There are several consistencies in the types of people who go into industrial maintenance. They tend to be type “A” personalities — confident, somewhat cocky and a little rebellious. Their value is in the knowledge and ability they bring with them, and they don’t see this as something that can easily be replaced. They are independent and take a lot of pride in their knack for getting the job done. This helps to explain some of their resistance to maintenance procedures.
Value Stream Mapping is used to analyze the current state and design a future state for the process that takes a product from start to finish with as little waste as possible.
Logic valves can be difficult to understand. We even seem to have trouble agreeing on what to call them. Many people describe them as “cartridge” valves. This is not incorrect, as they are in fact cartridge-type valves. Even the manufacturers typically call them this. I have also heard them referred to as “poppet” valves. Again, this is not incorrect.
Phosphate ester fluids have been used to control thousands of steam turbines over the last 60 years. With this much user experience, one would assume that their operational challenges would be well-understood and that power plants would be able to maintain the quality of these fluids with ease. On the contrary, phosphate ester fluids are often the Achilles’ heel of most lubrication programs.
Do you remember the last time you planned for a long trip? You likely used a mapping program or a road atlas. You may have chosen to take the backroads or decided that driving such a long distance wasn’t for you and paid an airline to do most of the travel work for you.
