Are you ready?

Let's take a look into the future. Not too far out - maybe five years or so. What do you think your plant will be like? Here are some of my predictions.The plant engineer will be more important than ever as reliable and predictable capacity become priorities. Predictive maintenance will replace preventive maintenance as the standard of maintenance operations and organization.

Employment paradox

In late April, the National Association of Manufacturers released the results of an important study, Keeping America Competitive: How a Talent Shortage Threatens U.S. Manufacturing . If you have been watching this column over the past few years, you know that this is a topic we've touched on a number of times.

Embedded understanding

Do you ever feel like General Brooks at one of those Iraq war CENTCOM briefings? You know, you're trying to explain a complex project and the people in your audience keep asking those same, dumb, unrelated questions? Are they stupid, or ignorant, or just not listening, or what? Or are they trying to use your platform to advance their own agendas? If it hasn't happened to you, I know you've seen...

Picky, picky

My wife says I'm a picky eater. She's probably right. I'll grant you I have limited tastes in food. But mainly I just like to eat what I like and not experiment much with food — especially when I'm paying for it in an expensive restaurant. Some people like to experiment, especially when they eat out.

Microwaves and crock pots

To borrow a phrase from the pastor of my church, "I seem to be a crock-pot guy in a microwave world." Everything these days, it seems, has to be faster and faster. I can't agree with speed just for the sake of speed. Nor do I feel guilty about that. I'd just as soon things slowed down a bit, and I think we might all be a little better off if they did.

Being there

Jack Welch, the former CEO of GE, called it a "digital cockpit." Others frequently refer to it as a "dashboard." No matter. The concept is the same: a group of numbers or graphs that allow you to constantly check the pulse of your plant or department quickly — and in real time, if possible. Ideally, such a tool includes alarms that alert you when something goes wrong or when measures move...

Maintenance excellence

Much is being made of maintenance excellence these days. There are seminars on maintenance excellence, awards for maintenance excellence, institutes for maintenance excellence, roundtables for maintenance excellence. All of these are good. But what the heck is "maintenance excellence," anyway? Lowest cost? Lowest downtime? Highest uptime? Zero breakdowns? Highest overall equipment effectivene...

Tactical or strategic

Whether plant engineering and maintenance are considered tactical or strategic in your plant or company can make a world of difference in how you fit into the big picture. Tactical goals and decisions are based on carrying out strategic goals and decisions. Thus, your participation at the strategic level determines much of what you can do at the tactical level.

On the horizon

Evidence is growing that the role of the plant engineering function is headed up. Asset management, reliability, availability, and maintenance are being more and more recognized as essential to the success of the business plan. And from the plant level to the board level, the value of well-managed plant assets is taking on new meaning.

Returns on investment

Everywhere the complaint is the same: "I don't have time." Time to think, time to learn, time to relax, time to enjoy, time to read. We may not be able help you much with the rest of them, but we can help with the last — time to read. And with this issue, we're doing just that. Our redesign may not make national news like the Wall Street Journal, but it's every bit as important to you, ou...

In the event of a threat

Back in the 1970s, our offices received several telephoned bomb threats. The first was especially unnerving and resulted in the offices being closed for the rest of the day. Police conducted a thorough search of our building. The second threat was taken seriously, too, and the building was closed again.

Take a bow

U.S. productivity increased during the recent downturn (I hesitate to call it a recession) more than anyone anticipated. A headline in the March 18 issue of Fortune magazine announced "The productivity miracle is for real," and the article predicted that the growth in productivity "will almost certainly be a bonanza for the economy.

Standard benchmarks

Benchmarking has been around for many years, now. But it is still surrounded by many misunderstandings. One of the biggest is that it's about numbers. Of course, the metrics (numbers) are an important part of benchmarking, but they're only a part. What benchmarking is really about is work processes. And the numbers are just convenient indicators of how well the processes may be working.

Strategic maintenance

In his new book, Making Common Sense Common Practice , Ron Moore makes an eloquent argument for the strategic role that maintenance needs to play in modern manufacturing. Unfortunately, according to the data he presents, not many manufacturers recognize that role. Or, at least, they're not demonstrating that they believe in it to the point of supporting it adequately.

What went right?

Thirty-four years ago, when Playboy magazine was in its heyday, I had the opportunity to spend a day with one of Playboy's marketing managers. We toured the impressive headquarters and had lunch at the Playboy Club in the next block. It was a heady experience for a young man not yet into the world of publishing.

Whose right to know?

The attention to terrorism and possible attacks on industrial plants as well as public facilities has uncovered an interesting question: How much information about what goes on inside a plant is appropriate for public record?"Blatant examples of the problems associated with one of the nation's key right-to-know laws are everywhere," says Angela Logomasini, director of risk and environment...

Five themes for progress

There seems to be consensus among the pundits that the September terrorist attacks and the ensuing war against terrorism have brought a sea change in American attitudes.Certainly, we are hearing talk of a sort we have not heard in a long time. No less than the Democratic political strategists James Carville and Stanley Greenberg are talking about themes of "unity, coming together in commu...

Back to better

The turning of a year typically brings a flood of observations about the year past and the year to come. The looks ahead more often than not bring messages of hope and optimism. This time around, both of those seem hard to come by.A look back on 2001 reveals a year of such turmoil it's hard to adequately describe.

Invisible heroes

The attention lauded on the New York police, firefighters, and other rescue workers -- both living and dead -- in the wake of the World Trade Center disaster has been tremendous. And rightly so. They are bona fide heroes.But there is another group of people who have remained relatively invisible -- the facilities professionals who worked there in near obscurity.

And so, we move on

I feel like an era has passed. Three longtime Plant Engineering editorial staff members have left our staff, and I am compelled to give public recognition to the tremendous contributions they have made to the magazine and to you, our readers. Cheryl Firestone, senior editor, was with PLANT ENGINEERING for 12 years.

Lessons from a neophyte

Over the past year, I've developed a new, deeper respect for what plant engineers go through on a regular basis. I've been going through a major remodeling project on my home. It's been a little more than a year since we started, and we're nearing completion. What an education! My hat is off to any plant engineer who deals regularly with major projects, outside contractors, barely competent s...

Higher callings

I have a note in one of my files that reads: "Always remember, you have a higher calling than simply making a buck for the company." That higher calling can take many forms depending on the people and the situation.

By whose authority?

I hate to admit it, but I'm becoming one of those "old guys" I thought I would never be. Maybe you know how it is: You catch yourself saying something your father always said but you vowed you would never say.