Maintenance, Repair & Operations

Managing Maintenance Risk

June 5, 2018

Three terms can be confusing when analyzing risk in your facility.

A core purpose of maintenance is to manage risk. Proper allocation of maintenance’s limited resources depends upon assessing the probability and cost of failure. Let’s look at three key terms that can be confusing when analyzing risk in your facility:

Probability. There are many ways people determine this, such as the manufacturer’s mean time between failure (MTBF) estimate. But MTBF depends upon certain assumptions. You can bet the MTBF for a motor with 4% voltage imbalance will be much less than the same motor with 1% voltage imbalance. Probability must account for the actual conditions of use.
Cost. Comparing lost revenue from one type of failure to lost revenue from another type of failure seems logical and straightforward, doesn’t it? If a stamping machine fails and loses $8,000 of revenue that’s not as bad as failure of the drive motor in a robotic welder costing a $20,000 revenue loss. Or is it? What if it’s the light curtain that fails in that stamping press and a worker loses a hand?
Failure. An extrusion machine is running, so has it failed? What if it has a sensor installation issue that causes erratic control, which results in an 18% scrap rate?

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.