Day 1 At The International Machine Vibration Analysis Conference With Maintenance Technology’s Editors

Editorial director Gary L. Parr is attending the inaugural International Machine Vibration Analysis Conference (vibrationconference.com) this week in Orlando, FL. The show is created by the people at Mobius Institute (mobiusinstitute.com), an international training and certification company with U.S. headquarters in Bainbridge Island, WA.

The conference, billed as the “Must-Attend Conference for Vibration Analysts,” has actually turned out to be much more than a vibration show. Several talks, particularly a Monday workshop, have put more of a focus on using vibration analysis and other tools as part of an overall reliability program.

The U.S. show is a first in a series of international events. A European event will be held June 6 to 8, 2017 at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Antwerp, Belgium. For Middle Eastern vibration analysts, there will be a conference April 3 to 5, 2017 at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Dubai, UAE. Learn more at vibrationconference.com

Click below to hear from Mobius Institute managing director Jason Tranter, and what each of the exhibitors is talking about at the show. Keep returning to these pages to read articles from Gary Parr and see video from attendees.

Create a Value-Driven Culture

The opening session of the 2016 IMVAC conference featured keynote speaker and industry veteran, John Mitchell. His keynote presentation “How Do We Get Off This Plateau?” asked some thought-provoking questions that had nothing to do with vibration analysis and much to do with how reliability and maintenance professionals approach their company roles.

He described today’s maintenance professionals as performing primarily an inward-looking function, giving little thought to the enterprise-value contribution. He even described predictive efforts as being condition-based, maintenance-oriented, and reactive. Most, according to Mitchell, are simply assessing equipment conditions, estimated time remaining to action (How much longer will it live?), and conveying that information and their recommendations.

The thought-provoking questions?:

• Can you state the value you contribute in terms of your facility’s/enterprise’s business objectives?
• Do you even know your facility/enterprise business objectives?
• Do you conform to benchmarks and best practices?
• Is your equipment reliability comparable to the best? Do you know what the best is?
• How successful have you been at predicting problems in time to minimize production impact?
• Is your primary focus strategic or tactical?
• What is your principal barrier to increase success?
  • Vision, understanding, and commitment from above?
  • Inadequate or insufficient technology?
  • Resources to obtain and apply technology?
  • Institutional barriers, e.g., production is king?

Mitchell encouraged the attendees to make increasing their value their uppermost goal. To accomplish this, everyone must be involved, mobilized, and recognize the value of making reliability improvement a business initiative that is part of a larger enterprise-wide program. Prioritization must be ruthless to assure that efforts are effectively applied and create the greatest value.

Mitchell encourage creating and operating in a value-driven culture. That culture involves improving safety, health, and environmental performance; achieving consistently greater business performance/mission compliance; reducing operating and maintenance costs, working to reduce the need for maintenance; and improving capital effectiveness. Another part of the culture is to adopt a profit-centered mentality and view deficiencies as opportunities.