The answer to this question appears at the end of this newsletter.


Reduce Repair Pressure
The sheer pressure of the ticking downtime clock reduces repair effectiveness -- mostly due to shortcuts and human error. People under this pressure are less likely to clean equipment thoroughly, align parts precisely, recheck work, or prevent contamination. The result is built-in "re-failure," rather than true repair.

Only the bravest (or most foolish) technician will tell a distressed production manager, "I'm going to leave you down for an extra 30 minutes so I can do this repair more precisely while your people stand around doing nothing." That half hour could prevent many hours of future downtime, but when product isn't moving out the door production managers are in high stress mode until it's moving again.

Follow these three tips to reduce pressure inside the repair bottle:

1. Use "quick-swap" assemblies. Years ago, an electronics tech would solder individual components off and onto circuit boards. So, why is it standard practice today to replace the entire board? Because doing so quickly restores functionality to the system. Slip out the old board, slip in the new one. To apply this principle to critical equipment, identify repairs that involve time-consuming or error-prone component installation and keep a "ready-to-go" subassembly as a spare.
2. Use kitting. Do your repair crews run back and forth for spare parts, drawings, test equipment, or tools while equipment is down? Create repair kits for your most critical equipment, and locate them near the equipment in a dedicated locker.
3. Hold drills. Soldiers practice fighting before being deployed to the battlefield. Using mockups, practice specific repair jobs. This way, repair techs aren't learning during downtime. They are "battle ready" when they arrive.

Moreover, such an installation violates 409.60. You must bond multisection industrial control panels together with an equipment grounding conductor (EGC). The EGC is actually a bonding conductor. The EGC must terminate to the equipment grounding (bonding) bus or to a grounding (bonding) termination point provided inside a panel. Nowhere does 409.60 refer to a connection to earth.


Safety During Unscheduled Repairs
A 2,000A breaker fails open. You can obtain a replacement breaker within an hour. However, you'll have to disconnect the service to replace that breaker. Where will you get the power for lights so that you can see to put it in? Do you have enough time to obtain a rental generator, or will your crew work by flashlight?

The mindset in many facilities is that generators are costly and therefore should be avoided. In reality, properly sized generators are relatively inexpensive to buy, operate, and maintain.

A correct cost benefit analysis addresses the safety ramifications of working in poor light under high pressure. In addition, refer to 110.26(D), OSHA 1910.333, OSHA 1926.26, OSHA 1926.56, and other safety requirements. And there's that small matter of an unseen wrench lying across two phases when you restore power...


Quiz Answer
Answer to Electrical Troubleshooting Quiz Why are you opening weatherheads as part of your routine PM work? This is an example of an unnecessary task. Opening the weatherhead at the motor may be necessary for troubleshooting, but seldom for preventive maintenance. Why break perfectly good seals and connections, when doing so adds several points of failure in the maintenance process? Installing motor monitoring devices will further reduce the number of mistakes humans can introduce into motor systems.