Top 5 Plant Engineering articles, April 18-24: Bridging the skills gap, 2016 Maintenance Study, deferred maintenance, more

Articles about bridging the skills gap, the 2016 Maintenance Study, deferred maintenance and risk assessment, involving operators in equipment maintenance plans, and lockout/tagout procedures were Plant Engineering's five most clicked articles from last week, April 18-24. Were you out last week? You can catch up here.

By Erin Dunne April 25, 2016

Plant Engineering Top 5 most read articles from April 18-24, covered bridging the skills gap, the 2016 Maintenance Study, deferred maintenance and risk assessment, involving operators in equipment maintenance plans, and lockout/tagout procedures. Link to each article below. 

1. Bridging the skills gap: Blueprint for a nation of makers

The United States is at a crossroads. Either we continue to decline, or we focus on improving our schools so that we build the workforce required to become a nation of makers, again. Understand the issues and changes that must be made.

2. 2016 Maintenance Study: Seven key findings

Respondents to the Plant Engineering 2016 Maintenance Study identified seven important, high-level findings impacting the manufacturing industries.

3. Deferred maintenance and risk assessment: Technical analysis is critical to the process

Analyzing maintenance-deferment decisions for risk requires resources and time. It should be reserved for critical assets and cost-intensive activities. It can be done on an ad hoc basis or systematically to form the foundation of the outage or turnaround plan. 

4. Involving operators in equipment maintenance plan

The success of your equipment maintenance plan (EMP) will depend on how involved operators were in its development and implementation process. 

5. Rethink lockout/tagout to improve safety, productivity 

Alternatives to traditional lockout/tagout procedures can improve productivity and reduce incentives to bypass this time-consuming process, improving machine safety and throughput. 

This list was developed using CFE Media’s web analytics for stories viewed on www.plantengineering.com, April 18-24, for articles published within the last two months. 

Erin Dunne, production coordinator, CFE Media, edunne@cfemedia.com.