Page 359 - Intro Predictive Maintenance

350 An Introduction to Predictive Maintenance

required before a new predictive maintenance engineer or analyst can become profi-
cient in the use of the three basic technologies used in most predictive maintenance
programs. A significant difference exists between the 5 to 15 days of training that most
predictive analysts receive and the minimum level required to use basic predictive
maintenance tools. How can you close the gap without an excessive investment?

Unfortunately, the answer is that you cannot. With the training courses that are avail-
able in today’s market, you have only two options: (1) you either restrict training
to the limited number of short courses that are available, or (2) you hire a
consulting/training company to provide a long-term, plant-specific training program
for your predictive maintenance staff. The former option costs less, but will severely
limit your benefits. The latter option is expensive and will require a long-term invest-
ment, but will provide absolute assurance that your predictive maintenance program
will generate maximum improvements in equipment reliability and profitability.

An ideal third option would be to use interactive training programs that would permit
new analysts to learn predictive maintenance skills at their own pace and without the
expense of formal instructor training. From our viewpoint, there is a real need for
an interactive training program that can provide comprehensive, industry-specific
predictive maintenance training. The computer technology exists to support this
approach, but someone must develop the courses that are needed to provide this type
of comprehensive training program.

Successful completion of this critical phase of creating a total-plant predictive main-
tenance program will require a firm grasp of the operating dynamics of plant machin-
ery, systems, and equipment. Normally, some if not all of this knowledge exists within
the plant staff; however, the knowledge may not be within the staff selected to imple-
ment and maintain the predictive maintenance program.

In addition, a good working knowledge of the predictive maintenance techniques and
systems that will be included in the program is necessary. This knowledge probably
does not exist within current plant staff. Therefore, training—before attempting to
establish a program—is strongly recommended. The minimum recommended level
of training includes user training for each predictive maintenance system that will
be used, a course on machine dynamics, and a basic theory course on each of the
techniques that will be used.

In some cases, the systems vendors can provide all of these courses. If not, several
companies and professional organizations offer courses on most nondestructive testing
techniques.

15.6.2 Technical Support
The labor and knowledge required to properly establish a predictive maintenance
program is often too much for plant staff members to handle. To overcome this
problem, the initial responsibility for creating a viable, total-plant program can be