Maintworld 1/2020
ROTATING EQUIPMENT SERVICES: A COMPREHENSIVE, WORRY-FREE PACKAGE // SELF-INFLICTED RELIABILITY PROBLEMS OF ROTATING MACHINERY // VIEWING MAINTENANCE AS A SYSTEM TO OPTIMIZE PERFORMANCE
ROTATING EQUIPMENT SERVICES: A COMPREHENSIVE, WORRY-FREE PACKAGE // SELF-INFLICTED RELIABILITY PROBLEMS OF ROTATING MACHINERY // VIEWING MAINTENANCE AS A SYSTEM TO OPTIMIZE PERFORMANCE
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EDITORIAL<br />
The COVID-19 Crisis,<br />
a Maintainer’s View<br />
‘NOUS SOMMES EN GUERRE!’ I can’t state any<br />
better than the French President Emmanuel<br />
Macron, that humanity is currently at war with<br />
COVID-19. This type of lung infection is caused<br />
by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome<br />
CoronaVirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which is spreading<br />
around the world after an initial outbreak in<br />
the Chinese Wuhan region in December 2019.<br />
Many governments are taking severe measures,<br />
including travel bans, school closures, lockdowns<br />
requiring people to stay at home, factory shutdowns,<br />
etc. The world economy has been impacted<br />
severely; stock markets colour deep red. I don’t<br />
need to explain to you that this situation is unprecedented. Let’s look at the current<br />
situation through the eyes of a maintenance, reliability and asset manager.<br />
Chronicle of a Problem Foretold<br />
Coronavirus infections have already been lurking for several years. Usually these<br />
viruses cause relatively mild symptoms, such as colds in winter and early spring. As<br />
a matter of fact, 5 to 10 percent of colds are caused by coronaviruses. But we knew<br />
from the 2002 SARS and 2012 MERS outbreaks, that coronaviruses could potentially<br />
become very dangerous. However, even after two major wake-up calls, policy<br />
makers and companies were still not willing to make the investment in preventative<br />
measures. We had plenty of time to develop medicines and vaccines to prevent<br />
today's outbreak, but it just did not happen. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? How many<br />
times do maintainers need to remind upper management that it is better to prevent<br />
than to repent (= feel regret and remorse)? Also, the asset manager knows all<br />
too well that the risk of doing nothing needs to be incorporated into investment<br />
decisions. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. A small short-term gain usually<br />
wins over over long-term benefit. As a result, we now live in times of repent.<br />
System Overload<br />
The risk of developing a severe COVID-19 lung infection through the Coronavirus<br />
increases with age – for the geeks: it is a failure pattern B. Taking into account that<br />
in Europe 18 percent of the population is aged (compared to only three percent in<br />
Africa), hospitals are hit by an exponentially increasing number of patients.<br />
Just as technicians are firefighting an ever-increasing number of failures<br />
caused by overaged assets, doctors and nurses are overwhelmed by the huge demand<br />
on intensive care. Add to this the fact there is no proper treatment and it<br />
becomes clear we are headed for a complete health system overload.<br />
Valuable Assets Need to be Protected<br />
Just as it is the maintenance technicians that keep things running in a factory, it is<br />
the doctors and nurses (and hospital technicians) who are our most valuable assets<br />
at the front of the war against COVID-19. It goes without saying that, if we want to<br />
win the battle, we need to protect those doctors and nurses from being infected.<br />
Enter the facemasks. The global shortage of facemasks has revealed another major<br />
risk in today’s society. The relentless offshoring of manufacturing has led to very<br />
vulnerable global supply chains. If there is a single lesson to be learned from the current<br />
Corona Crises, then it is the fact that decision takers need to do more and better<br />
long-term thinking. All of us can help by making the right choices ourselves.<br />
Stay healthy!<br />
Wim Vancauwenberghe<br />
Maintenance Evangelist<br />
34<br />
A<br />
good root cause<br />
elimination program<br />
needs a process, practical<br />
training in critical<br />
thinking, and coordination<br />
and follow-up of actions.<br />
6 maintworld 1/<strong>2020</strong>