Reliability and Maintenance

Addressing root causes often requires a change of thinking and a strong effort.

Do you know what to look for when inspecting your electrical assets?

Regardless of where the opportunities for improvement exist, it is very common that we begin working on improvements in the area of planning and scheduling (P&S).

Are you thinking about reorganizing by having maintenance report to operations? My advice to you is: “Bad idea.” Consider, instead, keeping your central maintenance organization and putting some of the hourly workers in specific work areas.

PM/ECCM programs are poor and mill leaders are not fixing them, according to Tor Idhammar, of IDCON, Inc. Mills have often inherited a poor PM/ECCM program due to past cost reductions or just complacency, but even if the current mill staff didn’t create the situation, the situation still needs to be fixed. Idhammar explains how to identify whether your mill needs to improve its PM/ECCM and, if it does, where to begin that process.

JOHN BOGART When manufacturing pulp, paper, and corrugated materials, measuring and controlling moisture content can impact product quality, production throughput, and processing efficiency. It can also affect the purchase price of wood chips, pulp, and converted paper products, not to mention shipping costs. Until recently, conducting frequent moisture content tests throughout the process or in the field has been difficult. ...

Circuit breakers are an integral part of the electrical systems and their application differs with respect to the scenario. They are also used for planned electrical isolation of a system or equipment. By definition, “circuit breakers are protective construction electrical products that operate automatically”. Certain fault conditions can actuate a circuit breaker resulting in a discontinuation of power supply to ...

TOR IDHAMMAR, IDCON, INC. If you work in a highly reactive maintenance organization, you will be trapped in a “circle of despair” and will waste too much time doing the wrong things. A circle of despair starts when you must react to a problem, or a perceived problem, on short notice. You then try to correct the problem as fast ...

Inland Empire Paper is among first to try a patented new seaming technology for quick and safe changes of dryer fabrics. ROBERT PUHR Inland Empire Paper Co. (IEP), located in Millwood, WA, near Spokane, has been in business since 1911. It manufactures more than 50 grades of newsprint and specialty papers using a combination of virgin mechanical and recycled fiber. ...

Water Management Systems can help mills meet their goals for reliability and conservation. HEINZ P. BLOCH AND TOM GROVE A survey of published Corporate Sustainability Reports in the pulp and paper industry shows that the reports prioritize the critical need for water conservation and energy savings. Stated objectives often call for a minimum of 5 percent savings and can be ...