Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast

How the IIoT is advancing motor maintenance

Eugene Vogel is a pump and vibration specialist with the Electrical Apparatus Service Association (EASA). Before joining EASA, Eugene operated his own business, General Maintenance Equipment Engineering, Inc., which is a marketing service and training organization for industrial maintenance and related technologies. He also has an extensive background in vibration and dynamic balancing and chaired the St. Louis chapter of the Vibration Institute from 1993 to 2000. Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk and senior content strategist Alexis Gajewski recently spoke with Eugene about how new technologies like IIoT are affecting the industrial motor sector. 
Key takeaways
In this episode, you'll learn:
Where IIoT is heading in the coming months and years
The industry's overall familiarity with new technologies
How these technological changes will affect service centers
The reality of smart motors
On the record
"Changes to the landscape in the machine condition monitoring business will affect your relationship with the customer and why you may or may not get that machine for repair. But when the machine comes in, it doesn’t change the way you do the business, it doesn’t change the way you repair that machine."
-Eugene Vogel
Learn more
Electrical Apparatus Service Association (EASA)
Understanding the potential of IIoT for industrial motor maintenance
3 steps to improve motor reliability
The Big Four factors affecting motor health
Electric motor noise: How to identify the cause and implement a solution

Creating a culture of continuous improvement

Assets Anonymous is a 12-step podcast series designed to help you get grounded in reliability basics and create a culture of continuous improvement with your team. This series will feature interviews with George Williams and Joe Anderson of ReliabilityX. ReliabilityX aims to bridge the gap between operations and maintenance through holistic reliability focused on plant performance. In this episode, George and Joe show us what's possible when you adopt a continuous improvement mindset.

How to help the operations department step up and take responsibility

Assets Anonymous is a 12-step podcast series designed to help you get grounded in reliability basics and create a culture of continuous improvement with your team. This series will feature interviews with George Williams and Joe Anderson of ReliabilityX. ReliabilityX aims to bridge the gap between operations and maintenance through holistic reliability focused on plant performance. In this episode, George and Joe explore how to partner with operations to improve plant efficiency and increase everyone's peace of mind. 

What are the responsibilities and goals of the maintenance department?

Assets Anonymous is a 12-step podcast series designed to help you get grounded in reliability basics and create a culture of continuous improvement with your team. This series will feature interviews with George Williams and Joe Anderson of ReliabilityX. ReliabilityX aims to bridge the gap between operations and maintenance through holistic reliability focused on plant performance. In this episode, George and Joe answer the question “What will maintenance do about it?”

Identifying the failure modes of your plant’s critical assets

Assets Anonymous is a 12-step podcast series designed to help you get grounded in reliability basics and create a culture of continuous improvement with your team. This series will feature interviews with George Williams and Joe Anderson of ReliabilityX. ReliabilityX aims to bridge the gap between operations and maintenance through holistic reliability focused on plant performance. In this episode, George and Joe help you understand how your facility's critical assets fail.

Understanding asset criticality and assessing the value of your plant’s assets

Assets Anonymous is a 12-step podcast series designed to help you get grounded in reliability basics and create a culture of continuous improvement with your team. This series will feature interviews with George Williams and Joe Anderson of ReliabilityX. ReliabilityX aims to bridge the gap between operations and maintenance through holistic reliability focused on plant performance. In this episode, George and Joe explore how a criticality assessment can help pivot your plant from reactive to proactive work.

The business case for investing in your employees

Assets Anonymous is a 12-step podcast series designed to help you get grounded in reliability basics and create a culture of continuous improvement with your team. This series will feature interviews with George Williams and Joe Anderson of ReliabilityX. ReliabilityX aims to bridge the gap between operations and maintenance through holistic reliability focused on plant performance. In this episode, George and Joe talk about the importance of training and developing your employees.

Improving performance, reliability and efficiency in multi-compressor air systems

Neil Mehltretter is Technical Director for Kaeser Compressors, and he has conducted and supervised thousands of industrial compressed air studies to help plant teams achieve significant energy savings and operational improvements. Werner Rauer is the Project Manager for Oil Injected and Oil Free Screw Compressors at Kaeser Compressors, and he's an active leader in the Compressed Air and Gas Institute, where he helped develop the widely used CAGI compressor data sheets. In this episode of the Compressed Air Podcast series, Neil and Werner explore control options for systems with multiple compressors. 

By the numbers: ESG data, policies, and practices

Plant Services, in partnership with Augury surveyed readers about Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) policies and practices earlier this year. The survey explored company policies, practices and perceptions about ESG and personal engagement by employees on these issues.
Plant Services Managing Editor Anna Townshend talked with retired Global Chief Engineer and industry executive Dave Penrith about the survey for his real-world perspective on the numbers. Penrith spent his 35-year career at a global consumer goods company. During his tenure there, he oversaw 300 factory units across all parts of the world. Penrith is a champion of digital technology, deploying automation and robotics on thousands of applications, and he is also known for his dedication to collaboration, community, and diversity.

Does compressed air as a utility make financial sense for your plant?

Wayne Perry is Senior Technical Director at Kaeser Compressors, and has more than 40 years of experience in all aspects of the compressed air business. Matt McCorkle is Manager of Branch Operations for Kaeser Compressors and has worked as a Certified Energy Manager through the Association of Energy Engineers. In this episode of the Compressed Air Podcast series, Wayne and Matt explore the concept of compressed air as a service and how to determine if this model is right for your facility.