2019 www.maintworld.com 

maintenance & asset management 

Condition Monitoring 

in the Age of the of the IIoT p 12 

DIGITAL LINE OF SIGHT P 8 HARNESSING CHANGE FOR A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS P 26 ENERGY SAVINGS 4.0 P 32

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Break the Break/Fix Cycle 

Stop being reactive. Shift to a truly predictive maintenance model. Anticipate 

faults before they cause costly downtime, and keep your equipment and 

facilities running more efficiently than ever before. 

ICONICS’ Fault Detection and Diagnostics (FDD) technology significantly reduces costs and improves 

operational efficiency. It incorporates a standard library of fault rules that can be customized to predict 

equipment failures and advise personnel of preventive actions. It also digitizes the knowledge of your 

expert workers so even new technicians are able to leverage tried-and-true techniques for addressing the 

toughest issues. Evolve to a connected field service operation, where scheduling the right person to be in 

the right place at the right time happens without you having to lift a finger. 

Visit ICONICS in the Microsoft 

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Automatically Detect Faults 

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Probable Causes

EDITORIAL 

Time to Invest 

in Europe’s Water 

Infrastructure 

THE WATER AND SANITATION sector is an 

important part of the European economy. 

It represents more than 500,000 people 

directly employed in water and sewerage 

companies, operating thousands of facilities 

and several million kilometres of 

networks. 

Investment in the water and sanitation 

sector is estimated at 30 billion 

euros per year, with an annual turnover 

of 70 billion. Investment needs of the 

sector are and will be high, as it results 

from the specificity of this sector. Water 

and waste-water services are based on 

capital-intensive infrastructure. In many 

countries it is difficult to maintain the 

infrastructure only from tariffs and as a 

result, the infrastructure is ageing rapidly. 

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 

proposes a 3T solution to facilitate the water and sanitation industry’s capital 

management. 3T represents Taxes, Tariffs, Transfers as a source of financing 

for the water and sewerage sector. Overall, 3T is the method for determining, 

increasing and balancing finances in three forms, and the most important challenge 

is to understand and strike the right balance between the three sources. 

The functioning of the sector according to this methodology is not based 

solely on tariffs. However, it seems that the most transparent way would be to 

rely solely on tariffs, in line with the principle of cost recovery for water services 

set out in the Water Framework Directive. 

That is why EurEau - the federation of water and waste water sector (http:// 

www.eureau.org) highlights in one of its position papers that “the WFD, lays 

down the principle of cost recovery for water services in Article 9, including 

environmental and resource costs. The water supply and waste water infrastructure 

in many parts of Europe is ageing. In some countries, the charges 

collected from the users are not sufficient to maintain and renew the systems in 

due time: tariffs should be set on the basis of the investment needs of the water 

infrastructure”. 

In addition to infrastructure maintenance, companies must respond in the 

future to further civilizational challenges. These include climate change and the 

need to systematically build resilience to violent weather events, water scarcity, 

droughts and floods, as well as the need to develop research and innovation. 

In the context of all these challenges, the lack of adequate financing for the 

sector is very dangerous. Taking care of low tariffs, regardless of current and 

emerging needs is very short-sighted. For the sake of future generations, companies 

should be able to finance their investments adequately. Moreover, the 

lack of appropriate depreciation contributes to limiting investment opportunities 

and closes the vicious circle of underfunding. The situation is often aggravated 

by a decline in consumption, which, with a fairly significant part of the 

variable tariff, results in a decrease in infrastructure funds. 

6 maintworld 1/2019 

Klara Ramm 

Chair of the EurEau Committee on Economics and Legal Affairs, 

expert at IGWP, the Polish Waterworks Chamber of Commerce. 

48 

There 

are 5 common 

maintenance types and 

each of them features 

certain advantages and 

disadvantages.

IN THIS ISSUE 1/2019 

26 

Change 

is natural and even 

crucial in order to survive 

and move forward. This is 

also true when it comes to 

business 

= 

32 

To achieve its energy 

goals, the paper mill is 

getting its own workforce 

involved. The company 

has been training energy 

scouts since 2016 

8 

12 

16 

20 

Digital Line of Sight 

CONDITION MONITORING in the 

Age of the of the IIoT – the fourth 

revolution 

Emerging Tech Brings New 

Maintenance Benefits 

Mobius Do you have all the 

answers? 

22 

26 

28 

30 

32 

Is Your Lubrication program 

world-class? 

Harnessing Change for a Successful 

Business 

Using Ultrasound and Infrared for 

Electrical Inspections 

OPC UA as the Architecture for 

IT/OT Convergence 

Save Energy in Steam and 

Condensate Systems 

36 

40 

44 

48 

Developing the Leadership Mindset: 

Set your Mind, Manage your Destiny 

Operator Essential Care (OEC) 

Routes 

How to Speed Up the Onboarding 

Process for New Maintenance 

Technicians 

How to Choose the Maintenance 

Strategy that Best Suits Your 

Company’s Needs? 

Issued by Promaint (Finnish Maintenance Society), Messuaukio 1, 00520 Helsinki, Finland tel. +358 29 007 4570 

Publisher Omnipress Oy, Mäkelänkatu 56, 00510 Helsinki, tel. +358 20 6100, toimitus@omnipress.fi, www.omnipress.fi 

Editor-in-chief Nina Garlo-Melkas tel. +358 50 36 46 491, nina.garlo@omnipress.fi, Advertisements Kai Portman, Sales 

Director, tel. +358 358 44 763 2573, ads@maintworld.com Layout Menu Meedia, www.menuk.ee Subscriptions and 

Change of Address members toimisto@kunnossapito.fi, non-members tilaajapalvelu@media.fi Printed by Painotalo Plus 

Digital Oy, www.ppd.fi Frequency 4 issues per year, ISSN L 1798-7024, ISSN 1798-7024 (print), ISSN 1799-8670 (online). 

1/2019 maintworld 7

DIGITALIZATION 

DIGITAL LINE OF SIGHT 

AARON BEAZLEY, 

Bentley Systems, Inc. 

Will a Digital Twin Become 

a Key Element of Your 

Digitalization Strategy to 

Reduce Risk and Enable 

Operational Excellence? 

DIGITAL LINE OF SIGHt is a digital connection 

(or thread) of data throughout 

an asset’s lifecycle to ensure information 

integrity, accuracy, and timeliness to access. 

There are many reasons for an organization 

to have a digital line of sight. 

However, not all of the reasons to implement 

digital line of sight are to realize 

the assets’ value, some organizations 

use digital line of sight to help ensure 

corporate reputation and positive public 

relations, as well as to ensure happy and 

safe workers. 

Asset management standard ISO 

55001 introduced a structured way in 

which to perform best-in-class asset 

management and suggests that there 

needs to be alignment from the corporate 

goals to the asset management policy to 

the asset management plans and tactics 

used on each asset under management. 

This alignment is the line of sight that 

enables individuals and teams to understand 

how their day-to-day actions match 

up with long-term corporate goals. 

Putting a digital line of sight in place is 

essential when seeking to achieve business 

objectives and efficiently deploy 

scarce resources. This process is necessary 

for organizations to execute in order 

to excel in the future and deal with their 

younger workforce – digital natives who 

are inexperienced but expect access to 

information at their fingertips. 

With the massive amount of data 

involved in managing assets, it is imperative 

that line of sight is digitally supported, 

ideally through an evergreen and 

immersive digital twin. 

The Backbone of a Good Asset 

Management System 

Connecting as-designed, as-built, and 

as-operated information to the digital 

twin in an open, connected data environment 

enables management to make 

fast and accurate decisions, and workers 

are more productive when they 

know the reasons behind their daily 

activities. 

8 maintworld 1/2019


Digital line of sight connects the leaders 

of the organization, the assets they 

manage, and the workers to align work 

execution on business-critical assets to 

realize maximum value. The asset is the 

center of the universe in that it has been 

purchased to perform a function to create 

value to the organization. How an 

asset is managed depends on the current 

and future objectives of the organization 

and the risk it poses to the organization 

and the public if it fails to fulfill that function 

sufficiently. The workforce should 

only do the minimum amount of work 

to ensure that the asset functions to the 

necessary performance level to attain the 

objectives. 

While value is the ultimate goal we 

want to attain from our assets, it is also 

the key measure of our performance. We 

also should create value for customers 

and the public while meeting the requirements 

and targets set by our regulators. 

Digital line of sight can be achieved 

through a digital twin, that is, a digital 

representation of the physical asset and 

its associated processes and systems, 

including all the relevant information 

that allows you to understand and model 

its performance. Typically, a digital twin 

can be continuously synchronized from 

multiple sources, such as sensors and 

continuous surveying, to represent its 

nearly real-time status, working condition, 

or position. Digital twins are used to 

optimize the operation and maintenance 

IN ADDITION TO KPIS, ASSET CONDITION DATA ALSO HELPS 

THE WORKFORCE MAKE DECISIONS ABOUT WHICH ASSETS TO 

FOCUS ON TO ENSURE THAT BUSINESS OBJECTIVES ARE MET. 

of physical assets, systems, and manufacturing 

processes. 

Plainly stated, a digital twin is a 

highly detailed digital model that is the 

counterpart (or twin) of a physical asset. 

Connected sensors on the physical 

asset collect data that can be mapped 

onto the digital model. Anyone looking 

at the digital twin can view crucial information 

about how the physical asset is 

Digital line of sight 

can help with: 

• Safe work execution 

• Efficient work execution and 

optimal wrench time 

• Fewer operational delays and 

less downtime 

• Reduced procurement, expediting 

costs 

• Safe reaction to production 

upset and safe shutdown 

• Higher levels of operational 

excellence reached with consistency 

• Workers are more productive 

• Workers know the reason they 

are doing the activities they do 

on a day-to-day basis 

• Shortened decision-making 

time, increased accuracy, and 

effective decision-making 

• Enhanced outage planning and 

execution 

• Performance aligned to corporate 

strategy and organizational 

goals 

• Optimal TOTEX spend to attain 

organizational goals 

• Reduction in risk associated 

with capital assets 

Figure 3: Depiction of 

Digital Line of Sight 



performing in the real world so that the 

workers can easily see the relationships 

between data points and quickly make 

informed decisions to enable timely 

correction to poorly performing assets. 

Line of sight should be two-way or 

bi-directional; corporate objectives flow 

down to the workers so they know where 

to focus and spend their asset management 

efforts and process adherence metrics 

flow up as key performance indicators 

(KPIs). Having a digital line of sight 

also enables conformity and assurance 

within your processes. The executives 

set corporate objectives and targets, and 

then asset management decisions can 

be made and policies can be put in place 

based on those goals. 

KPIs are used to measure attainment 

to objectives, they show how the operation 

is performing, both for output and 

for adherence to process. In addition to 

KPIs, asset condition data also helps the 

workforce make decisions about which 

assets to focus on to ensure that business 

objectives are met. These decisions can 

be for minor repairs, refurbishment, or 

capital replacements. Once the “bad actor” 

assets are identified, the digital line 

of sight becomes even more important 

because it enables safe and efficient work 

to be performed to bring the assets back 

to good condition. 

Access to design data and settings 

allow workers to make safe corrections 

to production upsets. This is especially 

effective when connected with the asset 

condition data and current operating 

context of the asset. Without digital access 

to the current asset configuration 

and the ability to compare to the design 

basis, disaster can be the result. Workers 

often need more access to the knowledge 

base, whether it is to prepare for a job 

or to understand a new asset or process 

being worked on. This knowledge base 

should include things like failure modes 

and effects analyses (FMEAs), which 

document the asset functions, the ways 

in which the asset can fail to function, 

the business impacts of these failures, 

and the prescribed mitigation tasks that 

should be executed to detect and correct 

asset functional failures. The knowledge 

base also includes manuals, P&IDs, 

drawings, workflows, procedures, and 

task instructions so that the job can be 

done safely and in a timely manner. 

Without a digital line of sight, the 

work cannot be as easily done without 

wasting time looking for parts and instructions, 

knowing the settings and 

condition of the asset in question and 

those of adjacent or connected assets up 

and downstream. Lastly, as workers benefit 

from digital line of sight, so will the 

organization because objectives are met 

faster and more shareholder values are 

realized at a lower overall operation cost. 

Achieve operational excellence 

with minimum effort in the 

shortest time possible 

Organizations will more easily attain 

Examples 

their performance objectives and realize 

the best value from their assets if 

they enable digital line of sight. This 

will help the workforce reach high 

levels of operational excellence with 

minimum effort in the shortest time 

possible. Failure to do so will perpetuate 

the struggle and lower performance 

achievements. Rather than considering 

digital line of sight as unattainable or as 

a luxury, leadership needs to consider 

enabling a digital line of sight as mandatory 

to optimize performance. 

HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES of digital line of sight for executives and for workers. 

WORKERS WITH DIGITAL LINE OF SIGHT 

Workers access the digital twin to know where to focus their attention and manage by 

exception. They have access to all necessary data and documentation to execute the work 

safely and on time. 

MANAGEMENT WITH DIGITAL LINE OF SIGHT 

Executives visualize the organizational and unit performance compared to the objectives 

and targets they have set. 


PARTNER ARTICLE 

CONDITION MONITORING 

in the Age of the of the IIoT – 

the fourth revolution 

Considering Industrial 

history in four different 

revolution steps, let’s 

briefly outline what kind 

of challenges condition 

monitoring and maintenance 

employees are facing in the 

age of Industry 4.0. 

ANTON IRLBECK, 

Sales Manager, 

PRUFTECHNIK 

THE TERM (IIOT) IS OFTEN SET EQUIVA- 

LENT TO “INDUSTRY 4.0” – industry 

in the age during and after its fourth 

revolution. And it is true: Both economy 

and society at the beginning of the 21st 

century are at the starting point of disruptive 

changes caused by the impact 

of modern information technology and 

most of all a thing called “The Internet”. 

For sure it is not possible to predict what 

this fourth revolution will bring in the 

near and far future. But when prediction 

is hard to make, a look into the past, in 

order to learn from the developments 

and technologies that shaped our history, 

is a good step forward. 

The steam engine as the 

baseline of the industrial age 

The first industrial revolution roots back 

to the invention of the steam engine 

(app. end of 18th century). Many books 

BUT WHEN PREDICTION IS HARD TO MAKE, A LOOK INTO 

THE PAST, IN ORDER TO LEARN FROM THE DEVELOPMENTS 

AND TECHNOLOGIES THAT SHAPED OUR HISTORY, 

IS A GOOD STEP FORWARD. 

were written about that time, when a 

piece of technology – today considered 

as baseline technology – changed the 

face of society and even more; it changed 

the face of our planet. An example: In 

the 100 years that followed, steam trains 

and railroads made continents smaller 

and economies grew faster because of 

the quicker exchange of goods and information. 

From the human perspective 

however, societies took decades to adjust 

to the social impacts of the steam age 

– this process still lasts to this day. The 

foundation of early labour unions and 

social insurance systems were first steps 

in humanity to adapt to the unstoppable, 

and pace-setting age of industrialization. 

And yet working conditions nowadays 

worldwide are still not equal. 

Henry Ford starts another 

technical and social revolution 

The second industrial revolution commonly 

starts with the era of electricity, 

automation and mass production. 

Let’s point out Henry Ford as the most 



renowned representative of this age. 

He was the first industrialist, who introduced 

the forty-hour workweek as early 

as in 1926. He did this though he was fully 

aware of the common situation of his decade. 

He strongly believed that this would 

raise productivity on the one hand and 

would give his employees more time and 

freedom to spend money on the other. 

Also during this era, workers all over 

the world started to take care more and 

more of the production process itself 

instead of just being contributors to the 

final product. This had a great impact 

on the role of the working people, since 

their role had changed. You might want 

to say that this was the starting point of 

industrial “care taking”, not only for the 

people, but also for the machines. A new 

profession was born: maintenance employees, 

who “took care” more and more 

of their machines on a regular basis. 

From Konrad Zuse to Steve 

Jobs and Bill Gates – computers 

start the next revolution 

The third industrial revolution is 

strongly connected to the introduction 

of personal computers and their impact 

on professional life from about the second 

half of the 20th century onwards. 

Thanks to the miniaturization of semiconductor 

technology, companies like 

IBM, Apple and Microsoft revolutionized 

the work in offices and in plants. 

Cumbersome and long calculations 

could be resolved in no time by microcontrollers 

and personal computers. 

Finally even pocket calculators made 

the life of engineers (and students) 

easier and more efficient. 

Regarding the now highly-educated 

and specialized maintenance staff, 

their working ways changed rapidly 

too. The stethoscope, dial-gauge and 

straightedge were replaced by computerized 

systems. Infrared cameras, 

ultrasound testing devices, vibration 

analyzers and laser shaft alignment 

systems became standard tools at the 

end of the 20th century to analyze the 

health status of production assets in 

order to avoid downtime. 

The invention of OPTALIGN® – the 

first computerized laser shaft alignment 

tool that utilizes a laser and a sensor 

to measure the misalignment – in 

1984 revolutionized the way to align 

machines. This new technology introduced 

by PRUFTECHNIK has been 

saving millions of hours’ working time 

for maintenance staff all over the world 

and goes hand in hand with a parallel 

reduction of energy consumption and 

production downtime. 

The Internet as worldwide 

accelerator for industry and 

society 

The ignition spark for the fourth revolution 

has just been set. Its beginning 

can be marked with the high degree of 

computer connection and interaction as 

machines start to communicate. Today, 

any everyday device from computers 

to mobile phones or even refrigerators 

and wearables are connected to each 

other. Industrial machines may get into 

interaction, too. Intelligently-mounted 

sensors monitor the machines. Algorithms 

take over the steering. Human- 

Machine-Interaction (HMI) is escalated 

to another level as it was only a few 

years ago. 

In the past 300 years the world’s industry has been growing and evolved through four major revolutions. Each of them roots in 

technologies that were ground breaking at their times and disruptive with impacts on work and society. 



However today, we are still at the beginning 

of this new era of Industry 4.0 

and some people are convinced that future 

history books will name the world 

wide web (or the “Internet” in short) as 

the key trigger for these massive changes. 

And of course, this fourth industrial 

revolution will change the way in which 

we work and live together as it always 

did in the eras before. There is hope and 

good reason to assume that it will not 

only be for the worse but for the better 

– as seen in the past summary of historical 

industrial revolutions. But what 

challenges and impacts can be expected 

for maintenance employees in almost 

daily changing working environments? 

The Industrial Internet of 

Things – challenge or solution? 

Predictions are hard to make but already 

today there are sophisticated challenges 

that need to be resolved, especially when 

considering the IIoT environment. The 

more Things mankind connects to each 

other – starting from computers through 

mobiles up to industry and everyday devices 

– the more data are produced and 

collected. These require not only huge 

amounts of storage space, but even intelligent 

management. On an industrial level 

those connected Things are the machines 

and assets, their control systems and the 

net of sensors that measure and finally 

steer the variables of all those machines. 

Let’s pick a typical example of a 

temperature sensor on a motor that 

transmits the information into a Programmable 

Logic Controller (PLC) or 

database. Ok, this alone is not sufficient 

to talk about a new paradigm change. 

But let’s scale this onto a higher level. 

There is not just one sensor in an industrial 

plant or mill, there are thousands 

of different sensors that transmit their 

data into a storage mine that is filled 

with other plant’s data, too. A data lake 

– rather a sea – is created. Intelligent 

algorithms will mine through this data 

lake in order to find problems, but also 

better operating parameters for plants 

worldwide. Though innovative solutions 

for the maintenance world have 

been available for some time, new questions 

arise due to this technology: How 

to manage, store and secure this huge 

amount of data? How can this data be 

prepared for algorithms? Who is responsible 

for the results of self-learning 

algorithms that work with all those data, 

especially when it comes to machine 

damage or even people’s death due to 

wrong decisions being made? 

What’s next? 

The answers to all the questions above 

certainly will not come as early as tomorrow 

but maybe with the next industrial 

revolution since not just technical, but 

even social, ethical and juristic questions 

need to be answered. But in any 

case, what we can learn from the history 

above, is that the maintenance sector is 

changing faster and with greater impact 

than ever before. 

Employees in the maintenance sector 

for now and in the future have to be 

able to read, understand and interpret 

algorithms and their results. Their profession 

is rather turning from a skilled 

craftsman to a “data lake manager”. 

Wherever the journey of maintenance 

will go to in the future, one thing 

certainly cannot be captured by any 

machine or algorithm: Decision making 

based on real world experience. This is 

and certainly always will be a humanonly 

skill. But self-learning algorithms 

and their results (based on giga- and 

terabytes of measurement data) are going 

to support the professional maintenance 

employee of the future to decide 

how to solve maintenance issues. 

PRUFTECHNIK has been delivering 

and optimizing industrial solutions 

for maintenance personnel throughout 

more than 40 years and always adapted 

to changes within the industrial environment. 

Its laser shaft alignment 

systems are using the latest microelectromechanical 

systems (MEMS) 

technology in the sensors with in-built 

intelligence. 

PRUFTECHNIK handheld and 

online Condition Monitoring systems 

keep the productivity of plants high in 

actually any industry sector around the 

globe. PRUFTECHNIK implements 

the latest technology always with the 

goal to create ultimate benefit to their 

customers. The German maintenance 

specialist therefore is excited and curious, 

too, what the future will bring and 

will keep on supporting maintenance 

personnel in their daily life with highest 

quality and latest technology precision 

tools and monitoring solutions. 

www.pruftechnik.com 

Within the fourth 

industrial revolution 

maintenance practices 

will change their shape, 

too, and will become 

more data-driven and 

automated. Mining 

through the big data 

lake of a plant promises 

to drive productivity to 

higher levels. 


Results Oriented Reliability and Maintenance 

Management Consulting and Training 

Run your plant. Don’t let it run you! 

Improving reliability and reducing cost is achievable. 

Remove the pressures 

of unreliable equipment 

Find a clear path 

to achieve reliability 

Reach the organization’s 

maintenance goals 

Are you tired of constant call-ins and reactive maintenance? 

It's time for a sustainable approach. 

A reactive environment leads to poor quality repairs and higher safety risks. 

Poor repairs lead to re-work and an even more reactivity...we call this the "Circle of Despair". 

IDCON coaches your plant how to break this vicious cycle and be more effective. 

+1 919 847-8764 

www.idcon.com


Emerging Tech 

Brings New 

Maintenance Benefits 

Those responsible for the maintenance of facilities 

and business operations strive to remain in step 

with the latest technological trends. PCs helped to 

advance the ticketed assignment method. When 

cellular phones gained popularity, they led to better 

remote/dispatch communications. Early mobile 

handheld PCs eventually melded with phones to 

become today’s ubiquitous smartphones, providing 

technicians with required info “at hand” while on site. 

MELISSA TOPP, 

Senior Director of 

Global Marketing, 

ICONICS, 

melissa@iconics.com 

FACILITIES AND OPERATIONS maintenance 

professionals now have their 

choice from a wide array of modern IT 

devices, including desktops, laptops, 

tablets, smartphones, smart watches, 

wearable head-mounted displays, and 

more. Many successful organizations 

employ a mixture of such devices for 

their day-to-day maintenance processes. 

For each new hardware breakthrough, 

there has always been equally innovative 

software to capitalize on it for specific 

applications. 

ICONICS, headquartered in Foxborough, 

Massachusetts, is a global 

automation software provider with over 

three decades of experience in meeting 

customers’ technology needs. The 

company can trace its history from the 

strict command line days of DOS to the 

emergence of GUI-driven operating systems 

such as Microsoft Windows. Over 

the years, the company has been on the 

forefront of major paradigm shifts in the 

industry, including graphical advances 

from 2D to 3D visualization, as well as 

the leap from 32-bit to 64-bit computer 

processing. It prides itself in constantly 

looking for ways to help its customers 

take advantage of the latest cutting-edge 

technologies. 

Organizations across a wide variety 

of industries, including manufacturing 

(process and discrete), building automation, 

government and military, oil and 

gas, and power and utilities are all striving 

in one way or another to reduce costs 

and optimize efficiency. The applications 

they utilize to meet those goals encompass 

many areas of automation including 

HMI/SCADA, analytics, IoT, data 

historian, mobility, fault detection and 

diagnostics (FDD), energy management, 

alarm management, SPC, and OEE. 

End-to-End Maintenance 

Software Solutions 

Since its beginnings in 1986, ICONICS 

has developed solutions to help reinforce 

the value of maintenance engineers and 

field technicians within their organizations. 

These employees are tasked daily 

with diagnosing a wide array of issues 

and are counted upon to utilize their 

well-earned institutional knowledge. 

Since these workers have “been there, 

done that” in their experiences, they 

typically become some of the most valuable 

employees in the company. When 

these employees hang their hats and 

call it a career, their organizations can 

sometimes be left with a substantial gap 

in their collective wealth of knowledge. 

However, there now exists a way for that 

shared knowledge from the most experienced 

workers to be retained and utilized. 

Not only does this solution provide 

a way that new hires can quickly learn 

from and leverage prior knowledge, it 

also provides the basis for a comprehensive 

fault detection and diagnostics tool 

based upon that knowledge. 

Imagine this modern-day scenario. 

You are responsible for your company’s 

maintenance operations. You can remember 

a time when your maintenance 



personnel were constantly trying to 

tackle multiple service calls per day, 

where priorities seemed to change instantaneously; 

definitely mired in the 

typical reactive break/fix mode. As your 

company grew in size, it also extended 

geographically, putting even more pressure 

on getting the right skilled people to 

the right location at the right time with 

the right knowledge. Luckily, you and 

your company’s management recognized 

the need for improvement. 

Fault Detection and 

Diagnostics 

With ICONICS’ FDDWorX fault detection 

and diagnostics software, your company 

was able to shift its maintenance 

philosophy from the break/fix model 

to a predictive maintenance one. The 

software utilizes user-customizable 

fault rules to help anticipate faults and 

failures. It weighs the probability of 

equipment failure and can then advise 

personnel of immediate preventative actions. 

Since installation, your company 

has been able to leverage hundreds of 

fault rules for facility-based and operations 

equipment (helping to capture and 

capitalize on expert/institutional knowledge), 

minimized equipment downtime 

with actionable alarms, monitored fault 

states with enhanced analytics, and optimized 

the overall efficiency of facility 

operations. 

Connected Field Service 

So your company was able to move from 

reactionary to proactive maintenance. 

Still, with its expansion to multiple territories, 

your company determined it 

ICONICS CONTINUES TO 

PIONEER NEW TECHNOLOGIES 

FOR THE BENEFIT OF 

MAINTENANCE APPLICATIONS. 

needed a way to ensure that the right 

skilled technician could be quickly 

identified, notified, and sent to the location 

requiring maintenance. ICONICS 

developed its new connected field service 

solution, CFSWorX, to streamline 

the efficiency of field service personnel 

through intelligent scheduling and guaranteed 

notifications. The notifications 

can be triggered by any events, such as 

alarms and faults. 

A customizable, weighted scoring 

system is used to factor in each worker’s 

schedule, availability, location and skill 

level. It then delivers a notification to 

the selected field service worker’s mobile 

device for immediate action. A specialized 

algorithm now helps your company 

determine the best available technician 

to send between its multiple geographically 

dispersed locations. 

Internet of Things Integration 

Your company realized that it could attain 

multiple benefits from connecting 

its operations to the Industrial Internet 

of Things, including ensuring IT equipment 

resiliency and scalability, futureproofing 

existing IT equipment, and 

assuring global access to accumulated 

data. As the person responsible for your 

company’s maintenance operations, 

you knew your existing fault detection/ 



diagnostics and connected field service 

solutions would benefit from IoT connectivity, 

as well. 

However, management wasn’t sure 

if they should spend the money on new 

IoT-integrated equipment, on retrofitting 

existing equipment, or if they 

should find an alternative option. Ultimately, 

the third option made the most 

sense (and saved the most on possible 

costs) and your company incorporated 

ICONICS’ IoTWorX IoT gateway software. 

It allowed you to invest in lower 

cost edge devices (IoT gateways) that 

came with the IoT application-enabling 

software embedded, providing a bridge 

between your enterprise’s data and 

HMI/SCADA, analytics, and mobile 

solutions running in the cloud. Now, 

vast amounts of data are collected from 

multiple company sites, empowering 

employees throughout the organization 

and providing you and other operators 

with a new layer of actionable 

intelligence. 

A Glimpse into a Not So 

Distant Maintenance Future 

You’ve tailored your maintenance operations 

into a fine-tuned proactive outfit. 

ORGANIZATIONS ACROSS A 

WIDE VARIETY OF INDUSTRIES 

ARE ALL STRIVING IN ONE WAY 

OR ANOTHER TO REDUCE COSTS 

AND OPTIMIZE EFFICIENCY. 

You’ve embraced intelligent scheduling 

and notifications for your connected 

field service personnel. You’ve championed 

increased IoT connectivity for 

your company’s equipment and networks. 

“What’s next?” you may have 

wondered. 

ICONICS continues to pioneer new 

technologies for the benefit of maintenance 

applications. The company 

has developed a Holographic Machine 

Interface (HMI) that integrates with 

head-mounted display hardware such 

as Microsoft’s HoloLens self-contained 

holographic computer. Maintenance 

personnel utilizing this combination 

are able to see 3D augmented reality 

(AR) representations of equipment in a 

heads-up, hands-free display, in order 

to assist with repairs or improvements. 

Users could also access equipment schematics 

or provide a first-person video 

feed to a remote technician who could 

assist in diagnosing problems. 

ICONICS is currently developing 

additional new technology tie-ins, including 

a new Voice Machine Interface 

(VMI) and integration with other types 

of wearable devices (e.g. smart watches). 

The voice-based option involves integration 

with popular voice assistant 

technologies, including those from 

Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. Users 

will be able to create “skills” that work 

through these vendors’ cloud services 

and voice interactivity technologies 

(e.g. Amazon Web Services for Alexa, 

LUIS.AI for Microsoft Skype/Teams/ 

Cortana, and Google Actions for Google 

Home/Assistant). For wearables, ICON- 

ICS is working on providing UI/display 

compatibility and geolocation features 

for popular smart watches and similar 

devices. 

As new technology continues to 

evolve, ICONICS will work to provide 

the best software-based benefits to 

maintenance-focused users. 


OPTIMIZE LUBRICATION 

& EXTEND BEARINGS 

LIFETIME 

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UE Systems Europe - Windmolen 20, 7609 NN Almelo, The Netherlands 

T: +31 546 725 125 | E: info@uesystems.eu | W: www.uesystems.eu

LEADERSHIP 

Who leads the reliability 

(and performance) 

improvement initiative 

in your facility? Who 

determines which 

improvement projects 

should be implemented? 

Who executes the 

projects? Who performs 

the root cause analysis? 

If the answer is “me”, or 

“my reliability team”, then 

we may have found the 

person who is holding 

back the success of your 

programme! 

JASON TRANTER, 

CMRP, 

Mobius Institute 

The classic “iceberg of ignorance” 

-graphic illustrates the level of 

knowledge and awareness that is 

common in most plants. 

(www.torbenrick.eu) 

Do you have all the answers? 

MAYBE YOU SHOULD LOOK 

FOR HELP FROM WITHIN 

NOW, JUST POSSIBLY, you may be upset 

with me right now. Keep reading and I 

hope to change your opinion. But before 

I do, I would like to ask you a few more 

questions. 

Who in your plant knows the most 

about the problems that occur: the slowdowns, 

minor-stoppages, equipment 

failures, the waste, the inefficiencies, the 

source of poor quality, the frustrations 

due to maintenance work not being executed 

correctly, and so on? Is it you? Is 

it senior leadership? Is it anyone in management 

or engineering? 

What about the maintenance technicians 

and operators? Aren’t they the 

people who face these issues every day? 

Don’t they see it all first hand? And 

I wonder how many times they have 

thought of solutions to those problems, 

but no one has listened to them – and no 

one has asked their opinion. 

There is a classic graphic known as the 

“iceberg of ignorance” that illustrates the 

level of knowledge and awareness that is 

common in most plants. Where are you 

on this graphic? 

So, if you agree that the people working 

closest to the equipment know the 

most about those problems, what would 

you think about getting them involved 

in the solution? Now, what just went 

through your mind? “How would they 

know how to solve the problems?” “I 

could not trust them to make improvements.” 

“Some of those guys thrive on fix- 


LEADERSHIP 

ing the problems (hero status, overtime 

pay, etc.), they don’t want to eliminate 

them.” “Those guys cause the problems, 

they won’t fix them.” “It is not in their job 

description to make improvements.” 

Maybe there are other thoughts going 

through your mind, but if they are anything 

like those listed above, then unfortunately 

you are selling them all short. 

Pay respect, show trust, and 

ask for help 

OK, more questions. What do you think 

those people do at night and at the weekends? 

Are they capable people who solve 

problems, build stuff, fix other stuff, help 

in the community, and so on? OK, they 

may not have degrees and they may not be 

qualified reliability engineers, but most of 

the problems that need to be solved do not 

require rocket scientists. Just as you probably 

hate it when your manager/supervisor 

sells you short and is unwilling to give 

you responsibility, they feel the same way. 

It is time to pay them respect, show 

some trust, and go and ask for help. There 

are lots of ways that you can execute this 

process, but you need to provide a means 

to ask for ideas and suggestions, put a 

value on those ideas, and ask their help in 

executing the solutions. 

Yes, don’t just ask for their suggestion, 

let them take ownership and execute the 

improvement plan. Put yourself in their 

shoes. 

• OPTION 1 is to ignore them. They 

will be frustrated and annoyed 

– and thus you have the current 

situation. 

• OPTION 2 is to require them to 

change their practices according to 

your directives. And there will not 

be many of those requests because 

there are only so many projects 

you can manage. They have zero 

ownership, and again they are frustrated 

at not being consulted. 

• OPTION 3 is to ask their opinion 

(much better for morale), but you 

take control and then implement 

the changes. Again, this will be a 

slow process as you only have so 

much time. 

• And OPTION 4 is to ask their help, 

(financially justify the ideas if necessary), 

and then get out of their 

way and let them take ownership. 

Wow, how would they feel? They are 

being trusted and respected. They 

will be proud of the changes they 

have implemented. They will see 

the benefits of their actions. And the 

initiative will take off when others 

see the results of these projects, and 

witness the thanks and praise you 

heap on them when the projects 

are executed (don’t forget to do 

that). Just think about how many 

improvements can be made when 

everyone is involved! 

Will they execute those projects the same 

ways as you would have? Maybe. Maybe 

not. They may do a better job as they know 

more about the problem and have more to 

gain. But if they happen to make mistakes, 

learn from them and move on. Improve, 

don’t punish. 

This isn’t anything new. It is at the 

heart of TPS and Lean (depending whose 

book you read). Performing root cause 

analysis, making suggestions, and executing 

the solution is fundamental to how humans 

work. You need to show some trust 

and let nature take its course.


IS YOUR 

LUBRICATION 

PROGRAM 

WORLD-CLASS? 

Ultrasound performs 

well at sensing and 

measuring changing 

in friction levels. 

Acoustic Lubrication is just one of the eight application pillars adopted by worldclass 

ultrasound programs. And what an important one it is. Poor lubrication 

practices account for as much as 40 percent of all premature bearing failures. When 

ultrasound is utilized to assess lubrication needs and schedule grease replenishment 

intervals, that number drops below 10 percent. 

ALLAN RIENSTRA, 

SDT Ultrasound, 

allan.rienstra@ 

sdtultrasound.com 

WHAT WOULD 30 percent fewer bearing 

related failures mean for your organization? 

Keeping up with the changes in 

on-condition bearing lubrication techniques 

is challenging. Technology advancements 

from SDT’s LUBExpert allows 

us to transform complex processes 

into simple, 5-step procedure. 

How to Get Started 

Success is dependent on organization 

and commitment. Without these two 

structural elements, your ultrasound 

lubrication program will find difficulty 

getting traction. A well-organized strategy 

and carefully planned execution will 

get the project started properly. Getting 

the commitment from all levels becomes 

much easier when a program can demonstrate 

structure and cohesion. Results 

will prove the program faster which will 

trigger easier access to funding to grow 

and sustain the program. 

Clearly defining and communicating 

the objectives of your lubrication program 

is the best way to create a precision 

lubrication culture that benefits your 

entire organization. 

Start by asking “Why start an ultrasound 

lubrication program and what 

improvements do we expect?” There is 

no one easy answer to the question. Saving 

money is an obvious benefit that gets 

the attention of management, but it is not 

specific enough. 

HOW WILL AN ULTRASOUND LUBRICATION 

PROGRAM SAVE MONEY? 

• By reducing grease consumption 

• By raising awareness of the right 

types of grease to use 

• By making more effective use of 

lube tech’s time 

• By reducing unwanted machine 

breakdowns caused by lubrication 

failures 

• By extending bearing life expectancy 

A new beginning is the best opportunity 

to review what you have been doing 

previously. Identify what worked and 

improve or remove what did not. We will 

not go deeply into all aspects related to 



5-STEP 

ACOUSTIC LUBRICATION PROCEDURE 

1 2 3 4 5 

Visit Lube 

Room 

Pre-Lubrication 

Checks 

Initial Lubrication 

Check 

Evaluate Bearing 

Condition 

Grease The 

Bearing 

Simple method for 

determining bearing failure 

stages using ultrasound: 

Select grease gun 

designated for asset. 

Safety: 

Follow facility/equipment 

safety requirements. 

Connect ultrasound sensor 

to grease fitting using 

lube adapter, or directly to 

clean bearing housing with 

magnetic base. 

Quantitative: Based on 

historical trend. 

Right Quantity: Deliver a small 

amount of grease, no greater 

than 5% of the total bearing 

volume. Depending on grease 

gun calibration this could be 

equal to one shot. 

Safety: 

Follow OEM safety 

protocols for grease gun. 

Inspect equipment for 

cleanliness, especially coupler. 

Inspect lube delivery tube for 

damage. 

Select the Right Lubricant 

for each asset/lube point. 

Check condition of old grease 

in the gun, if applicable. 

Consider using a new grease 

tube. 

Calibrate the grease gun’s output 

per stroke/shot and document 

accordingly. 

Tip: Color coding grease 

containers and bearing fittings is 

highly recommended. 

Equipment Check: 

1. Personal Protective 

Equipment (PPE) 

2. Ultrasound instrument 

3. Headphones 

4. Contact sensor 

5. Lube adapter 

6. Defect log 

7. Grease gun with flex hose 

8. Lint free rags 

9. Flashlight 

Visually inspect asset and 

document any defects. 

Identify grease fittings e.g., 

Zerk, button head, etc. 

Confirm bearings are greasable 

(not sealed). 

Inspect and clean grease 

fittings and color-coded caps 

with lint free rag. Confirm 

color codes of fittings and 

grease gun. 

Right Location: Measure 

the ultrasound signal from 

the same spot each time. 

Tip: Do not measure from the 

bell housing. 

If measuring from grease 

tube extension (not 

recommended), inspect it for 

damage or obstruction. 

Record initial 

ultrasound measurement 

(RMS dBμV and Crest Factor). 

Right Interval: Based 

on data, determine if the 

bearing requires grease 

replenishment. 

Qualitative: Based on lube 

tech’s perception 

+8 dBµV 

Quantitative: Increase of 8 dBµV 

over trend line indicates a need for 

lubrication. 

Qualitative: Tech may note 

elevated whirring sound typical 

of increased friction from metal to 

metal contact. 

+16 dBµV 

Quantitative: Increase of 

16 dBµV over trend line 

indicates warning stage. 

Qualitative: Tech may note louder 

signal and small popping signal 

indicative of impacting. 

+24 dBµV 

Quantitative: Increase of 

24 dBµV over trend line 

indicates severe stage. 

Qualitative: Tech may note 

significant increase in signal, and 

rough, growling sound with loud 

popping. 

Churning Phase: 

Allow ultrasound readings to 

stabilize based on RPM: 

>1200 RPM = 5 seconds 

500 - 1200 RPM = 10 seconds 

300 - 500 RPM = 20 seconds. 


good lubrication 

practices. However, 

there are 

some basic and 

relevant points 

that should be 

noted. 

Lubricant management program: 

Keeping your bearings healthy requires 

a lubricant with the right quality for the 

application. By quality we refer not only 

to the quality of the grease manufacturer, 

but quality in a broader sense which 

involves all the processes from manufacturing 

to application. 

SOME GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS ARE: 

• Keeping high standards of housekeeping 

for storage, handling, and 

application to prevent contamination 

that degrades the quality of 

lubricants. 

• Keep a detailed list of products to 

use for each lubrication point. Selecting 

the right lubricant requires 

technical knowledge in several 

aspects. Using the wrong product 

will jeopardize the useful life of 

the component. Don’t change 

lubricants without solid reasons. 

Consider contracting a lubrication 

consultant to direct advice on this. 

WHAT WOULD 30 PERCENT FEWER BEARING RELATED 

FAILURES MEAN FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION? 

• Provide training in every aspect 

relevant to lubrication practices 

and product knowledge to those 

responsible for lubrication. 

• Set objectives to reach so you have 

a clear path to follow. 

Application Guidelines: Delivering 

the lubricant to the right point 

requires some type of device; usually 

a grease gun. There’s lots of 

different types but they all have 

one thing in common; they deliver 

grease with high pressure; enough 

to overcome the backpressure in 

the grease fitting. 

Dirty grease and mixing grease 

types kills bearings. Therefore, it 

is necessary to extend the precautions 

for contamination and storage 

discussed above, to the application 

of lubricant through grease 

guns: 

• Wherever possible insist on using 

a dedicated grease gun for each 

grease type to avoid the risk of applying 

the wrong product through 

cross contamination. Label the 

grease gun with the associated 

grease to be used. LUBExpert manages 

multiple grease guns to prevent 

mixing of grease types 

• Standardize your grease guns so 

they all deliver the same quantity 

of grease per stroke 

• The same principle must be applied 

for your ultrasound device. 

If using SDT’s acoustic lubrication 

adaptor, assign a different 

lube adapter for each grease type. 

Grease remaining in the adaptor 

can mix with new grease causing a 

degrading chemical reaction. 

• Always clean the grease fitting and 

grease gun before and after every 

application. 

• Some bearings have drain plugs for 

purging old grease. If you open the 

drain, remember to clean the drain 

hole; it may be clogged. Use a clean 

brush like a bottle washing brush 

to clear the port. 

• Apply grease slowly, one full stroke 



at a time (no more than 20% of the 

maximum designated quantity per 

injection) to avoid over greasing. 

This also avoids potential damage 

to the bearing as too much pressure 

can push the bearing cage into 

the roller elements. 

• Always allow for churning time 

– the time required for freshly injected 

grease to work its way into 

the bearing. 

• Type of bearing inside: Don’t assume 

that a grease fitting installed 

on a bearing housing means a path 

to grease the bearing. Sometime 

motors are fitted with both grease 

fittings AND sealed for life bearings. 

You must identify every 

grease point to be managed within 

the ultrasound program. Identify 

the bearing inside to know the size 

for lubrication quantity, the particulars 

for defect diagnosis, and 

the type of grease used. 

HERE ARE SOME HELPFUL TIPS REGARD- 

ING THE USE OF ACOUSTIC LUBRICATION: 

• Friction produces ultrasound. 

Bearing friction is produced by the 

contact between race, rolling elements 

and seals or shields 

• Less contacts means less friction. 

A ball bearing produces less friction 

than a same size roller bearing 

under the same lubrication conditions, 

speed and load. 

• Plain bearings produce the lowest 

friction levels. Their ultrasound 

baseline often trends in the single 

digits or low teens. Typically, 

they remain consistent for their 

lifespan and only display sudden 

upward trend lines when the oil 

film becomes contaminated or the 

bearing is near failure. 

Benefits of Ultrasound 

Ultrasound performs well at sensing and 

measuring changing in friction levels. 

It’s the perfect technology to guide lube 

technicians during the lubricationreplenishment 

task. Ultrasound assisted 

lubrication of plant assets offers significant 

benefits that calendar based lubrication 

cannot. The days of relying on 

calendars and calculators are over. 

Jason Tranter, CEO & Founder, Mobius Institute 

POWERED BY MOBIUS INSTITUTE 

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ASSET MANAGEMEMT 

Text: Nina Garlo-Melkas 

HARNESSING CHANGE FOR 

a Successful Business 

Change is natural and even crucial in order to survive and move forward. 

This is also true when it comes to business. Mainnovation’s Focus+Change - 

approach puts inevitable change in the spotlight, helping businesses manage 

uncertainties for the benefit of their operations. 

– THERE IS NOTHING PERMANENT except change. Heraclitus, 

the Greek philosopher expressed that change is the only reality 

in nature. That is also the case in Maintenance & Asset Management, 

says Peter Decaigny, Managing Partner of the Netherlands 

–based consultancy company, Mainnovation N.V. 

Decaigny notes that Maintenance & Asset Management 

organizations must continuously respond to changing market 

conditions, production requirements and cost targets. Technical 

departments need to deal with different external influences 

such as the shortage on the labour market of technically skilled 

employees, the digitalization shift towards a digital factory, the 

aging of production assets as well as the pressure on life time 

extension and renewals. 

– These are all “additional” challenges next to the day-byday 

challenges of every technical organisation, he explains. 

Managing the permanent change modus 

Mainnovation’s Focus+Change approach is universal, it is a 

mindset. To improve the effectiveness of change programmes, 

companies must work on the acceptation of it. 

– In our daily contact with maintenance and asset management 

organisations we observed that a lot of good initiatives 

and improvement programmes did not have the expected results. 

Despite all the effort to optimize the content, the result 

was often poor and unsustainable. Technically skilled people 

try to solve this problem with more focus on the content: more 

milestones, more processes, etc. However, it is not about being 

right, it is about getting it right. 

Decaigny points that the employee is a key and scarce resource 

in businesses. Therefore, companies need to pay special 

attention to the “human” aspect in all kinds of changes. 

– This is in contradiction to what we often see in technical 

departments. There is often over attention for the technical 

(content) aspects and little attention on the change or the acceptation. 

Decaigny adds that there are two prerequisites for a successful 

change: the necessity to change – in other words is 

everybody convinced (not only the management team) – and 

do we have a clear future vision? For these prerequisites to be 

matched the employees should be involved. When this is done, 

companies should work on a guided transition. 

– Employees have a lot of knowledge and insight. This information 

is often crucial for the next steps. The involvement also 

helps to overcome the NIBM (Not Invented By My) syndrome. 


– If employees in the field are not involved, you get 

natural resistance, but even worse, some solutions cannot 

be implemented due to possible practical issues that 

are left neglected. For instance, tablets that have a short 

battery life, synchronisation cycles of more than an hour 

every morning, smart glasses that need a finger touch for 

commands in an environment where everybody must wear 

special gloves and so forth. 

Because time is also a scarce resource in today’s fast-pace 

business world, Decaigny recognises that new ideas are 

needed to help guide workers through the change process. 

– We do not have the time for everybody to participate 

in all steps of a change programme. So, we must combine 

different success factors like storytelling and leadership 

behaviour to motivate and coach the people. 

Getting employees involved in change is key 

Focus+Change are two parallel, but interconnected, tracks 

where Focus has a direct link with the content (the ratio, the 

analysis, the solutions) and Change has a direct link with the 

acceptation (the behaviour, the mindset, the soft skills). 

– The result is the product of Focus (quality of the content) 

with Change (the effectiveness of the acceptation). 

You can compare it with an OEE measurement that is used 

to improve how effectively a manufacturing operation is 

utilized. In our case it is used to improve the effectiveness 

and sustainability of transitions in Maintenance & Asset 

Management. 

The approach applies 10 proven success factors to help 

companies manage the constant flux of change they face. 

– This is not an add-on somewhere at the end of a project 

but something we must integrate from the very beginning 

of every project or programme. 

The Focus+Change approach has 

10 proven success factors that 

can be used as a checklist: 

1. Make the need for change visible. We do this 

through our VDM XL benchmarking and economic 

value-driver analysis 

2. Develop a clear vision for the future and strategy 

3. Measure the result and progress. We do this by 

continuously measuring and improving KPIs in the 

VDMXL Control Panel 

4. Create management support by demonstrating the 

economic added value 

5. Involve the workplace actively in designing and 

implementing the strategy 

6. Improve the skills & tools for all employees 

through training and coaching 

7. Communicate the change programme by storytelling 

8. Ensure strong leadership within the Maintenance & 

Asset Management organization 

9. Motivate the employees and management by using 

techniques such as change readiness assessment, 

people impact analysis and the excuse wall 

10. Engage VDMXL Coaches for the guidance of the 

change process


Using Ultrasound and 

Infrared for Electrical 

Inspections: Examples 

Ultrasound and infrared technologies are a perfect match when conducting 

inspections of electrical equipment. At any voltage, thermal anomalies and 

sources of ultrasound such as tracking and arcing can occur. Corona can also 

occur at 1000 volts and greater. Any of these conditions threaten the reliability 

of the equipment being inspected. 

ADRIAN MESSER, 

CMRP 

adrianm@uesystems.com 

TYPICAL ELECTRICAL components that 

can be inspected with ultrasound and 

infrared include: 

• Switchgears 

• Load interrupter switches 

• Breakers 

• Transformers 

• Motor control centres 

• Terminal transition cabinets. 

As a further complement to infrared 

inspections and to aid in the proper 

diagnosis of the condition, recorded 

ultrasounds can be seen in both FFT 

and Time Wave Form from spectrumanalysis 

software - this will show how to 

properly diagnose electrical anomalies. 

This form of analysis is referred to as ultrasound 

imaging. 

Ultrasound technology and 

electrical inspections 

Ultrasound is probably the most versatile 

of any PdM technology. Typical 

applications for ultrasound include compressed 

air & gas leak detection, bearings, 

motors, gearboxes, valves, steam 

traps, hydraulic applications, and for 

condition-based lubrication of bearings 

and rotating equipment. 

When it comes to electrical inspection, 

ultrasound instrumentation can 

Ultrasound and infrared: Examples 

1. 2000-AMP MAIN BREAKER (FIGURE 1) 

• Figure 1 represents a 2000-amp main breaker. Arcing was detected on the B Phase line 

side. The arcing heard was worse when the load increased. The arcing has severely 

deteriorated the internal contacts, and eventually will become so deteriorated that the 

voltage and waveform will be unable to reach the load. At this particular facility, the 

replacement cost for this item is approximately $20,000 USD. 

• Figure 2 The Time Waveform from the 

recorded ultrasound shows characteristic 

patterns of arcing – changes in 

amplitude and a loss of well-defined 

60Hz harmonics 



2. 2000 KVA 11KV-415V CAST RESIN TRANSFORMER 

• Figures 3 and 4 show an example of a 2000 KVA 11KV-415v cast resin transformer. 

An inspection on this equipment was requested after audible noise in the area 

increased, so the operators knew something has changed for the area to become louder. 

The inspection was done during the winter months, and for this facility, this transformer 

typically sees a reduction in load as it supplies chillers and associated other 

plant equipment that normally does not work as hard during the winter months. During 

the inspection it was noted that the load was around 420 Amps per phase. 

be used on almost any energized electrical 

equipment including metal-clad 

switchgear, transformers, substations, 

relays, and motor control centres just to 

name a few. Ultrasound instruments can 

be used to inspect energized electrical 

components that are on low, medium, 

and high voltage systems. 

ULTRASOUND AND INFRARED 

TECHNOLOGIES ARE A 

PERFECT MATCH WHEN 

CONDUCTING INSPECTIONS 

OF ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT. 

Figure 3 and 4 – Images of the 2000KVA transformer 

Figure 5 Time Waveform of recorded 

ultrasound from this transformer 

showing characteristics of arcing 

Figure 6 Time Waveform of another 

2000KVA transformer in the same 

facility showing normal ultrasonic noise 

for this type of transformer 

3. CONTACTOR 

• Figures 7 and 8 show an example of a contactor on a piece of equipment called an 

orbit motor. A routine airborne ultrasound inspection was done, and distinct sounds 

of tracking were heard. A follow up inspection with infrared was performed, and the 

diagnosis was severe tracking. 

Figure 9 Time Waveform view of the 

recorded ultrasound of this contactor 

show distinct signs of severe tracking 

and early stages of arcing 

Traditional inspection of energized 

electrical equipment has been performed 

by noncontact infrared cameras. 

However, in recent years, ultrasound 

instruments have been added to these 

inspections for various reasons. One of 

the main reasons has been safety. An ultrasound 

inspection of electrical equipment 

can be performed without opening 

the cabinet or enclosure. 

Ultrasound is quite effective in 

detecting certain failures like corona, 

tracking and arcing. 

Conclusion 

Ultrasound instruments are versatile 

and easy to use and can greatly enhance 

inspections on almost any electrical 

equipment. In the end, it is all about 

safety. Ultrasound inspections can be 

done prior to opening the energized 

gear to scan with infrared. If an ultrasonic 

emission is heard, then the 

proper precautions can be taken before 

opening the energized cabinet. Also, 

for those that rely on the services of an 

outside contractor to perform infrared 

scans, an ultrasound scan can be done 

in between the annual infrared scan to 

see if any emissions are heard. 

When ultrasound and infrared are 

used together, an inspector is given a 

greater chance of detecting anomalies 

that could potentially be missed when 

relying on just one single technology. 

For best results, analyzing recorded 

ultrasounds in either the FFT, or time 

waveform view is the recommended 

method of diagnosing electrical anomalies 

heard with ultrasound. 



OPC UA 

as the Architecture 

for IT/OT Convergence 

The challenge today is to how to best migrate the tightly-coupled factory floor 

architectures with the loosely coupled Web Services architecture of the IT world. 

Because of the discontinuity between the factory floor and the Enterprise, 

opportunities to mine the factory floor for quality data, interrogate and build 

databases of maintenance data, feed dashboard reporting systems, gather historical 

data and feed enterprise analytic systems are unavailable. Opportunities to improve 

maintenance procedures, reduce downtime, compare performance at various plants, 

lines and cells across the enterprise are all lost. But there is a reliable, highly secure 

and reliable solution: OPC UA. 

JOHN RINALDI 

Chief Strategist, 

Business Development 

Manager and Director 

of WOW! for Real Time 

Automation (RTA) 

jrinaldi@rtautomation.com 

John is an expert in industrial 

networks, a speaker, blogger and 

author of fifty articles and six books 

on automation. Get your free book 

by visiting http://www.rtautomation. 

com/rtafreegift/. You can reach John 

at: http://www.rtaautomation.com/ 

contact-us/ or https://www.linkedin. 

com/in/johnsrinaldi. 

IF YOU’VE PAID any attention at all to 

factory automation over the last few 

years, you’ve noticed the ever-increasing 

emphasis on connecting the factory floor 

to the Enterprise and the cloud. There 

are many good reasons for this. Some of 

them are internal: efficiency, productivity, 

higher quality, and the like. Others are 

driven by external requirements such 


as efficiency gains from linking internal 

systems with important vendors and priority 

customers. 

In the old days (ten years ago?), the 

production department was a separate 

entity from the rest of the corporation. 

There was little to no electronic 

data transfer between the production 

machines and the company’s business 

systems. Production was a black box. 

Labor and raw materials went in one 

end, and finished product came out the 

other end. Most of the communication 

was carried out using paper: paper production 

reports, paper inventory levels, 

paper raw material usage, paper quality 

reports, etc. 

Today, the aim is for instantaneous 

closed-loop communication. As units 

of product are consumed in the field, 

that information gets reported back to 

the machine that made it. The production 

machine checks its raw material


inventory levels and on-hand finished 

product and schedules more production. 

It automatically transmits orders for any 

raw materials it needs from supplier machines. 

All automatic. All without human 

intervention. 

That’s the plan anyway. In practice, 

it’s rather hard to get there. We don’t 

have the luxury of ripping out all the production 

machines and replacing them 

with new, fully integrated machines 

with high-speed communication mechanisms. 

Instead, we must do piecemeal 

implementations: upgrading and replacing 

systems one by one as time and funds 

allow. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, to the 

goal of fully automated systems. 

The distinction that many people 

miss is that there’s a key distinction between 

the systems on the factory floor 

(OT) and in what’s known as IT. This 

difference can be described as “looselycoupled” 

systems vs “tightly-coupled” 

systems. These aren’t new concepts, but 

they haven’t been examined in the light 

of the current trend toward the integration 

of factory floor and Enterprise systems 

(aka IT/OT convergence where OT 

means Operational Technology). 

Factory floor systems can be labeled 

tightly-coupled. Systems that use Profibus, 

Profinet IO, DeviceNet, EtherNet/ 

IP, or any Modbus version have a very 

strict architecture. These are really just 

I/O producers and consumers – despite 

that what some of the folks at the trade 

organizations sponsoring these systems 

might have you believe. 

OPC Information Model 

OPC UA IS about reliably, securely and most of all, easily, modeling “Objects” and making 

those Objects available around the plant floor, to Enterprise and cloud applications 

throughout the corporation. The idea behind it is infinitely broader than anything most 

of us have ever thought about before. 

An OPC UA Server models data, information, processes and systems as Objects and 

presents those Objects to Clients in ways that are useful to vastly different types of 

Client applications. And better yet, the UA Server provides sophisticated services that 

the Client can use, like the Discovery Service where Server can permit themselves to 

be “found” by Clients searching for data. 

OPC UA is the future and the perfect technology to bridge the chasm between 

loosely and tightly-coupled systems. 

Let’s look at the main 

characteristics of these Tightly 

Coupled systems: 

A STRICTLY DEFINED COMMUNICATION 

MODEL – The communication between 

these systems is inflexible, tightly regulated, 

and as deterministic as the communication 

platforms allow. 

A STRICTLY DEFINED DATA MODEL – The 

data (really, I/O for most of these systems) 

model is predefined, limited and 

inflexible. 

STRICTLY DEFINED DATA TYPES – The 

data types transported by these systems 

are limited, predefined and supported 

by both sides. There is no ability to send 

data in an open and universal format. 

Tightly-coupled systems provide 

much needed, well-defined functionality 

in a highly specific domain. Expanding 

operation to other domains or trying to 

provide more general operation is difficult. 

Making more generic data and functionality 

available requires significant 

programming resources that results in a 

very inflexible interface. 

And that’s why tightly coupled systems 

are wrong for Enterprise and cloud 

communications. It’s often amusing to 

see the proponents of OT Technologies 

like EtherNet/IP and Profinet IO say 

that they can be used to exchange data 

with Enterprise and cloud systems. Can 

they be made to work for a specific application? 

Yes. But to get there requires 

a whole lot of effort and results in a 

difficult-to-maintain, inflexible system 

that is extremely fragile. 

Loosely-coupled systems, on the 

other hand, provide exactly the right 

kind of interface for Enterprise and 

cloud communications. Loosely-coupled 

systems decouple the platform from the 

data, the data from the data model, and 

provide a much more dynamic mechanism 

for moving data. 

Loosely-coupled systems have 

these kinds of characteristics: 

A WIDELY USED, STANDARDS-BASED 

TRANSPORT LAYER – Messages are transported 

in loosely-coupled systems with 

open, widely-implemented, highly flexible 

transports layers: TCP and HTTP. 

AN OPEN, PLATFORM INDEPENDENT 

DATA ENCODING – Data is encoded using 

an open standard data encoding like eXtensible 

Markup Language (XML) that can be 

processed by any computer platform. 

A HIGHLY EXTENSIBLE OPERATING INTER- 

FACE – The interface between looselycoupled 

systems is flexible and extensible. 

SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) is 

the main interface, and it provides a highly 

flexible mechanism for messaging between 

loosely-coupled systems. 

Essentially, what I’ve described here is 

Web Services. Web Services is the backbone 

of everything we do on the Internet. It is 

extensible, flexible, platform independent 

– all required for the ever-expanding 

Internet. 

The challenge is to how to best migrate 

the tightly-coupled factory floor architectures 

with the loosely coupled Web Services 

architecture of IT and the Internet. Right 

now, because of the discontinuity between 

the factory floor and the Enterprise, opportunities 

to mine the factory floor for quality 

data, interrogate and build databases of 

maintenance data, feed dashboard reporting 

systems, gather historical data and feed 

enterprise analytic systems are nonexistent. 

Opportunities to improve maintenance 

procedures, reduce downtime, compare 

performance at various plants, lines and 

cells across the enterprise are all lost. 

The solution? It’s OPC UA. OPC UA can 

live in both the world of the factory floor 

and the Enterprise (Figure 1). 



Save Energy in Steam 

and Condensate Systems 

The oldest paper mill still 

operating in Germany 

detects defective steam 

traps with digital ultrasonic 

testing technology 

TWO APPRENTICES at the oldest paper 

mill still operating in Germany received 

an award for their project ‘Steam traps 

as an important component for energy 

efficiency’ in a competition sponsored 

by the ‘Energy Transition and Climate 

Protection’ initiative for medium-sized 

companies in Saxony. Which traps are 

defective and how high are the costs 

caused by defective steam traps? The apprentices 

used technology from the company 

Sonotec to assist them in answering 

these questions. The digital ultrasonic 

testing device supplied them with answers, 

which surprised everyone. 

Paper has been produced at Penig 

Papierfabrik in Saxony since 1537. Today, 

approximately 100 employees are 

employed at the oldest paper mill still 

operating in Germany. The mill produces 

décor paper under the name Schoeller 

Technocell GmbH & Co. KG Werk Penig, 

which is part of the Felix Schoeller Group 

in Osnabruck, Germany. Décor paper is 

used primarily for furniture and floors. 

The machines are in operation 

around the clock, 350 days a year, and 

consume 110,000 MWh annually. For 

this reason, Schoeller is searching for 

new ways to save energy. 

- We want to use 2 percent less primary 

energy every year in relation to 

production volume and the base year 

2012. New ideas are repeatedly needed 

to achieve this goal, says Rico Eidam, 

the Technical Director and Energy Manager 

at the paper mill. 

The apprentices are giving a 

boost to energy management 

To achieve its energy goals, the paper mill 

is getting its own workforce involved. The 

company has been training energy scouts 

since 2016. Rico Eidam remarks, ‘With 

this qualification scheme, we want to get 

our apprentices enthusiastic about the 

topic of energy efficiency, and of course, 

we also want to discover new ways of 

saving energy’. The apprentices Franz 

Weber and Martin Becher uncovered 

potential ways of saving energy by regularly 

testing steam traps. In 2018 they 

were both awarded a prize with their project 

titled ‘Steam traps as an important 

component in energy efficiency’. 

Equipment 

for steam trap 

testing: Digital 

ultrasonic device 

SONAPHONE 

with a broadband 

temperature and 

structure-borne 

sound sensor 



Temperature 

measurement with a 

combined structure-borne 

sound and temperature 

sensor BS20 

About SONOTEC 

After the 

temperature 

is taken and 

the ultrasound 

is recorded, 

photos, voice 

memos and 

comments on 

each test point 

can be added. 

FOUNDED IN 1991, nowadays SONO- 

TEC GmbH is a leading specialist in 

ultrasonic measurement technology 

solutions. With more than 170 

employees, the technology company 

based in Halle (Saale) in the heart of 

Germany develops and manufactures 

customer-specific ultrasonic transducers 

and sensors as well as testing 

equipment and measuring technology 

solutions for a wide variety of industries. 

These range from medical technology 

and the chemical and pharmaceutical 

industries to engineering and 

plant construction and non-destructive 

testing. 

Martin Becher, an industrial mechanic 

in his third year of apprenticeship, explains, 

‘After we completed several modules 

on the topics of energy efficiency, 

project work and working with measuring 

devices at the Chamber of Industry and 

Commerce (IHK) in Dresden, we were 

given the task of implementing a practical 

energy efficiency project in our company. 

After conducting research and consulting 

with the Energy Manager, the two 

apprentices decided to carefully examine 

the steam traps at the power station. 

- Defective steam traps can lead to unscheduled 

downtime and higher energy 

consumption. By regularly testing the 

traps, repairs and replacements can be 

planned better. Energy costs for steam 

production can also be significantly lowered, 

which we demonstrated in our project, 

explains Franz Weber, an electronics 

technician in his fourth apprenticeship 

year. 

The paper mill primarily requires 

steam during the drying process, where 

residual water from the paper is evaporated. 

The décor paper web runs through 

the labyrinth of 30 drying cylinders in the 

paper machine. At the end of the process, 

the finished paper contains 7 to 8 percent 

residual moisture. Experts assume that 

around 15 to 20 per cent of the steam 

produced is lost as a result of leaky steam 

traps. This calculation is an example 

which illustrates the costs: A leak with a 

diameter of only 5 mm leads to a loss of 

5 bar of pressure and 65 kg of steam per 

hour, which means approx. 550 t are lost 

per year (at a rate of 8,400 operational 

hours annually). With production costs 

of €20/t , this loss can add up to nearly 

11,000 Euros per year. 

When testing the steam trap, the 

energy scouts used technology from 

the company Sonotec to assist them. Is 

the steam trap working correctly or is it 

defective? The digital ultrasonic testing 

device Sonaphone delivered the answer to 

this question. 

Combined ultrasonic and 

temperature testing 

- Up until now, we have not had much 

experience with steam and condensate 

systems. At first, we had to familiarise 

ourselves with the topic and we attended 

a one-day training session at Sonotec, 

Martin Becher explains, 

During the session, the two energy 

scouts learned, among other things, about 

how to distinguish between intact and 

defective traps using audio samples. Depending 

on the design, a functioning trap 

opens and closes continuously or discontinuously 

and it produces characteristic 

ultrasound signals during this process. 

They can be recorded and analysed with 

the digital ultrasonic testing device 

SONAPHONE, the LevelMeter App, and 

the broadband ultrasonic and temperature 

sensor BS20. The theory was then 

put into practice back at Penig. 

A section with 28 thermal and float 

condensate drains were supposed to be 

analysed. All of the steam traps in the device 

were recorded and were set up as test 

points with an image, number and type. 

Then the energy scouts plugged the BS20 

sensor into the device and began testing. 

Initially, the temperature of the trap 

was measured at the inlet and outlet. 



The apprentices Franz Weber (left) and 

Martin Becher (right) from Peniger 

Papierfabrik were awarded a prize for 

their project ‘Steam traps as an important 

component for energy efficiency’. 

The temperature can determine, for example, 

if the steam trap has the operating 

temperature expected or if it tends to be 

too cold (condensate backup) or too hot 

(leaky) depending on the system’s pressure. 

The difference in temperature is 

assessed at the inlet and outlet depending 

on the operating principle of the trap. 

An evaluation of the steam trap can be conducted on site or later at your computer using 

DataViewer software. The report can be exported as a CSV or PDF file for documentation 

purposes. 

The condition assessment 

requires experience 

Afterwards, the two apprentices recorded 

the ultrasonic signal with a broadband 

structure-borne sound sensor using a 

frequency range of 20 to 100 kilohertz. 

There were no problems during testing 

and it was also possible to conduct the 

tests while the equipment was in operation. 

They selected the measuring intervals 

in such a way that the steam trap had 

circulated and drained at least once. An 

interval of approximately one minute was 

used for the float condensate drain and an 

interval of about three minutes was used 

for the thermal drain. 

The emission of an acoustic signal on 

the display in the form of a spectrogram 

proved to be helpful for their subsequent 

evaluation. The characteristic sound 

changes of defective steam traps can be 



distinguished immediately from the 

characteristic sounds of intact traps. 

‘Initially, we recorded the signal from a 

new trap which was very likely working 

properly. Then we were able to compare 

the recording with the other recordings 

and could draw some conclusions about 

which traps were defective. This also involves 

having a little experience.’ 

During the testing process, the two 

apprentices used the LevelMeter App. 

After recording temperature and ultrasound, 

they could add photos, voice 

memos and comments on each test 

point. Franz Weber says, ‘Handling the 

testing equipment is really very intuitive 

and easy; it is similar to using a smartphone. 

Once we were finished, we could 

create a report with just a few clicks.’ 

50 percent of the traps 

were defective 

At the end of the case study, everyone 

was surprised about the results of the 

tests. Fifty percent, i.e. 14 of the 28 traps, 

proved to be defective. 

- If we assume that one defective trap 

costs us about 4,000 Euros per year, we 

can save around 48,000 Euros alone 

in this section by replacing the traps.’ 

The last defective traps will be replaced 

during the next downtime. The Energy 

Manager reports, ‘The temperature of 

the condensate has dropped considerably 

since we changed the first traps, Rico Eidam 

states. 

In the future, all of the steam traps in 

Peniger’s factory will be recorded and 

tested on a regular basis. The scheduled 

preventative maintenance will include 

monitoring the condition of the traps 

every six months. Moreover, the team 

also plans to use the Sonaphone for other 

maintenance tasks. For example, they 

can use the digital testing device to detect 

leakages in the compressed air systems 

and to monitor the condition of roller and 

ball bearings. Additionally, the testing 

device is suitable for inspecting partial 

discharges in electrical equipment. 

When it comes to saving energy, 

Peniger has taken the lead. The energy 

scouts received an award for their project 

‘Steam traps as an important component 

for energy efficiency’ in a competition 

sponsored by the ‘Energy Transition and 

Climate Protection’ initiative for mediumsized 

companies in Saxony. ‘We, of course, 

are proud of this achievement. Up until 

now, we have been able to exceed our goal 

for saving energy every year. This type of 

project is an important component for 

achieving our goal and it raises the awareness 

of this issue among all our staff. 

SONAPHONE areas 

of application 

• Leak detection and evaluation 

• Detection of partial discharges 

• Condition monitoring 

• Steam trap testing 

PRESS CONTACT: 

Stephanie Moczigemba 

SONOTEC Ultraschallsensorik 

Halle GmbH 

Nauendorfer Strasse 2 

06112 Halle (Saale), Germany 

Tel: +49 (0)345 13317-822 

E-Mail: s.moczigemba@sonotec.de 

ULTRASONIC TESTING DEVICE 

Leak Detection 

Condition Monitoring 

Electrical Inspection 

Steam Trap Testing

LEADERSHIP 

Developing the Leadership 

Mindset: Set your Mind, 

Manage your Destiny 

In the time it takes you to 

read this article, I hope to 

forever change how you 

think and act. A lofty goal 

for 1,638 words, right? 

No pressure. How is this 

possible? By helping you 

to develop an unbreakable 

perspective that is the 

key source of success for 

modern leaders. Whoever 

you are, whatever your 

situation, you will benefit 

from this powerful 

mindset. 1,574 words to 

go; let’s get started. 


THOMAS J. FURNIVAL, 

Director of 

Training Services, 

MARSHALL 

INSTITUTE, INC. 

MINDSET IS A SUPERPOWER 

INGREDIENT IN SUCCESS. 

GREAT LEADERS TODAY are viewed as 

champions of the right things, for the 

right reasons. They are advocates and 

catalysts for important causes that benefit 

the greater good. They earn, rather 

than inherit, their leadership mantle by 

building trust and acting consistently 

with integrity. Leadership can be hard to 

succinctly define but easy to recognise. 

Here are some of my favourite quotes 

that summarize some key characteristics 

of modern leadership: 

• Leadership is the capacity to 

translate vision into reality. - 

Warren G. Bennis 

• The greatest leader is not neces 

sarily the one who does the greatest 

things. He is the one that gets the 

people to do the greatest things. - 

Ronald Reagan 

• Leadership is an achievement of 

trust - Peter Drucker 

• The function of leadership is to produce 

more leaders, not more followers. 

- Ralph Nader 

• Before you are a leader, success is all 

about growing yourself. When you 

become a leader, success is all about 

growing others - Jack Welch

LEADERSHIP 

• Leaders should be role models and 

walk the walk - Gary Vaynerchuck 

• As we look ahead into the next 

century, leaders will be those who 

empower others. - Bill Gates 

• The supreme quality of leader-ship 

is integrity. - Dwight D. Eisenhower 

The SuperPower of 

Perspective 

What is a mindset and why it important? 

My own father answered both 

questions with a phrase he mentioned 

at several pivotal points in my youth, 

“Your attitude determines your altitude”. 

My definition of mindset is the 

orientation of key beliefs that act as 

an internal compass directing how we 

think and act. Its influence is so strong 

that it ultimately selects the coordinates 

to our life's journey and destination. 

Take a second or two to pause and 

reflect about the power of those words. 

You already know it to be true. You 

have known people with great attitudes 

who seemingly attract a steady stream 

of happiness and success, and alternatively, 

you have known an Eeyore 

(Winnie the Pooh) who attracts constant 

gloom. 

Mindset is so important that it is 

hard to overstate. Because mindset is 

a superpower ingredient in success, it 

is valuable and applicable to all of us, 

regardless of job title, industry, department, 

or company. 

Leadership vs. non-leader 

mindset 

To explore how the leadership 

mindset is different from the 

non-leader mindset we are going 

to cover seven belief areas. We 

will reflect on the differences in 

perspective between leaders and 

non-leaders. As you read these perspectives 

consider the life-long impact 

of holding these two different 

mindsets. Think about the different 

career paths, experiences, and 

destinations two young hires at the 

same company would travel after 

40 years of working with these two 

mindsets. 

Key Beliefs Leadership Mindset Non-Leader Mindset 

Purpose 

Potential 

Motivation 

Leaders view all that they do and all that others do with an 

understanding of the task’s higher purpose. They see alignment with all 

activities and the big picture. They view no value-added task as too small 

or unimportant. 

Leaders see greater potential in situations, in themselves, and in other 

people, and have a positive outlook on what’s possible. 

The perspective on potential is epitomised by Henry Ford’s powerful 

statement, “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t - you’re right.” 

Leaders are fuelled by collective achievement and sustained by internal 

motivation, not external sources. 

Although they appreciate recognition, it is not a driving force of their 

achievement. 

Non-leaders tend not to identify or reflect on the higher 

purpose of tasks. They are also less likely to visualise the 

holistic and system impact of tasks, resulting in viewing them 

with less value. 

They are often less optimistic about what is possible. They 

are content with the status quo and less interested in, and 

attracted by, messages of growth and improvement. 

They are more often motivated by external sources such as 

financial rewards and personal, individual recognition. 

They receive fulfilment from individual achievement, and 

vie for individual recognition rather than shared team 

recognition. 

Responsibility 

Capability 

Change 

Leaders accept more responsibility than what is given to them. They take 

on more responsibility to advance the cause and to support their team 

whenever needed. 

They do what is needed to complete tasks or accomplish goals. 

Leaders know that their capabilities and intelligence are not fixed at 

birth, and they take active control over self-development inside and 

outside of the workplace. 

Although they are optimistic about their potential, they are firmly 

grounded in reality and have an accurate inventory of their own 

strengths and shortcomings. 

They actively support others in growing their capability and reaching 

their potential. 

This perspective is called a Growth Mindset, and was defined and 

brilliantly explained by Carol S. Dweck in her book Mindset – The New 

Psychology of Success. 

Not only do leaders expect change, they anticipate it, and successfully 

adapt to it. 

They view external change as opportunities. And they know how to 

influence others with integrity to successfully navigate change and 

turbulent times. 

Leaders view both failure and success as outcomes to learn from. 

They are less willing to work beyond their inherited 

responsibilities. 

Although they may accept greater responsibility for more 

pay, they are less likely to take initiative to do what’s needed 

to achieve team goals. 

They view their capability and the capability of others as 

something that is more fixed and limited. As a consequence 

they view self-development and learning as less important. 

They tend to notice others’ shortcomings rather than their 

strengths and potential. 

This perspective is called a Fixed Mindset, and is also covered 

by Carol S. Dweck in her book Mindset – The New Psychology 

of Success. 

They are more sceptical of change, sometimes even outright 

fearful of it. They are less able to find the opportunities in 

change and think more about how change will negatively 

impact them. 

They are happier in homeostasis. 

They view outcome as very important to their sense of self. 

Outcomes 

They understand that successes are achieved by the efforts of many, and 

ultimately sustained by creating the processes and systems. 

They celebrate successes as a team. 

They also understand that failures should be dissected for learnings and 

these learnings should be understood by the team. They also ensure that 

processes and systems are updated to eliminate these future ‘failures’. 

In their mind, a successful outcome means they are 

successful, an unsuccessful one means they are a failure. They 

tend not to learn from outcomes and then do not adjust or 

change to avoid similar outcomes in the future. This results 

in them continuing to tie their self-worth to outcomes. 

Ultimately they view the overall journey and learnings as the most 

important experience. Achievements are simply important milestones on 

the journey. 


LEADERSHIP 

Protect... 

Be aware of the people and factors affecting 

your mindset, positively and 

negatively. Jim Rohn said, “You are the 

average of the 5 people you spend most 

time with.” Who are you the average of? 

If they are not people you admire and 

want to emulate as leaders, then it could 

be time to think about making some substitutions. 

Conversely, think about how you 

impact your 5 people. Do you bring the 

average up or down? Take some time to 

do an honest inventory of your habits. 

Keep up with habits that reinforce the 

mindset you want to protect, and eliminate 

all others. 

...and Develop 

When you are surrounded by the right 

people, you can focus your efforts on developing 

your leadership. 

Consider the following: 

- Practice: To effectively adjust your 

behaviour you first must re-position 

your perspective on the key beliefs 

of the leadership mindset (purpose, 

potential, motivation, responsibility, 

capability, change and outcomes). 

Identify moments that will allow you to 

apply them frequently and consistently. 


- Self-audit: Set up a daily or weekly 

audit schedule to assess your behaviours 

and mindset. Review your recent 

behaviours and actions against the 

leadership elements outlined above. 

VIEW YOUR MINDSET 

AS ONE OF YOUR MOST 

POWERFUL TOOLS. 

Take note of where you are aligned and 

misaligned. Understand the causes of 

both. This is a learning opportunity. 

Take note of any changes you observe 

in how people are interacting with you. 

Have frosty relationships warmed a 

little? 

- Ask for feedback: Ask your peers, 

boss, and team pointed questions about 

your behaviours and performance. For 

example, you could ask: 

• “What positive changes in my 

behaviour and performance have 

you noticed in the last month? 

• “What behaviours of mine do you 

believe prevent me from being a 

better leader? 

If you have strong relationships 

with these people they should give 

you more candid and insightful 

feedback that you can reflect on, and 

compare against your own perception 

of your leadership performance. 

This feedback should inform and 

improve your practice. Remember, 

practice doesn’t make perfect; perfect 

practice makes perfect. Seek 

feedback to make your practice more 

valuable. 

I sincerely hope that this article 

has excited you enough to leverage 

the superpower of the leadership 

mindset. Armed with this knowledge, 

you have the potential to change how 

you think and act forever. 

Before we go, answer this great 

question posed by Robert Goffee and 

Gareth Jones, “Why should anyone 

follow you?” We will all have our own 

answers, but in general people will 

follow you if they trust you. And their 

trust is determined by consistent 

alignment with your intentions, your 

words, and your actions. Your mindset 

influences all of these things. 

View your mindset as one of your 

most powerful tools. Protect it, develop 

it, and you'll be amazed by the 

journey it takes you on.

Data Collector 

Detect, Measure, Analyze 

Ultrasound and 

Vibration 

Ultrasound Soluons 

sdtultrasound.com 

Scalable 

Multi-technology 

Multi-platform 

UAS4.0 

Analysis Software 

APPLICATIONS 

MECHANICAL 

Detect defects in 

any mechanical 

system. 

LEAKS 

Find pressure and 

vacuum leaks in 

noisy conditions. 

LUBRICATION 

Avoid over/under 

lubrication. Grease 

bearings right. 

ELECTRICAL 

Inspect medium and 

high voltage systems 

for arcing, tracking 

and corona. 

VALVES 

Asses valve 

tightness 

STEAM 

Find faulty steam 

traps and leaking 

components 

HYDRAULICS 

Troubleshoot any 

hydraulic system 

for passing and 

blockages. 

TIGHTNESS 

Determine the 

tightness of any 

enclosed volume


OPERATOR ESSENTIAL 

CARE (OEC) ROUTES 

It is said that, “Maintenance is Managed by 

Managing Backlog”. Truer words were never spoken. 

Improvement in the management of maintenance leads 

to lower maintenance costs, more operating hours, 

increased safety and higher equipment reliability. 

So, the question is, how do we generate backlog to 

improve the management of maintenance? 

TERRY TAYLOR 

CMRP 

Senior Consultant, 

IDCON INC., 

t.taylor@idcon.com 

THE SIMPLEST definition for Backlog is – 

work that needs to be done in the future. 

Often an organization does not have its 

“True Backlog” identified and documented. 

We usually know this because 

of the amount of Reactive Maintenance 

Work that is taking place. We also see this 

when the Open Work Order List contains 

very little work that would fall into the 

category of Backlog, that is, work (corrective) 

that needs to be done in the future. 

How can the organization address the 

problem? 

We begin with the Preventive Maintenance 

(PM) program, where OEC can be 

an integral part. This is where the problem 

as to why there is little to no Backlog 

is addressed. The first point of contact 

for detecting problems early resides with 

the equipment operators. It should be no 

surprise as to why equipment operators 

are the first line of defense in early detection; 

they are tending to the equipment 

every hour it’s in operation. Detecting 

problems early and reporting them gives 

maintenance the opportunity to plan and 

scheduled the corrective repairs. 

You may be wondering how to engage 

the operators to do OEC. There are 3 key 

steps to take: 

• First, build (document) the Operator 

Essential Care (OEC) routes. 

• Second, establish the training required 

for the operators to be able 

to detect these problems early. 

• Third, determine the KPIs that 

should be used to measure the results 

of the OEC routes. 


STEP 1 – 

Building the OEC Routes 

A Best Practice PM program consists of 

these elements - 

PM – Preventive Maintenance 

• EC – Essential Care 

• CM – Condition Monitoring 

• Objective Measurements 

• Subjective Measurements 

Essential Care (EC) – For example; 

Lubrication, balancing, alignment, oil, 

filters, adjustments, cleaning, operating 

correctly – The things you do to Prevent 

Failures 

Condition Monitoring (CM) – Objective 

methods such as Vibration, Thermography, 

Oil Analysis, together with 

subjective checks, meaning, look, listen, 

feel, smell, etc.- CM are all the things 

you do to Detect Failures 

Although various disciplines (Mechanical, 

Electrical, instrumentation 

and operations) are accountable for the 

many tasks associated with a comprehensive 

PM program, it is with Operators 

that this list of tasks can begin. 

Operators are responsible for operate 

the equipment correctly in order to


avoid equipment failures. This element 

of OEC is often forgotten. This article 

focuses on the inspection routes, but 

keep in mind correct operation is often 

the most important factor operations 

can contribute towards equipment reliability. 

Operators make routine rounds on 

the equipment in their area(s) of responsibility 

and it within these rounds 

where you can add certain PM tasks to 

the operator’s list of duties. These PM 

tasks are normally very simple, easy to 

do and require very little training. But 

what exactly are these tasks and how are 

task lists developed? 

THIRD –BUILD A SPREADSHEET WHERE 

YOU CAN BREAKDOWN THE ASSETS 

INTO THEIR VARIOUS COMPONENTS. 

After breaking each asset down into 

its components, list these on a spreadsheet. 

The list of assets should be in a 

logical order as the operators go from 

one asset to the next. There will be 

OEC tasks associated with each component. 

So, leave some lines on the 

spreadsheet for these OEC tasks. This 

is more fully explained in the next 

step. Below is an example of a partial 

spreadsheet for the Equipment and 

Components ›› 

Floor Equipment Component 

4th Floor D1 Washer Motor 

4th Floor D1 Washer Omega Coupling 

4th Floor D1 Washer Speed Reducer 




4th Floor D1 Washer Grid Coupling 

4th Floor D1 Washer Drive Worm Gear 

4th Floor D1 Washer Drive Gear Case 

4th Floor D1 Washer DO Drive Gear Case 

4th Floor D1 Washer DO Drive Gear Case 

4th Floor D1 Washer Drum Seals 

FIRST – PICK AN “AREA” FOR A ROUTE(S) 

The “area” would be associated with an 

operator’s area of responsibility. Within 

the area are many assets consisting of different 

components. It is the components 

that you want the OEC tasks to focus on. 

Example: For a Bleach Plant in a Pulp 

Mill consisting of many floors, the areas 

may be broken down by floor. In a Paper 

Mill, the areas may be broken down by 

function. A paper machine, may be broken 

down into the wet end, the dry end, 

and the winder. 

SECOND – BREAK EACH ASSET IN THE 

“AREA” DOWN INTO COMPONENTS. 

This exercise is the equivalent of 

breaking the elephant down into bitesized 

pieces. It is not the equipment 

that fails, it is a component that is a 

part of the equipment that fails and 

causes the equipment to stop. 

For example: A conveyor belt will be 

part of an OEC route. To begin breaking 

it down into components, have a 

diagram of the entire conveyor and 

identify everything you want to include 

as part of the OEC route. One area 

would be the “drive (or head) pulley” 

this would include the motor, gearbox, 

couplings, pulley, pulley bearings and 

holdback. Another area would be the 

“conveyor structure” which might 

include the idlers, walkways, the structure 

itself, take-up, etc. Continue this 

exercise until all of the components 

are identified. The point is, to not miss 

anything in the “area” you have identified 

as being part of the OEC route. 

You might also refer to the Equipment 

Register or Functional Location and 

the hierarchy in your CMMS. And finally, 

confirm the list of components 

by visual verification. 

FOURTH - POPULATE THE SPREADSHEET 

WITH THE OEC TASKS FOR THE COMPO- 

NENTS 

Now it’s time to decide the tasks operators 

will do as a part of their OEC routes. 

This is where a facilitator or an appointed 

“team leader” will assist leading what 

is best described as a very tedious exercise 

in populating the spreadsheet. Don’t 

underestimate how difficult this might 

be. Expect a great deal of discussion as 

you address each component. 

A time saver is to address common 

components ahead of time. So, if the 

component is an AC motor, the tasks 

that an operator would do is decided 

early on and a list of those tasks are used 

each time that common component 

comes up on the list. Here is a short list 

of common components in a pulp mill 

that could be addressed early, and “templates” 

made for these and their associated 

OEC tasks – 

• AC Motors 

• Centrifugal Pumps 

• Couplings 

• Gear Boxes 

• Agitators 

The OEC tasks are often executed more 

frequently, non-intrusive and take a very 

short period of time to execute. But what 

is documented for the tasks are very important 

because these become the actual 

task descriptions that the operators will 

see. For example – 

• “Check Motor” is a poor task 

description 

• “Check the temperature of the 

motor at the mid-point (Black 

Target) of the housing” is a 

much more descriptive task. 

It is vital tasks are written descriptively 

so the operators will know exactly what 

to do. Many checklists contain brief and 

inadequate descriptions for the tasks 

that need to be executed. The example 

below shows a few inadequate task descriptions 

from a PM checklist. 

1 INSPECT & ADJUST FUN & ALTERNATOR BELTS 

2 LUBRICATE FAN & PULLEY BRG´S 

3 LUBRICATE UNIVERSAL JOINTS 

4 INSPECT HOUR METER 

5 INSPECT ALL GAUGES, INDICATORS & ALARMS 

6 INSPECT ALL CAB SEALS 

7 INSPECT & OR REPLACE CAB AIR FILTERS 

8 SAMPLE WINCH OIL IF APPLICABLE 

9 INSPECT EITHER STARTING AID CANSTERS 

10 SAMPLE & CHANGE ENGINE OIL & FILTERS 

11 INSPECT & ADJUST BATTERY ELECTOLYTE 

12 INSPECT & ADJUST COOLING SYSTEM 

13 INSPECT PRECLEANER 

14 CHANGE FUEL FILTERS 

15 INSPECT PRIMARY AIR ELEMENT 

16 INSPECT SECONDARY AIR ELEMENT 

17 INSPECT WATER PUMP WEEP HOLE 

18 CHANGE COOLING ELEMENT 

19 SAMPLE FINAL DRIVERS 

20 INSPECT TRACK ADJUSTMENTS 

21 INSPECT TRACK WEAR 

22 INSPECT ROLLER & IDLER SEALS 

23 INSPECT ROLLER & IDLER FOR WEAR 

24 INSPECT SPROCKET SEGMENT WEAR 

25 INSPECT HYDRAULIC CYLINDERS 



The task descriptions must be written 

in such a way that no matter whom 

the operator is, no matter what they 

know or don’t know, the task description 

is detailed enough so there no reason for 

the operators to not do an adequate job 

on each respective task. These tasks are 

usually done on-the-run while the equipment 

is operating. That is, no shutdown 

of the equipment is required to execute 

the OEC tasks. 

Here is an example of good task descriptions 

for an operator on an OEC 

spreadsheet ›› 

Equipment Component PM Task Description 

HW HD Tower Motor Measure vibrations of motor with vibration pen at designated locations. 

HW HD Tower 

HW HD Tower 

Motor 

Motor 

Check temperature of bearings with heat gun by 

scanning for highest temperature. 

Check temperature of windings with heat gun by 

scanning for highest temperature. 

HW HD Tower Motor Check general cleanliness of motor, including motor shroud. 

HW HD Tower Centrifugal Pump Check oil level in housing through the sight glass. 

HW HD Tower Centrifugal Pump Visually inspect seal water for exiting flow. 

HW HD Tower Centrifugal Pump Visually inspect for loose bolts in pump to base assembly. 

HW HD Tower Centrifugal Pump Check pump vibration with vibration pen at designated locations. 

The most difficult part in building the 

list of tasks for the operators is deciding 

where to draw the line on what is included 

in the OEC routes and what tasks 

others will do as a part of the overall PM 

program. These other tasks would be 

executed by the mechanics, electricians, 

instrument techs and contractors. These 

tasks are usually more technical in nature 

and/or require that the equipment 

is shutdown or deenergized in order to 

complete the tasks. 

Below is an example of other fields 

in the spreadsheet that should be populated 

›› 

• Frequency – How often you 

want to execute each particular 

task 

• Frequency Unit – This is normally 

Date-Based such as daily, 

weekly, monthly, quarterly, 

annually. For OEC tasks, daily 

and weekly are the most often 

used frequency units. 

• Resource – Simply the Craft 

type and skill set required to 

do the task. For OEC tasks, this 

would always be the Operator. 

• Route – Answers the question, 

can the task be listed as a 

part of a Routine Route to be 

executed on a regular basis? It 

serves as a check and balance 

for the execution of the task. 

• Shutdown – Is it a requirement 

that the asset be shutdown 

to execute the task? 

• Existing PM – Does the task 

currently reside on any existing 

PM, for example in mechanical, 

electrical or instrumentation 

PM’s. If so, it needs to be decided 

whom does what task to 

balance the PM program. 

Frequency 

Frequency 

Unit 

Resource 

Route 

Y or N 

Shutdown 

Y or N 

Existing PM 

Y or N 

Spare Strategy 

Y or N 

1 wk Mechanic Y N N Y 

1 wk Operator Y N N Y 

1 wk Mechanic Y N N Y 

1 M Contractor Y N Y Y 

6 M Oiler Y Y N Y 

1 M Mechanic Y N N Y 

1 wk Operator Y N N Y 

3 M Mechanic Y Y N Y 

3 M Mechanic Y Y N Y 

THE SPREADSHEET MAKES IT VERY SIMPLE TO BUILD THE 

ACTUAL ROUTES AND CORRESPONDING CHECKLISTS. 

• Spare Strategy – Is there a 

strategy in place that allows 

for the replacement of the 

part/component should it be 

necessary? If the answer is no, 

ask the question, should there 

be? This would not normally 

be required for any OEC task. 

• Reference Document – This 

field is to show the location 

of any reference documents 

that may be in a Technical 

Database. IDCONs Condition 

Monitoring Standards 

are often referenced here. An 

example is shown below – 

FIFTH – PRODUCE THE PM ROUTES AND 

CHECKLISTS 

The spreadsheet makes it very simple 

to build the actual routes and corresponding 

checklists. The data can be 

filtered so that it is sorted as desired 

and then the routes are created with all 

of the tasks for the assets. 

Sorting may be by the operating 

floor, the area, the equipment, the frequency, 

etc. It can be sorted any way 

that is desired to see the inspection 

points in a list. This can be a very long 

list of tasks for the OEC routes, so it 

requires a strategy for deploying those 

tasks. 

For example: The OEC spreadsheet 

for Weekly on-the-run tasks has 210 

inspection tasks. If this was given to 

the operators all at once they might be 

overwhelmed. But a strategy to break 

it down by day and shift, assuming 3 

shifts per day, makes this only 10 tasks 

per shift. 

Next, address how the tasks will be 

communicated to the operators and 

how they respond when they have in- 



formation to report back. This may be 

communicated on a hard copy form or it 

may be addressed with a data-logger. Either 

system works but it is a big decision. 

For hard copy formats, a “Template” 

needs to be created for the checklists. 

For a data-logger type system there are 

several options. But whichever system 

is used, they both need to have a good 

way to handle the feedback from the 

operators. It is the early detection and 

reporting of a problem that is critical. 

STEP 2 – 

Training Operators 

for OEC Routes 

Training operators to execute OEC 

routes is usually very simple. The main 

point of the training is operators understand 

the importance of detecting 

problems early. And once a problem is 

detected, then it must be reported ASAP. 

Motor - AC 

CMS100R 

Condition Monitoring Standards 

Basic Principle 

FIRST – INSPECTION TOOLS 

Depending on where the line was drawn 

on what the operators will do on an OEC 

route, you might have some inspection 

tools involved the need to be procured 

and that the end-users, in this case the 

operators, are trained how to use them. 

The inspection tools normally used in 

OEC are a vibration pen and a thermal 

recording device. The training on how 

to use these devices is usually very simple 

and is often provided free from the 

OEM when they are purchased. For a 

more in-depth Essential Care and Basic 

Inspection training, IDCON has training 

designed for Operators. 

SECOND – RUNNING THE ROUTES 

Running the routes is one-on-one training 

delivered by the trainer walking the 

route with the trainee. It is not only 

about how to execute each task listed but 

An Alternating Current (AC) motor has two major components, the stator and the rotor (see picture). The stator 

creates a rotating magnetic field. The rotating magnetic field acts on the rotor, causing it to spin due to the 

rotating magnetic torque. 

The rotating magnetic field from the stator is produced by the currents that are flowing through the stator 

windings. The stator windings have several “poles”. The poles are activated by the current at different times, 

causing the magnetic field to move (rotate). The rotor is built of a number of magnets. The rotor magnets react to 

the rotating magnetic field, and the rotor starts to rotate with the magnetic field. 

Picture Courtesy: Reliance motors 

it is more about having an awareness of 

everything going on around the person 

while running the route. This training 

can’t be effectively done in a classroom 

environment. 

THIRD – REPORT ON FINDINGS 

Detecting problems early is the real 

pay-off for doing OEC routes. When a 

problem is discovered then it must be 

reported. There must be a clear line of 

communication for getting these problems 

in the backlog and in the most efficient 

manner possible. The criticality of 

this step cannot be overstated. 

STEP 3 – 

Measuring & Managing 

the OEC Route Results 

The single most important measurement 

of how well the OEC routes are 

being executed is measuring the number 

of work requests or work notifications 

written as a result of the execution of the 

OEC routes. And this is not just when a 

problem is found that is tied to one of the 

OEC tasks. It is the early detection of any 

problem reported as a result of executing 

an OEC route. Most CMMS systems have 

a code that is put on the work request or 

work notification when it is created that 

signifies that it was created as a result of 

an OEC or PM route. 

The other KPI that should be measured 

is the OEC Route Compliance. It 

simply measures if the scheduled routes 

are being executed. Some CMMS systems 

can measure this for you and in 

other systems it may be a manual calculation. 

Operations management needs a 

workflow in how to manage and measure 

OEC. This typically includes a manager’s 

meeting where the workflow is agreed 

upon followed by on-the-job coaching to 

ensure that the practices are followed in 

the field. 

IDCON INC is a consulting company 

specializing in the field of reliability and 

maintenance management. IDCON 

has been an On-the-Job trainer, coach 

and facilitator of the assessment, development 

and implementation of PM 

programs (Including OEC) for over 40 

years worldwide in manufacturing and 

processing organizations. 

When you are ready to build your 

OEC Program and need a partner to help 

you focus on the development and implementation 

of your program contact 

IDCON INC. 


MANAGEMENT 

Photos: Shutterstock 

How to 

Speed Up the 

Onboarding 

Process for 

New Maintenance 

Technicians 

Are your maintenance responsibilities growing due 

to company expansion, or perhaps your senior tech 

is retiring soon? Sooner or later, every maintenance 

manager must hire new technicians. 

BRYAN CHRISTIANSEN, 

Founder and CEO at 

Limble CMMS 

SINCE DOWNTIME is an unwanted consequence 

of the onboarding process, 

managers are continuously looking for 

ways to decrease the loss of productivity 

and shorten the time it takes to 

ramp up their new hire and get their 

productivity level up to par. 

There are several ways to circumvent 

the inevitable loss of time and 

output, and it starts with knowing your 

company’s own processes, understanding 

your training policies and assessing 

the quality of current staff. New team 

members will rely on getting the information 

they need to understand their 

new role and being set on a path to 

success. 

Even if the new member is coming 

from a similar position, there are still 

procedures and expectations and that 

are unique to your organization that 

can make or break your onboarding 

process and it could be the difference 

between setting up your new techs 

for success or NOT. 

Once hired, the new team members 

should be introduced to how things 

are done in the company and taught 

the various procedures and processes 

within the company. The faster this 

can happen, the sooner these new 

members can become productive and 

start actually adding value to the organization. 

In this article, we’ll discuss a few 

strategies you can use to speed up the 

process of onboarding new maintenance 

technicians. 


MANAGEMENT 

Senior technicians are typically assigned 

to take new techs under their wings to 

show them the ropes. The best way to 

impart best practices to a newly hired 

technician is to have them witness policies, 

procedures and the job itself in full action. 

The mentor system - 

Each One Teach One 

It is best to keep current staff well versed, 

up to speed and properly trained on policies, 

procedures and their own job requirements 

and responsibilities. This is 

especially true when current employees 

are tasked with helping new ones settle 

in. 

Senior technicians are typically assigned 

to take new techs under their 

wings to show them the ropes. The best 

way to impart best practices to a newly 

hired technician is to have them witness 

policies, procedures and the job itself in 

full action. 

When learning opportunities are created 

in an environment that is forgiving 

of mistakes, new techs will be able to 

grasp a full understanding and adopt the 

correct way to handle situations in the 

future. This will quickly bring new technicians 

up to speed with their roles while 

also helping them forge new relationships 

that will assist in their professional 

growth, instill confidence in their ability 

to perform their job and allow them to 

flourish into full functioning technicians. 

By pairing newly arrived techs with 

senior ones, managers also reduce their 

liability and minimize loss of productivity 

typically experienced when training 

new staff. This is also an opportunity 

to review company practices and its effectiveness. 

If there are holes in the way 

tasks are being executed, what better 

way to audit this than while new staff is 

being instructed on how and what to do 

within a task. 

Updating existing written procedures 

or even developing instructions for inclusion 

in an operating manual may be 

the last thing on someone’s mind but 

training new technicians will expose 

areas that can benefit from being written 

and formed into training documents 

for future technical onboarding. To take 

it a step further, these documents will 

become valuable tools when deciding to 

automate staff trainings and onboarding 

process. 

When pairing is done correctly, the 

level of productivity from the newly 

hired tech will increase exponentially. 

What it means to execute a mentor/ 

mentee pairing correctly will differ from 

industry to industry, but a few main areas 

are a cornerstone to implementing a 

great onboarding foundation: 

1. Senior technicians should have 

demonstrated knowledge of his/ 

her role and a history of carrying 

out tasks efficiently and to completion. 

2. Ensure the senior technician is a 

willing teacher capable of exercising 

the patience to explain processes 

in detail. 

3. Written procedures are updated or 

can be produced to be provided as 

reference materials so new technician 

can always go back to review. 

This is a critical step to self-sufficiency. 

The mentor is the new hire’s go-to person 

for understanding the company values, 

culture and their way of doing things. By 

ensuring that the new employee does 

not feel lost or overlooked, you set them 

up for success early on and reduce the 

chance of losing them to other companies. 

When implementing the mentor system 

in your team, you should include a 

formally documented set of responsibilities 

for the mentor, as well as the topics 

that they should cover over the first few 

weeks or months. It should be interactive, 

allowing both the employees to 

exchange tips and knowledge, as the new 

employee may also have ideas and techniques 

that are useful. 

The new employee can also give their 

feedback on how their onboarding process 

is going. 

Done right, this system can greatly 

speed up how quickly a new employee 

gets to the point where they can work 

without a special supervision. 


MANAGEMENT 

Well-Defined Practices 

For any onboarding strategy to be effective, 

let alone accelerated, it is essential 

to have clearly defined Standard 

Operating Procedures, including a detailed 

procedure for maintenance. The 

documentation should outline the who, 

where, what and why of daily operations. 

This document should answer questions, 

provide clarity and lay the framework 

of every employees experience at 

work. This should serve as a reference 

guide that reduces mistakes, eliminates 

redundant questions and provides an 

opportunity for the technician to operate 

independent of others. 

To keep current, add the operational 

manual review to an annual schedule. As 

companies grow and evolve, especially 

with the introduction of advanced technology, 

the way things and people operate 

will change. 

For the newcomer, learning how 

things should be done becomes a piece 

of cake when the right set of rules and 

boundaries are clearly defined. Additionally, 

the new team members will 

learn the level of quality and performance 

expected of them. 

helpful tutorials, and fast and flexible 

customer support. That is why it is worth 

taking your time to find a system that is a 

good fit for your organization. 

ogies of Augmented Reality are helping 

to upskill and retrain employees in new 

technologies quickly and effectively. By 

utilizing AR training tools, employees 

have to spend less time in recalling instructions 

and to get live guidance from 

software, allowing them to learn in an interesting 

and engaging way. Augmented 

Reality training is proven to make trainees 

more efficient and accurate at their 

work, leading to improved outcomes in 

the company’s product quality and more 

cost savings. 

Conclusion 

Building a team of high-quality maintenance 

technicians is no easy feat. 

Delivering consistent performance and 

keeping employees motivated starts with 

an effective onboarding process that sets 

your maintenance technician on a path 

to success. To stay competitive in the 

current market, new maintenance technicians 

need to be brought up to speed 

and made productive as soon as possible. 

To ensure equipment is properly 

inspected and maintained, and failure 

rates are kept low, the new technicians 

need to understand the company policies 

and maintenance processes. 

DELIVERING CONSISTENT PERFORMANCE AND 

KEEPING EMPLOYEES MOTIVATED STARTS WITH 

AN EFFECTIVE ONBOARDING PROCESS. 

Having simple to use 

maintenance software 

If you are a step above the rest and you 

have taken steps to fully automate your 

operation or you are just thinking about 

it, ensure that your software can provide 

you with the functions needed to run 

your full operation. 

The software that your company uses 

for maintenance, whether it is developed 

in-house, or an off-the-shelf product, is 

central to your company’s operations. 

Over time, it becomes a repository of not 

just maintenance data, but can be moulded 

to reflect the business processes. 

Since your team members will be 

using this software on a daily basis, it is 

essential that they learn how to use it 

properly. 

If you are using a CMMS, ensure that 

it is intuitive, user-friendly and simple 

to use, so that your new technicians will 

have an easier time learning it. You do 

not want to end up in a situation where 

your new technicians spend more time 

logging their work or finding asset information 

than they are doing actual maintenance 

work. 

Good maintenance software should 

follow industry standard terminology, 

have an easy to use User Interface, a few 

On-the-Job training 

One of the most effective methods to accelerating 

your technician’s onboarding 

is to offer them on-the-job training. This 

not only makes them more productive 

faster, they also feel more valued, and remain 

engaged with the company. 

The training can either be provided 

by professional third-party trainers or by 

an experienced member of your maintenance 

team. This can also be a good 

time to assess your team’s learning needs 

and update the training curriculum as 

required. 

In the world of industrial construction 

and maintenance, the new technol- 

To foster a better learning environment 

and boost the pace of learning the 

ropes for your new maintenance techs, 

you can utilize the strategies outlined in 

this article, such as on the job training, 

having a simple to learn Maintenance 

Software, documenting well-defined 

processes and implementing a mentor 

system. 


The The The Uptimization Experts. 

What does 

DOWNTIME 

mean to you? 

marshallinstitute.com 

marshallinstitute.com


How to Choose the 

Maintenance Strategy 

that Best Suits Your 

Company’s Needs? 

Corrective, 

Preventive, 

Reality-Based, 

Predictive 

and Prescriptive: 

The Right 

Maintenance 

Routine Does 

Matter A Lot 

RALITSA PEYCHEVA, 

technical content 

manager at 

Mobility Work 

IN THE FAST-PACED time of edge computing, 

machine learning and artificial intelligence, 

the industrial sector is constantly 

exposed to new maintenance trends. 

The evolution of maintenance routines 

is unsparingly reshaping the industrial 

world with one main objective: to impact 

plant’s profitability in the best possible 

way depending on company’s budget, 

size and industry. 

And even though some business owners 

have forgotten reactive and corrective 

interventions long ago and are continuously 

investing in new equipment to 

follow predictive and even prescriptive 

trends, others are still struggling to 

establish timely scheduled preventive 

plans. The decision which maintenance 

approach to follow is strictly individual 

and depends a lot on the company’s financial 

capability, ability and culture. 

Nowadays there are 5 common maintenance 

types and each of them features 

certain advantages and disadvantages. 

1. The Corrective / Reactive 

Maintenance Approach 

Corrective doesn’t replace reactive actions, 

but they are often put together 

because of their “unplanned, sporadic” 

nature and their objective to isolate and 

rectify a fault so that the failed equipment, 

machine, or system can be restored 

to its normal operable state. Corrective 

maintenance is carried out after 

failure detection, whilst reactive maintenance 

is performed after a breakdown 

so an asset can perform its intended 

function. 

The main advantages of this type of 

maintenance are the low short-term 

costs and the minimal planning required. 

However, in the long term, corrective 

and reactive maintenance actions result 

in unplanned additional costs, production 

delay and asset’s lifetime decrease. 

Therefore, this strategy is recommended 

for equipment which importance is very 

low and has no effect on production failures. 

This means that if a certain piece of 

equipment requires a higher investment 

for preventive maintenance than the 



costs needed for repair in case of failure, 

then corrective maintenance is the best 

solution. 

2. Preventive Maintenance 

By performing periodic maintenance 

check-ups, this timely based approach 

prevents machine failures before they 

occur. Preventive maintenance keeps 

assets more efficient and allows them 

to operate longer, avoiding unforeseen 

breakdowns in the production line. Even 

though preventive maintenance might 

seem at the beginning costly and timeconsuming, 

it pays back by reducing the 

number of major breakdowns as well as 

the equipment’s downtime. Some professionals 

are blaming this approach for 

its “over-maintenance”, since sometimes 

equipment might not need to be checked 

as often as planned. In this case, the 

maintenance manager can simply adapt 

the schedule accordingly. 

On the one hand, preventive maintenance 

can be mandatory, defined in the 

contract, law or by any regulation. For 

example, the law requires the inspection 

and maintenance of certain machines. 

These machines must therefore be 

inspected and maintained. Client insurance 

companies generally require mandatory 

preventive maintenance. 

On the other hand, discretionary preventive 

maintenance is not a mandatory 

activity and relies on profits and losses 

and the company freely decides when to 

conduct preventive maintenance. 

Fault prevention is irreplaceable 

when chasing production deadlines and 

tight schedules. Preventive maintenance 

is used to maximize assets’ useful life 

and minimize costs by reducing reactive 

maintenance actions through the performance 

of regular inspections, lubrication, 

cleaning, oil changes, adjustments, 

repairs, and partial or complete replacement 

of periodically scheduled parts. 

In order to make fault detection easier 

THE EVOLUTION OF 

MAINTENANCE ROUTINES IS 

UNSPARINGLY RESHAPING 

THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD. 

and faster, the complete understanding 

of failures and their cause is essential. 

Keeping this in mind, professionals can 

use the right tools with the right frequency 

without spending too much time 

and efforts. 

3. Predictive Maintenance 

Predictive maintenance is a conditionbased 

process, forecasting when an 

equipment failure can occur and warning 

the maintenance manager. This is 

achieved through monitoring the condition 

of the equipment and performing 

maintenance in advance. Some examples 

of equipment monitoring methods include: 

• Vibration analysis: vibrations can 

detect machine failures and determine 

equipment status to schedule 

maintenance. 

• Infrared thermography: infrared 

cameras can detect if a piece of 

equipment has an unusually high 

temperature. 

• Acoustic analysis: this analysis is 

performed using sonic or ultrasonic 

tests to detect liquid or gas 

leaks. 

• Analysis of the oil: by analyzing 

the oil condition, we can see the 

particle size and thus know the 

state of the equipment. 

In the context of digitalization and the 

Internet of Things (IoT), a lot has been 

said, done and improved in the field 

of predictive maintenance routines 

recently. Banned by many business 

owners only a year ago because of its 

high costs, predictive maintenance is 

about to become largely spread since 

many producers launched sensors at 

affordable prices. Furthermore, when 

predictive maintenance is working effectively 

as a maintenance strategy, 

then it is only performed on machines 



when required and it brings several cost 

savings by: 

• minimizing the time, the equipment 

is being maintained, 

• minimizing production hours lost 

to maintenance and 

• minimizing cost for spare parts 

and supplies. 

However, many of the condition-monitoring 

techniques still remain expensive 

and require additional workforce. 

4. Reliability-Centered 

Maintenance 

The reliability-centered maintenance 

approach is a corporate-level maintenance 

strategy aiming at optimizing the 

maintenance program of a company or 

facility by maintaining the function of 

the system and recognizing the failure 

that affects the function of the system. 

The result of a successful RCM program 

is the definition and implementation of 

a specific maintenance strategy on the 

most critical assets of the facility. Costeffective 

maintenance techniques can be 

thus identified and later on adopted to 

improve the reliability of the facility as a 

whole. 

And even though RCM (reliabilitycentered 

maintenance) does not really 

consider additional costs of ownership, 

implementing it undoubtedly increases 

equipment availability, and reduces 

maintenance and resource costs. 

5. Prescriptive Maintenance 

Prescriptive analytics are at the heart 

of prescriptive maintenance, which is 

for now the last level in the evolution of 

all known maintenance routines. Compared 

to predictive practices, instead 

of only predicting a failure, predictive 

maintenance is “prescribing” an outcome-focused 

behaviour for operations 

and maintenance based on the prescriptive 

analytics. It is important to mention 

that this type of maintenance is still in 

its infancy but many ingenious business 

owners are considering its potential to 

become the next big thing in reliability 

and maintenance best practice. 

However, even for organizations with 

well-established predictive maintenance 

routines, the leap towards prescriptive 

programs may still be difficult mainly 

because of the cost for new hardware 

and software and workforce, regulations 

on specific machines, the company’s 

culture and the management’s long-held 

beliefs. 

Which maintenance strategy to choose? 

Here is a brief overview of all above-mentioned maintenance strategies: 

Strategy Summary Setup cost Advantages 

Reactive 

Preventive 

Predictive 

RCM 

Prescriptive 

Repair after a breakdown 

or failure has occurred 

Maintenance is 

scheduled in advance 

Maintenance based on 

equipment condition 

Investigate failure mode and failure 

consequences to determine the best 

strategy 

Prescribe machines a certain operational 

and maintenance behavior based on 

detailed analytics 

Even though predictive and prescriptive 

approaches have a huge potential and are 

rather the strategies corresponding the most 

to today’s digitalization trends, preventive 

maintenance remains the mostly spread 

maintenance program. This is mainly due to 

its largely appreciated advantages as: 

REDUCED PRODUCTION DOWNTIME 

When the problem occurs, it can be quickly 

resolved because the worker knows what 

to do and what spare part to replace, which 

will reduce the time needed to detect the 

problem. 

REDUCED BREAKDOWNS 

With preventive maintenance, the equipment 

will be regularly maintained within 

the given deadlines so that it is in the best 

conditions. 

COST SAVINGS 

Preventive maintenance reduces the frequency 

of breakdowns, which means 

reduced production stops and more financial 

benefits. 

IMPROVED PRODUCTIVITY 

Reduced equipment downtime results in 

increased plant’s productivity and machine 

availability. 

ELIMINATE AMBIGUITY IN MAINTENANCE 

TASKS 

Preventive maintenance reduces the risk of 

unnecessary repairs and creates a system 

to use the right tool for the right task. 

EXTENDED EQUIPMENT LIFE 

Preventive maintenance improves equipment 

performance and increases product 

quality because machines are well maintained, 

and equipment is performing well. 

Low 

Average 

High 

High 

High 

The best strategy for 

low-priority equipment 

Best strategy to implement without 

any required expertise. 

Timely based condition monitoring 

provides many insights into asset’s 

behaviour 

Provides the most effective 

scheduled maintenance 

Substantial cost savings and highly 

effective scheduled maintenance. 

IMPROVED CUSTOMER SERVICE AND 

REPUTATION 

A successful preventive maintenance program 

contributes to reliable delivery time, 

good production quality and thus improves 

the reputation of the company. 

REDUCED ENERGY WASTE 

Preventive maintenance lowers the cost of 

energy because well-maintained equipment 

generally requires less electricity or fuel to 

operate. 

IMPROVED FACILITY SECURITY 

Equipment breakdowns can have disastrous 

consequences. Properly maintained 

equipment will improve the safety of workers, 

as well as of those working around the 

equipment, so that well-maintained equipment 

create a safer work environment. 

The most important thing to remember 

when looking for the right maintenance 

strategy is the problem that you have to 

solve. This will help you find and implement 

the right solution and finally sustain 

winning results. 

Predictive and prescriptive maintenance 

strategies have a powerful potential, but 

their implementation might be difficult if 

you don’t have an established successful 

preventive maintenance program yet. After 

all, there is no wrong or right approach 

to maintenance; you simply must choose 

what’s feasible for your company in order 

to achieve the best possible results. 


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Maintworld 1/2019

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