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Tip of the Week: Don’t Let Bad Motor Data Drag You Down

June 15, 2015
Collecting accurate and precise data is key to tracking motor maintenance repairs.

A great way to visualize where to allocate your motor maintenance resources is to plot a bar chart of motor failures by cause on the X axis and total cost (quantity times lost revenue times repair cost) on the Y axis. If you sort from largest to smallest, those first few bars are where you need to focus your limited resources.

This is great in theory. Sometimes, it’s even great in practice. But most of the time, it just doesn’t work that well. Why? A single cause: bad data.

You may have bad data for several reasons, including:

• You don’t have a standardized list of causes, so the collected data show many different names for the same cause (thus diluting the data).

• You have a standardized list of causes, but don’t have an “other” option. This forces people to check off something that’s not right.

• Too many failures get credited to “other,” and your form doesn’t include a space for saying what it is.

When the maintenance techs actively collaborate in designing the form for recording failure causes, the bad data problem seldom arises. If you already have a form, these are the people whose thoughts about it most need to be heard, and acted upon.

About the Author

Mark Lamendola

Mark is an expert in maintenance management, having racked up an impressive track record during his time working in the field. He also has extensive knowledge of, and practical expertise with, the National Electrical Code (NEC). Through his consulting business, he provides articles and training materials on electrical topics, specializing in making difficult subjects easy to understand and focusing on the practical aspects of electrical work.

Prior to starting his own business, Mark served as the Technical Editor on EC&M for six years, worked three years in nuclear maintenance, six years as a contract project engineer/project manager, three years as a systems engineer, and three years in plant maintenance management.

Mark earned an AAS degree from Rock Valley College, a BSEET from Columbia Pacific University, and an MBA from Lake Erie College. He’s also completed several related certifications over the years and even was formerly licensed as a Master Electrician. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and past Chairman of the Kansas City Chapters of both the IEEE and the IEEE Computer Society. Mark also served as the program director for, a board member of, and webmaster of, the Midwest Chapter of the 7x24 Exchange. He has also held memberships with the following organizations: NETA, NFPA, International Association of Webmasters, and Institute of Certified Professional Managers.

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