Recent News

I see 4 splices in this air hose. Let’s think about this for a second.

4 Quick Connect Couplers        $8.00 each                      $32.00

8 threaded hose ends                $2.00 each                      $16.00

Time 1 hour per splice(4)          $15.00 per hour              $60.00

Total cost                                                                       $108.00

We lose 4-man hours of production time plus the cost of parts; this costs a total of $108.00 for repairs. Why don’t we just replace the entire hose for around $20 to $30 dollars and let’s move on.

Sometimes in the world of production at all costs we lose sight of the smaller things that can in time cost a lot of money. This $70 or $80 does not seem like so much but when these couplers start leaking and the air losses start to really rise the costs go right along with them.

Compressed air costs $.36 per thousand cubic foot, one quick coupler leaking all year long can cost up to $750 a year. In this picture we just put in four places to start leaking and we did it the expensive way.

This is just one way to look at things from a predictive Maintenance point of view.

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The single most important element in a leak survey is fixing the leaks then pulling the tags so that they can be entered into the software as being fixed.

Here is an example of a leak that was fixed but the tag was not pulled or entered into the program as fixed.  This leak remains in the program as an unfixed leak costing an estimated $2,005.00 a year.

In the recheck we go completely through the plant a second time a few weeks later and try to find leaks. We will find new leaks and we will see tags that have not been pulled indicating that leak has not been fixed.  If we check at that tag and find no leak that indicates that the leaks were fixed and the tag not pulled and entered into the leak program, therefore no credit for the fix. Not pulling even one tag can make thousands of dollars difference.

Here is an example of a leak that was not fixed.  It was retagged and placed on the recheck roster.

The tags should be pulled and delivered to the program director so that they can be entered as fixed. This will take them off of the cost factor and add them to the avoidance factor and add to the percentage of leaks fixed.

This is the only way we have of showing that the cost avoidance factors.

If tags are not pulled and entered into the software as fixed, then there is no record of the leak being fixed.

Here is the total from the initial leak survey preformed in February 2021.  The total estimated cost in leaks was $1,362,142.00 a year.  A recheck was preformed in July 2021 The total estimated cost of leaks after some were fixed and a few new ones were found is $426,194.00 a year.

Fixing leaks in this facility in a six month time period shows an estimated cost avoidance of $935,948.00 a year.

This is reason leak survey rechecks are important !!!!

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This week Southwest Medical Center is taking a big step into a world class CBM (condition Based Monitoring) program.

This program will be setup by Chuck Peterson Predictive Maintenance and will include the following;

Infrared Thermal Imaging  (Electrical Switch Gear)

Air borne Ultrasound. (Compressed Gas Leaks)

Structure Borne Ultrasound  (Bearings, Alignment, and Motor greasing)

They have over 100 motors in their facility this program will allow us to keep track and trend any changes in the workings of the machinery. It will allow for proper greasing and not over greasing. It will let us know if machines are properly aligned. (Shaft to Shaft).

This program will start showing a real dollar savings on day one by allowing us the chance to fix a problem before it breaks, and by finding Medical Air Leaks through out the facility.

Medical Air, Nitrogen, Helium, and just plain compressed air are all very expensive.

Now the kicker, Chuck will show how this entire program can be installed and run, basically, for FREE

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