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Articles: Human Asset Management

Things to think about (and do) in 2011

We are pleased to announce a the 2011 version of the very successful eBook - Things to think about (and do)

Reliabilityweb.com and Uptime Magazine invited thought leaders in the maintenance and reliability community to contribute a single page communication directed toward creating a new idea or action on the part of the readers, the maintenance and reliability professional community at large.

16 Question Survey

The Manufacturing Game has developed a short 16-question survey based on Joseph Campbell's concept of a Hero's Journey.The survey is designed to facilitate the story writing process, and it guides the writer through the writing process. They provide this survey to maintenance and reliability professionals for their own use. Clients may opt to use the written story internally or share their success with others by approving it for publication in external publications such as the our quarterly TMG newsletter or a monthly magazine like Uptime Magazine.

See the list below for the 16 questions in the survey, as it relates to writing about Action Team successes.

Breaking Through Glass Ceilings

Thoughts on Implementing Organizational Change

by R. Keith Mobley, MBB, CMRP

Have you ever been involved in an attempt to improve the performance of your department or one function, such as maintenance or quality, in your plant or corporation?  Ever wonder why the attempt did not work at all or failed to reach its full potential?  If you have, the reason was probably a list of deficiencies or omissions, or perhaps it was because cosmic forces  preordained that improvement is not possible.  Sound familiar?

Building Steam

A Story of Hard Work, Dedication, and, Ultimately, Transformation

by  Judith Charlton and Steve Lipscombe

Sembcorp UK, one of the leading suppliers of utilities to UK industry, is transforming its operations.  Steam and power operations are vital to the success of Sembcorp UK and its customers in the petrochemical, power and biofuels sectors.  Just five years ago the business was struggling to manage an aging power station and all its associated problems with limited resources.  The challenges seemed insurmountable.

CEO Compensation and Company Performance - An Open Letter to the CEO

By Ron Moore

This letter is fictitious, but it is based on data from over 20 different studies, as well as anecdotes from various companies and the experience of the author. Feel free to pass it along to your CEO.

Change Management for Maintenance and Reliability Professionals

When we think about creating a reliability focused organization we tend to initially think about what needs to be changed. This process invariably leads one to determine that there are components of the current process that do not exist and hence have to be created, or if they do exist they may not be functioning to the level we would desire. For example in order to create a reliability focused organization a work planning and execution component would be required.

Changing Your Organization for the Better Part 4: The Roadmap of Change

In Part 1 we discussed the concept of organizational change, the three linked elements necessary for success and details about dissatisfaction. In Part 2 we addressed ourselves to organizational vision. In Part 3 we discussed the Goal Achievement Model in detail and clearly showed how it links the vision, goals, initiatives and activities in a very focused manner. However there still is one other part to the puzzle. This is what is referred to as the Roadmap of Change. The Roadmap is the tool to align change efforts within the organization, to eliminate conflicting goals, and to keep the change process on track. It is the final part of a process that begins with establishing the vision, developing higher level details with the Goal Achievement Model, and maintaining focus and clarity with the Roadmap. A successful change effort can not succeed without all three of these pieces being properly put into place and correctly used.

Changing Your Organization for the Better Part 5: What Gets Measured Gets Done

Whatever gets measured by an organization receives the majority of its attention. Simply by virtue of obtaining and displaying data, you and your organization are focusing, at least on a minimal level, on those areas that you are measuring. If these measures are not tracking as expected, corrective actions usually follow close at hand. In reality, therefore, whatever you and your organization decide to measure sets up a sub-process that ensures more attention is given to these areas vs. those things which are not measured.

Changing Your Organization for the Better-Part 1: The Elements of the Change Process

"There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things, because the innovator has for enemies, all of those who have done well under the old conditions, and luke-warm defenders in those who will do well under the new."

Changing Your Organization for the Better: Part 2: The Vision of the Future

Part 2: The Vision of the Future or How Do We Know Where We Are Going So We Will Know When We Have Arrived

In Part 1, we discussed the concept of organizational change, and introduced the eight key elements of the change equation.  The overriding component however is the concept of vision.  It is fine to have a general level of dissatisfaction with the current or “as-is” state, but it is not enough.  You need a vision of what the new or “to-be” state will look like so that the organization will know what they are trying to achieve and what it will look like when they do.

Changing Your Organization for the Better: Part 3: The Goal Achievement Model

In Part 1 we discussed the concept of organizational change, the three linked elements necessary for success and details about dissatisfaction. In Part 2 we addressed ourselves to organizational vision. Part 3 addressed the third element - next steps. The process of identifying and accomplishing the next steps uses the Goal Achievement Model.

Confidence –The Magical Element of Cross Functional Teams

In the thirteen years we have offered The Manufacturing Game to over 32,000 participants, I have always marveled at the accomplishments of small cross functional teams and wondered what determines the great results they achieve. I have often sat with teams as they attempted to come up with a plan to eliminate a defect they identified as their target. From the rational point of view of an engineer, it appears that they will never arrive at a solution. Then someone comes up with an insight that immediately resolves the problem; the plan to eliminate that defect is then completed via some simple action or actions. Where did that come from? This is the phenomenon that we recognize as the magic in cross functional teams. But how does it come about?

Conversations of Maintenance

Can a conversation make a difference? Well sometimes a conversation can change the direction of your life. My father was a mechanical engineer. He had many interests but he ended up in engineering. He related a conversation he had when he started college in 1935. His first advisor cautioned him against engineering because he said there were no jobs for Jews in the engineering field. My father told him (politely) not to worry about his employment prospects but to just sign his forms so he could take the classes. My father always found employment and spent 50 years as a practicing engineer.

Creating a Culture Change – A Pathway to Improved Reliability

One of the major areas of focus in industry today is that of improving equipment reliability. Why? To insure that production is always available to meet the demand of the marketplace. One of the worst nightmares of any company and those who manage it is to have a demand for product but not be able to supply it because of equipment failure. Certainly this scenario will reduce company profitability and could ultimately put a company out of business.

Creating a Safe Work Environment

Why can't we create and sustain superior safety performance in most industries? The answer in my opinion is quite simple. We as leaders treat safety as a special event or an additional responsibility for our employees. We as leaders have not made safety a part of our Work Culture by communicating a clear vision and clarifying our safety expectations. We as leaders have failed to define specific roles and responsibilities related to safety performance for all levels of the organization. We have not created and communicated a system of accountability. We have failed to make and keep our commitment to safety or in other words, we fail to ensure human reliability and take action when there is a deviation to our safety performance expectations.

©2012 Reliabilityweb.com