Magazine Features

Latest Analytical Technology Ensures Biogas Efficiency

Anaerobic Digestion (AD) relies on the ability of specific micro-organisms to convert organic material into a gas that can be used to generate electricity. However, these bacteria require specific conditions if they are to function effectively and instrumentation specialist company HACH LANGE has developed a range of online, portable and laboratory (Read More)

The ‘Maintenance Crisis’ & Innovations That Are Changing It

By Ashley Halligan, an market analyst at a Web-based software comparison company.

Regularly reporting in the maintenance and facility management markets, I’ve built a few relationships with industry professionals and thought leaders. It was through a series of conversations with Joel Leonard, (Read More) President of SkillTV, that I really started to ponder what he’s labeled the “Maintenance Crisis.” This isn’t a new idea, per se, but essentially applies to the depletion of the skilled work force as baby boomers retire--but the significant challenge lies in attracting today’s youth to skilled labor positions because of the stigmas surrounding them.

The day we first talked at length about the ‘crisis,’ Leonard had just left Harley Davidson--and he said, “They have 4,500 manufacturing jobs personnel--and the average age is 55--and it’s one of the most legendary entities in the United States. If that’s not scary, I don’t know what is.”

A recent Minneapolis Star Tribune article reported that 72 percent of HR professionals labeled the pending baby boomer retirements as a problem their organizations must face.

Furthermore, a 2010 Pew Research study showed that every day for the next 19 years, 10,000 baby boomers will reach the 65-year mark. The Congressional Research Service shows that nearly 60-percent of maintenance roles are held by baby boomers.

With all of these figures, it makes perfect sense why Leonard refers to this as the “Maintenance Crisis.”
Turns out, though, many folks are creating some very innovative strategies to address--and hopefully overcome the crisis.
 
Some of these strategies include:
Starting Young

Camps like Nuts, Bolts, & Thingamajigs strive to achieve an interest in skilled trades and “tinkering” in the nation’s youth. By doing this, it teaches hands-on productivity and also raises interest that could lead to a prolonged interest in creation.
 
Stirring Interest & Addressing Stigmas

Generally, people think two things: 1) Maintenance jobs are dirty & 2) These are male-dominated roles.

“People have a misconception that these roles are dull, dumb, and dreadful–involving mops, buckets, and posterior cleavage,” Leonard says. “People don’t realize the technicalities, compensation opportunities, the innovativeness CMMS, and the job security that comes with these roles.”

Leonard also addressed the misconception of females in the workforce, “The current workforce is 5-percent female–why exclude an entire gender out of tradition? Women can do many of these things better than some men.”

Lastly, many maintenance companies are focusing on gamification and innovative training. Amy Earl, VP of Antech systems, said, “By simulating your equipment and creating real-life scenarios in a game-based environment, you can reduce costly repairs or misuse of machinery by 50%–like we did with the fire extinguishing system on fighter jets. You can let your people perform incorrectly without costly or dangerous consequences, and provide remediation that shows them what they should have done. This helps them understand the repercussions of their actions.”

Maintenance professionals like Nuts, Bolts, & Thingamajigs’ leaders, Leonard, and Antech are hoping these collective efforts will subdue the stigmas associated with skilled labored jobs, and create more interest in these maintenance positions.

Ultrananocrystalline Diamond Can Improve Seal Performance

Through extensive R&D and the advent of improved equipment and processes, the seal faces are in sliding contact and prevent the liquid in the pump from reaching atmosphere. This contact also generates frictional heat that must be removed from the seal faces. Failure to remove this unwanted heat often results in the boiling of the lubricating liquid film at the seal faces, (Read More)

Integrating Inspection-Based And Reliability -Based On Information

There are many sources of machinery health and production availability information available to an organization’s maintenance and operations staff. Two of the most commonly used sources of information are scheduled inspection of machinery and condition monitoring. In most cases, scheduled inspection of machinery has been managed through a plant (Read More)

HEMS (Heavy Equipment Maintenance Solutions Ltd) Are Pleased To Announce That It Has Been Chosen As The Preferred Supplier To Hitachi Machinery Company Europe

(NV)HCME for a Special Hydraulic Cylinder Repair Stand to be installed at their New Remanufacturing Facility in the Netherlands. (Read More)

Search And Rescue – Retrieval Of Foreign Objects And Debris Is Easier With The Right Tools.

I was talking with a colleague the other day and he was describing a problem he had just solved for his customer – they had received a large pre-assembled turbine for installation in their plant and as part of the installation process an internal inspection was required. (Read More)