SMRP 17th Annual Conference Connection

Things to do and see in St. Louis

2009-10-17T15:31:00.001-04:00

While we have a pretty packed schedule for this year’s conference, we do expect you’ll have some down time and opportunities to check out all that St. Louis has to offer.

Enjoy the fall weather at take a stroll through Forest Park (http://www.explorestlouis.com/myStl/memberDetails.asp?mID=229&pt=1&ic=2), which is 500 acres larger than Central Park in NYC. The fresh air might be just what you need after a day of learning and networking!

Flirt with lady luck and visit one of five area casinos including: Lumiére Place (www.lumiereplace.com), Harrah’s (www.harrahs.com), The President (www.presidentcasino.com/stlouis), Ameristar (www.ameristarcasinos.com) and Casino Queen (www.casinoqueen.com). Just be sure to remember what Kenny Roger’s said, “you gotta know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em!”

For all you car lovers, check out the Museum of Transportation (www.museumoftransport.org). Here you can see over 300 exhibits showcasing the history of everything transportation. Best part is that admission is FREE!

Spend the evening out on the Mississippi on the Tom Sawyer Paddle Wheeler (www.gatewayarch.com). What better way to see the sights of St. Louis than from the water. Bonus—they have dinner cruises as well!

With all that St. Louis has to offer we hope you’ll think of that as an added plus to attending this year’s annual conference---just don’t let us catch you skipping out on sessions! :)

Meet you in St. Louis!

Maureen Gribble
SMRP

A night to wine and dine!

2009-10-17T15:30:00.000-04:00

New this year, we are offering a “free” night for our industry partners to entertain their customers (or better yet, future customers!) We also view this as a great night for our members to hit the town with their peers and continue the networking in a less formal atmosphere. Added bonus—you pick the cuisine and atmosphere!

St. Louis has everything from Mediterranean, to Italian, to Turkish, to your typical Steakhouse! With restaurants to please every palate, you can’t go wrong. Check out www.opentable.com to search all the restaurants, read reviews, and make reservations so that your party will be all set.

After dinner, why not take in some live music? St. Louis, aside from being known as the “Gateway to the West” also carries the nickname of “Home of the Blues.” Check out the list of places you can visit to hear some of this great music: http://www.explorestlouis.com/visitors/see.asp?c=60&r=0&k=&kt=1&pt=1

Bon appetite!

Maureen Gribble
SMRP

Become an approved CMRP proctor

2009-10-17T15:28:00.001-04:00

Are you trying to get more folks at your organization certified as CMRPs? If so, take advantage of three opportunities to become an approved proctor at this year’s annual conference.

In order to be an approved proctor you must meet the following criteria:

1. Have been a CMRP for at least one year
2. Shadow an already approved proctor during an exam administration
3. Be approved by our Exam Administration Committee

Assuming steps 1 and 2 are fulfilled, step 3 really is just a formality.

We will be offering the exam three different times during the conference and we invite anyone interested in shadowing to help us help. The exams will be given on the following days:

Monday, October 19; 12:30-3:00 p.m.

Wednesday, October 21; 6:00-8:30 p.m.

Thursday, October 22; 8:30-11:00 a.m.

If you are interested, we ask that you send Ali Sturman, our certification coordinator, an email at asturman@smrp.org. She’ll let you know where to show up and when. Keep in mind this is also a great opportunity to earn some credit hours for your recertification.

Maureen Gribble
SMRP

Get certified!

2009-10-17T15:26:00.000-04:00

Have you been looking for an opportunity to become a Certified Maintenance and Reliability Professional (CMRP)? If so, than the annual conference is a great opportunity for you to make that goal a reality!

We’ll be offering the exam three different times during the conference:

Monday, October 19; 12:30-3:00 p.m.

Wednesday, October 21; 6:00-8:30 p.m.

Thursday, October 22; 8:30-11:00 a.m.

The CMRP program involves a more robust curriculum than other certifications. It's an internationally-recognized, ANSI-accredited exam with all-inclusive M&R content. Covering the five pillars of M&R, it's all the knowledge you need to gain confidence and advance your career.

· Business and management
· Manufacturing process reliability
· Equipment reliability
· People skills
· Work management

You can register for the CMRP exam with your conference registration-how easy is that?

Join the 2,500+ CMRPs worldwide and begin reaping the benefits of being a CMRP!

Maureen Gribble
SMRP

Fair Minded

2009-10-17T15:25:00.000-04:00

For the first time ever, SMRP will host a Job Fair in conjunction with our Annual Conference. Unemployed maintenance and reliability professionals, members and non-members alike, are invited to attend the job fair free of charge. The Job Fair will be held in the Exhibit Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 21st, 2009 from 10am to 2pm. Registrants may pick up their badges and packets starting at 9am on the 21st.

Unfortunately, we do not have the budget to provide a full-meal for everyone, but refreshments will be available in the exhibit hall at 10am. Make sure you plan to have lunch on your own, unless you are attending the full conference.

SMRP has invited all of our exhibiting companies to participate in the job fair as a part of their exhibitor package, and has opened up paid Employer Registration to other companies as well. You can find both the job-seeker and employer registration forms on our conference website (http://www.smrp.org/Conference/2009/2009_conference_Special_Events.htm).

If you want more information, or have questions, email me at equinn@smrp.org, or call me at 703-610-1260.

Erin Quinn
SMRP

Putting SMRP to work for YOU

2009-10-17T15:24:00.001-04:00

Join us for a session that will cover all that SMRP has to offer you. Now that you are an SMRP member come find out about all the ways that you can get involved. Involvement in SMRP is a great way to expand your network, enhance your leadership skills, and enables you to give back to the maintenance and reliability community.

This session will highlight all the committees and the great work that each is doing to achieve the strategic goals of SMRP. You’ll also have the opportunity to get your questions answered and will have instant access to the volunteer leaders who will help get you plugged in right away!

This session will be facilitated by Shon Isenhour, CMRP, current volunteer Director of Education and incoming SMRP Secretary. With several years of experience volunteering with SMRP, he will be a great resource for you as you start you SMRP journey.

Join us on Wednesday, October 21 from 8:15-9:15 and start putting SMRP to work for YOU!

Maureen Gribble
SMRP

Network, Network, Network!

2009-10-17T15:23:00.001-04:00

The SMRP Annual conference is about more than just learning, it’s also about making connections with your peers in the industry. Every year we strive to provide valuable networking opportunities and this year is no exception.

Start your conference experience off right by attending our Welcome Reception, located on the exhibit floor, on Monday evening from 6:30-9:00 p.m. This is a great opportunity to meet up with friends, old and new, while checking out all that our fantastic industry partners have to offer.

After your first full day of learning on Tuesday, we invite you to kick back with a few cocktails, and spend some more quality networking time on the show floor during our Exhibitor Reception taking place from 5:30-7:00 p.m. This is a great time to chat about all your “Aha” moments from the day.

Then for some extreme networking, we invite you to register for our reception taking place at the Arch. This is a great opportunity to tour the national landmark, commemorating the westward growth of the United States. Attendees will even have an opportunity to ride the tram to the top of the arch, while taking in spectacular views of St. Louis and the Mississippi River. Space is limited for this unique networking opportunity, so sign up early! ($30 per person)

After this year’s conference your rolodex will be filled with lots of new contacts and hopefully some new friends as well!

Maureen Gribble
SMRP

How to best utilize your conference experience

2009-10-17T15:21:00.001-04:00

You’ve convinced your boss to let you attend the conference, you’ve booked your travel, and mapped out the sessions you want to attend. However, there is more you can do to prepare yourself for an amazing and meaningful conference experience.

First of all, is anyone else from your organization attending? If so, get together head of time and make sure you cover all the sessions that you think you’d benefit from and those that your organization will benefit from. Try not to attend the same sessions-you’ll cover more ground if you split up.

If no one else from your organization is attending, then you are your organizations delegate and you’d do well to bring back as much knowledge as possible (no pressure!) Meet with your team ahead of time and find out what sessions they might want you to attend—even if it isn’t one that you’d have chosen on your own.

Onsite, you’ll want to take really good notes that you can share with your team when you return. Even better would be to summarize the day listing out all your “Aha” moments in an email back to the team so you that you don’t forget what you learned and so they can start implementing the new ideas right away.

Don’t forget that you’ll be provided with all of the papers for all of the sessions, so you’ll have a wealth of resources to bring home with you and review—share this with your team as well.

Once you return from the conference you’ll be hit with a full inbox and lots of work to catch up on. That being said, you’d do well to set aside some time to meet with your team so you can review in person the “Aha’s” you came away with and to start working through ways that you can implement the knowledge you gained in St. Louis at your organization. Don’t let al that good information go to waste!

Finally, start gearing up for next year’s conference—maybe you’ll even want to submit a paper of your own so you can share your best practices with next year’s attendees!

Maureen Gribble
SMRP

Track 4-People Skills

2009-09-30T12:44:00.001-04:00

Hi, my name is Rob Bloomquist and I’m Track Leader for Track 4 - People Skills, at this year’s Annual Conference in St. Louis.

It is well-known the ability to change an organization’s culture – that is being able to implement a new way of working and making it stick - is critical to any large-scale initiative and especially to a comprehensive maintenance and reliability improvement effort. What is less well-known and even less put into practice are practical approaches to addressing the people side of large-scale change.

This year’s line-up of papers in Track 4 offer insightful, practical approaches to this challenge including how to foster improved job satisfaction and engagement, the critical role of Training, creating “win-win” scenarios, the importance of communication, and more.

Please join me and my Track 4 co-leads, Steve Gillette, CMRP, of the City of Roseville (CA), and Bill Dockrey, CMRP, of Luminant Power, for these and other valuable presentations in the People Skills track.

Rob Bloomquist, CMRP
MRG, Inc.

Leapfrog Maintenance Effectiveness to the Next Level

2009-09-30T12:39:00.001-04:00

Join Bob Hansen, PE, CMRP, to “Leapfrog Maintenance Effectiveness to the Next Level”, a workshop that has never failed to provide improved Strategies and Tools to bridge the Gap between current and future state for maintenance organizations. The focus is about Significantly increasing your ‘Service Effectiveness’ and your contribution as a ‘Capacity Producer.’ This workshop is designed to move maintenance from being a necessary evil (cost center) to being a contributing partner for higher Profits.

You will learn how to quantify maintenance efforts in business terms to prioritize strategy alternatives, set SMART goals and communicate metrics and results to Plant leadership teams to gain synergistic support.

Part of the workshop will provide tools and techniques to pull key information from your performance databases exposing variability and establishing capability targets to help Launch your Improvement Revolution. The key objective is to Identify your most important opportunity, set strategy to Exploit current resources, Subordinate false success activities, move resources as needed to Elevate target service, and Monitor your progress through completion before moving to the next target.

This workshop is scheduled for October 23, 2009. Mark that date to ‘Leapfrog’.

NEW this year: Onsite Bookstore

2009-09-30T12:35:00.000-04:00

We are happy to announce that as an addition to this year’s Annual Conference we’ll be adding an onsite bookstore to our list of offerings. In partnership with Reliabilityweb.com the bookstore run by MRO Zone (http://books.mro-zone.com/category_s/34.htm) will feature books to satisfy all your M&R needs.

With books from authors and conference speakers, Terry Wireman, Ramesh Gulati, Ricky Smith, and Winston Ledet, just to name a few, you’ll be able to purchase titles and then hear from the authors themselves.

Planning to take the CMRP Exam? The book store is a great one stop shop to pick up books on the five pillars of our body of knowledge to assist you in your certification preparation.

We hope this offering is just one more reason why SMRP’s Annual Conference is on your “must attend” list for 2009!

A special thank you to our friends at Reliablityweb.com and MRO Zone for partnering with us on this exciting new addition.

Maureen Gribble
SMRP

Exhibiting 101

2009-09-21T08:49:00.001-04:00

We are looking forward to welcome close to 70 of our industry partner organizations to our expo floor this year. We love our exhibitors and so we thought we’d provide a quick “Expo 101” to ensure that everyone is prepared for a successful show.

The most important thing to consider is COMFORT! Keep in mind your expo staff will be on their feet for roughly 20 hours when all is said and done and the last thing you want is for everyone’s dogs to be barking. Be kind—order padded carpet. Might we also recommend comfortable shoes? Seems like that would be intuitive, but I’ve certainly seen my fair share of high heels on the show floor! Comfort before style folks!

Next to comfort (and perhaps this is more important, but you decide) setting clear goals for your team ahead of time is critical to your success. Why are you exhibiting? What do you hope to gain by being at our show? How can you make those goals happen? Have a clear set of objectives and a map for how you’re going to meet them.

Whatever you do, don’t get caught crossing your arms or focusing more on your Blackberry than the show floor. You’ve got to be approachable—make eye contact and remember to SMILE, seriously, it works!

We also highly recommend having some kind of “give away” in your booth—attendees LOVE coming away with “chotchkies” (anyone know how you spell that or if it is even a real word?) or at the very least candy!

Anyone else have helpful hints they’d like to share? I’m sure this list barely cracks the surface!

Maureen Gribble
SMRP

Fair Minded

2009-09-09T11:20:00.001-04:00

For the first time ever, SMRP will host a Job Fair in conjunction with our Annual Conference. Unemployed maintenance and reliability professionals, members and non-members alike, are invited to attend the job fair free of charge. The Job Fair will be held in the Exhibit Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 21st, 2009 from 10am to 2pm. Registrants may pick up their badges and packets starting at 9am on the 21st.

Unfortunately, we do not have the budget to provide a full-meal for everyone, but refreshments will be available in the exhibit hall at 10am. Make sure you plan to have lunch on your own, unless you are attending the full conference.

SMRP has invited all of our exhibiting companies to participate in the job fair as a part of their exhibitor package, and has opened up paid Employer Registration to other companies as well. You can find both the job-seeker and employer registration forms on our conference website.

If you want more information, or have questions, email me at equinn@smrp.org, or call me at 703-610-1260.

Erin Quinn
SMRP

Fore!

2009-09-02T09:05:00.000-04:00

Those of you reliability folks that enjoy the outdoors, a great event, and a great golf course, make plans to join your fellow SMRP duffers at Annbriar Golf Course on Monday, October 19th for our 6th Annual SMRP Golf Outing.

This outing will give you the opportunity to meet your fellow SMRP colleagues, practitioners, and industry partners. Annbriar has a 4 ½ star rating as provided by Golf Digest, and is ranked the #7 course in Illinois and the #1 course in the St. Louis area.

Past attendees have come from a wide variety of backgrounds and geographical locations. Each of these events has provided some great memories for those that participated. Come have a good time, play some good golf (or some not so good golf, we don’t care!), enjoy good food and most importantly, good company.

A bonus, we do award prizes for the top finishing teams, not to mention you’ll have bragging rights for the remainder of the conference!

See you on the links!

Mike Mills, CMRP
Chairman, Golf Outing Committee
The Mundy Companies

Register EARLY and WIN!

2009-09-01T08:49:00.000-04:00

The first 500 to register for the Conference by Friday, September, 11, are automatically going to be entered to win a door prize! Three will be chosen to win an iPod, GPS device or discounted 2010 Annual Conference Registration! So if you haven’t registered yet, what are you waiting for!?

Don’t forget, early bird pricing also ends on September 11, so get your registration form in by then to enjoy the discounted registration fee of $850. After September 11 the price goes up to $995. Don’t miss this great chance to SAVE!

Maureen Gribble
SMRP

Calling all CMRPs

2009-08-28T10:47:00.000-04:00

The annual conference will bring some opportunities to interface with the exam team and have your personal input integrated into the questions being developed.

Some events of interest to all is an Exam Team meeting where we will discuss questions and changes to make them more international in content and understanding. Anyone is welcomed (so long as you are a CMRP) to this meeting and your input will be greatly appreciated.

Another event that will be held in two different time slots is the Cut Score Workshops. These sessions last approximately 40 minutes. You must be a CMRP to attend these sessions. The participants will look at 20 questions, answer the question, see the correct answer, and then rate the question in difficulty for your specific industry. You may also give your comments on the question at this time.

These are great opportunities for you to help in the development of the CMRP certification. Not to mention these are all great opportunities for you to earn credit towards your CMRP recertification.

Terry Harris, CMRP
SMRPCO Exam Director

Work Management--Track 5

2009-08-27T08:24:00.001-04:00

This year’s Work Management track is shaping up to be very instructive. Wrench time, one of the hot topics in recent years will be thoroughly aired out. Several papers address different aspects of wrench time coming from practitioners involved in studies. These papers not only cover the why of such studies, but the practical aspects of conducting them. Other papers cover implementing weekly scheduling, work flow mapping, and other timely topics for improvement opportunities.

Check out the full list of papers that will be presented during Track 5 by clicking here: http://www.smrp.org/Conference/2009/Track%205.doc
I am very excited to serve again as Track Leader and look forward to working with my fellow track co-leads, John Pearl, CMRP, of Moose & Associates and John Johannemann, CMRP, of Ascend Performance Materials, L.L.C.

Doc Palmer, CMRP, PE, MBA
Richard Palmer and Associates

SMRP Best Practices Committee

2009-08-24T10:38:00.000-04:00

Recognizing the importance of standard metric definitions for benchmarking and other purposes, SMRP charged the Best Practices Committee with the identification and development of standard definitions for common maintenance and reliability metrics.

SMRP is pleased to announce that 70 maintenance and reliability metrics definitions are being developed by the Best Practices Committee and some are now available through the SMRP on-line store. Each metric definition is a comprehensive document including the definition of the metric, the objective of the metric, the mathematical formula for calculating the metric, component definitions, metric qualifications, sample calculation, and references.

To further enhance the value of the metrics to our members and the profession as a whole, the Best Practices Committee has “harmonized” the metrics with those developed by our colleagues in the European Federation of National Maintenance Societies (EFNMS). These maintenance and reliability metrics definitions are on their way to becoming global standards!

As an SMRP member you have access to a wide range of valuable tangible deliverables. Come to this session to hear about the latest activities of the Best Practices Committee and learn what specifically is available to you as an SMRP member that you can use at your facility.
Al Poling, CMRP
SMRP Technical Director

History: Your Key to Improving Work Identification

2009-08-20T12:37:00.001-04:00

We all know that knowing and understanding our history is the best way to avoid repeating past failures and continuing practices that have been proven successful. We can apply this same theory to how we view Work Identification.

Presenter, Dick Olver, CMRP of Agrium, will be discussing the importance of keeping good structured data through notification in SAP. The presentation will introduce the importance of understanding the principles of RCM, failure modes, failure patterns, hidden failures in what information is captured and Agrium’s success with guidelines for reporting history and the need to set audit to standards on history reporting.

Recognizing the significant opportunities in having accurate and complete data for work identification is one key step in any reliability effort. Not only this is recognized at Agrium but also the importance of developing a data integrity process, objectively measuring work order data for completeness and accuracy, and communicating the results throughout the enterprise using various metrics. In my experience, prior to data collection, the careful transition from using failure modes, actions and other catalogs, rigorous training and the development of clear, comprehensive and standardized data collection procedures are all essential elements of a successful data collection process and reporting.

Finally, despite good procedures and adequate training, you can still end up with bad data. To ensure data integrity you must establish quality control activities before and after data collection. I congratulate Agrium on this effort as many other companies spend money and resources on quality control activities prior to data collection, but fail to implement any quality control measures or successfully use the information after data collection.

Ramon Diaz, CMRP
Meridium

One on One Consulting Sessions--NEW!

2009-08-13T13:29:00.002-04:00

New this year we are offering both our exhibitors and our attendees a new opportunity to learn from one another in private one-on-one consulting sessions.

This is a great chance for our attendees to meet face-to-face with an industry partner and delve deeper into their individual needs. This setting fosters a more open and candid dialogue than the exhibit floor allows. Not intended to be a "sales pitch," these one-on-one consulting sessions can benefit both parties involved: inquisitive customers in need and organizations eager to help.

So far we have industry experts from first class organizations like Commtest, Royal Purple, Life Cycle Engineering, Marshall Institute, and JMS Software. The expertise ranges from RCM to lubrication and vibration analysis to change management and leadership training. If you need counsel, these are the folks to help--and it's FREE!

If you are interested in participating in this program as either a consultant or a participant, just shoot me an email at mgribble@smrp.org.

We look forward to this great addition to our conference line-up!

Maureen Gribble
SMRP

Effective Maintenance Planning

2009-08-12T11:09:00.002-04:00

This year's annual conference includes 10 top notch full day (one is a two day) workshops to enhance your conference experience. Part of this year's line-up is "Effective Maintenance Planning" presented by Dave Rousseau, CMRP, Performance Consulting Associates, and Jay Padesky, CMRP, USG Corporation.

Utilizing the training used by USG in over 50 locations for over 100 planners, this workshop is sure to provide you with the tools you need to enhance your skills as a planner--or better yet, to provide someone new to the field a road map for how to become an outstanding planner.

This workshop will be highly interactive and will give participants an opportunity to share common problems and solutions, develop an individualized action plan for self improvement, enhance skills and learn new techniques to plan jobs effectively, and gain positive reinforcement of the planning function's contribution to the overall profitability of the plant.

Whether you are an experienced or new planner, front-line supervisor, technician, or project engineer performing planning functions, this is one workshop you won't want to miss.

Hoping to achieve your CMRP certification? This workshop is a great way to bone up on your "Work Management" skills--one of the five areas of the body of knowledge covered on the examination.

When planning your conference experience, be sure to pencil this workshop in, taking place on Thursday, October 22 from 8:00-5:00 p.m.

Maureen Gribble
SMRP

Benchmarking--how does your facility measure up?

2009-08-07T07:53:00.002-04:00

Benchmarking is the process of identifying best practices that can be adopted to improve performance. The Benchmarking Committee is focused on benchmarking as it relates to the maintenance and reliability (M&R) community and has developed a new and improved on-line benchmarking process available to maintenance and reliability professionals world-wide.

The new benchmarking survey questionnaire focuses on performance in key areas aligned with the Maintenance and Reliability Body of Knowledge and SMRP’s Best Practice Metrics. All responses to the survey are treated confidentially and all reports will be blinded and normalized to ensure the security of participants. Both standard and ad hoc reports will be available.

Ultimately SMRP plans to provide specialized benchmarking services whereby our members can be surveyed and their responses garnered and analyzed on a specific set of questions. As an SMRP member you have access to a wide range of valuable tangible deliverables.

Come to this session to hear about the latest activities of the Benchmarking Committee and learn what specifically is available to you as an SMRP member that you can use at your facility.

Al Poling, CMRP
SMRP Technical Director

How to apply Life Cycle Costing to Development of Pumping Strategy

2009-07-31T10:59:00.003-04:00

Scott Warren and Dick Olver, CMRP, of Agrium, will be presenting at this year's conference on the benefits of using Life Cycle Costing to develop a pump strategy. In their session they will review a case study from Agrium's Potash Operations in which a detailed analysis was completed to ensure that the plants were designed with the optimal arrangement of duty and spare pumps.

In this session, attendees will learn what was required to complete the full Life Cycle analysis and how you can use the analysis in the development of an equipment strategy.

Warren and Olver are able to explain the importance of maintaining good asset failure data and asset failure risk to influence the design of new systems.

A good understanding of the correlation between system or asset availability and business impact will always result in the best possible engineering design and system strategies. Although the case study is an evaluation of a pump system design, these concepts can/should be applied to any asset or system category regardless of size or complexity.

Ramon Diaz, CMRP
Meridium

Getting involved with SMRP

2009-07-31T10:51:00.003-04:00

It is one thing to join the Society of Maintenance and Reliability Professionals however, it is entirely something else to be involved. When you join you get some great benefits like the magazine, the emails and the workshops but when you get involved with the organization is when you see what it can really do for you.

Here are just five of the benefits that are available to those who are “involved” in SMRP:

1. Extreme growth with in your personal network. You have the opportunity to meet the legends of the reliability world and other folks just like you and me who are just trying to live reliably. Your network becomes a tool that you can tap into for support when you need it.

2. Share your challenges, get advice, and gain knowledge. Knowledge is constantly being exchanged within SMRP with almost every contact. I have gained knowledge from other committee, SIG (Special Interest Group) and chapter members. Other opportunities include annual conferences, workshops, and plant tours not to mention the content of the Body of Knowledge. There are always questions that you would love to throw out there for comment and SMRP has many forums to do so and so you can get answers you can use.

3. Hone you leadership and organizational skills as a chairperson or director. When you become a leader within SMRP you can continue to practice and refine your leadership skills and pick up new traits from other masters in an interesting volunteer world. No where in my professional life have I seen so many great leaders to observe and learn from in one place.

4. Opportunity to change your perspective. When you see the reliability success, challenges, and the data from others you get the chance to tweak your perspective on reliability and even manufacturing as a whole. These opportunities may come from the body of knowledge documentation, conversation with a vendor, or the newly introduced metrics but when you see them you realize this is not the way you thought it to be. If your perspective on reliability and business does not change from time to time it may be stale, dated and not as profitable as it could be. Get involved to join the discussions that lead to this enlightenment.

5. Feel the accomplishment of giving back to the Maintenance and Reliability community and working with a group that is getting things done. Isn’t it great to participate in something where you can see the fruits of your labor and you know that they will benefit all that come in contact with them?

There are many areas that the benefits of being involved manifest themselves and these are but a few. What items would you add to my quick list? Send them to us and we will add you to our Blog.

If you are a member but really would rather be involved please contact us at info@smrp.org and let us know where your interest lie and we will get you plugged in.

Shon Isenhour, CMRP
SMRP Educate Director
ABB Reliability Services North America

Learn about SMRP's Maintenance & Reliability Knowledge Committee

2009-06-26T14:20:00.001-04:00

The Maintenance and Reliability (M&R) Body of Knowledge (BoK) is an aggregate of all that is known and understood in the field of maintenance and reliability based on familiarity gained through experience and association. For SMRP, it encompasses the subject areas to be mastered by the Certified Maintenance and Reliability Professional (CMRP).

The Maintenance and Reliability Knowledge (M&RK) Committee has developed the framework for the SMRP BoK using the five pillars of knowledge: Business and Management, Manufacturing Process Reliability, Equipment Reliability, Organization and Leadership, and Work Management. The M&R BoK serves as a descriptive and comprehensive reference document and will be the definitive source for information for maintenance and reliability professionals. The M&RK Committee has updated the first two levels of the M&R BoK and has begun work on levels 3 and 4. The committee has also organized and indexed over 350 conference papers and presentations on subjects relevant to the M&RK BoK and useful to maintenance and reliability professionals.

As an SMRP member you have access to a wide range of valuable tangible deliverables. Come to this session to hear about the latest activities of the M&RK Committee and learn what specifically is available to you as an SMRP member that you can use at your facility.

Al Poling, CMRP
Technical Director, SMRP

Walter Reed, Building 18 Investigation as told by the Investigation Officer for the Secretary of Defense

2009-06-25T13:51:00.002-04:00

Ricky Smith, CMRP, is one of this year's conference presenters. Ricky was activated as a US Army Reserve Officer commanding a Direct Support Maintenance Company in Iraq and Kuwait and most recently was activated as the investigating officer for Walter Reed, Building 18 inadequate housing of Wounded Warriors where he worked for the Secretary of Defense. His findings and recommendations have changed the way the US Army maintains Medical Facilities World Wide.

Ricky's session will discuss his investigation into the facilities and the similarities between the problems at Walter Reed and Industrial Operations. A lack of effective equipment maintenance plans and poor leadership is just one of the similarities that will be discussed.

Take aways from the session will include:

How to identify the root cause of any issue in maintenance and reliability?

What actions can be taken short term and long term to turn around a failed maintenance program.

What really happened behind the scene when the Washington Post story of Walter Reed's Living Conditions for our Wounded Warriors.

Learn how to measure performance of your organization with a few basic metrics.

As a former active duty and current Reserve Army Officer, I am ashamed, but unfortunately not surprised by how bad it got at Walter Reed. I remember the news stories and it saddens me that things had to get so bad before professionals were called in. What I am glad to see is that the problem was finally identified and addressed with real vigor and not empty promises. From everything I have heard about Ricky Smith over the years, I am sure that the team did an excellent job and I cannot wait to hear his presentation and see the transformation of Walter Reed into a place where wounded soldiers get everything they need and deserve.

Go Army!

John D. Watson, CMRP
Owens Corning

Keynote Speaker: Gene Kranz

2009-05-27T10:26:00.003-04:00

Motivational speaker Gene Kranz was the leader of the “Tiger Team” of NASA flight directors who guided the crippled Apollo 13 spacecraft safely back to Earth. His role in the crisis now legendary, Kranz was made famous by his oft-quoted phrase, “Failure is not an option.” Following the inspiring success of the Apollo 13 mission, Gene Kranz was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his leadership, heroism, and steely resolve. In Ron Howard’s epic film, Apollo 13, he was portrayed by actor Ed Harris.

“Failure is not an option” is the enduring credo that has driven Gene Kranz’s career, and he reminds audiences that he had no such option in April 1970. A gripping motivational speaker, Kranz discusses the pride, determination, and passion that inspired and compelled the engineers and scientists who were responsible for the phenomenal success of the American space program.

SMRP is excited to have Mr. Kranz as this year's keynote speaker and feel he will bring a message to our attendees that will be motivational as well as practical. We are also happy to announce the Mr. Kranz will be available for a meet-and-greet with time for follow up questions after his speech.

This will be a keynote you won't want to miss!

Maureen Gribble
Certification and Education Manager, SMRP

Body of Knowledge highlights

2009-05-21T13:01:00.002-04:00

Great news! This year’s conference is going to include track sessions hosted by the SMRP Body of Knowledge Committees (Best Practices, Benchmarking, M&R Knowledge & Standards). The BoK Directorate has committed itself this year to delivering tangible value to members.

The BoK Committee Chairs and members will be showcasing their latest valuable tangible intellectual property created for members and made available to you as an SMRP member. Come to these sessions to hear the volunteers present the latest status of committee activities, and more importantly, explain how you can access the intellectual property that has been created for you. Examples of these tangible products include Standard Metrics Definitions, the new and improved world-class Benchmarking process that will be launched at the annual conference, the new Guide to the Body of Knowledge and searchable access to SMRP Past Conference Proceedings, to name a few.

We hope to see you in these Track 6 sessions!

-Bob DiStefano, CMRP
Director, Body of Knowledge
MRG Inc.

Greetings from the 2009 Conference Committee Chair

2009-05-20T12:16:00.003-04:00

Welcome to this exciting new feature for the 17th Annual SMRP Conference to be held in St. Louis, Missouri. There is an interesting line up of blog topics scheduled between now and the conference to provide you with an opportunity to interact with subject matter experts on a variety of events and topics that will be available for you to experience in person at the conference.

You will learn more about the receptions, keynote speaker, tours, workshops, and committees as well as some of the topics that will be the subject of the presentations within the six tracks. The track papers are in the relevant categories of 1) Business and Management, 2) Manufacturing Processes, 3) Equipment Reliability, 4) People Skills, 5) Work Management, and 6) SMRP Initiatives.

We hope you will agree that every year the annual SMRP conference continues to improve and that this year will be the “Gateway to Reliability Excellence" and will make "Maintenance Success within Reach!”

Please join us in this blog as we live out the SMRP’s mission to “promote and advance reliability excellence.”

Happy Blogging!

Nick Roberts, CMRP
SMRP 2009 Conference Committee Chair
DuPont

Welcome to the SMRP 17th Annual Conference Blog!

2009-05-19T13:29:00.003-04:00

Welcome one and all to the first ever SMRP Annual Conference Blog! I hope everyone out there is getting geared up for what is sure to be an outstanding conference this October in the "Gateway City!"

We have decided to start this blog as a means for getting the excitement of the conference started early. With a little less than five months to go until the conference, this will be the forum for learning about all the hot topics that will be presented, the various networking activities we have planned, and of course a means for getting you connected with your peers before the planes start touching down in St. Louis.

Along with our great support group of SMRP volunteers, we've also snagged a great line-up of contributors. Blogging along with us will be John Watson, CMRP, of Owen's Corning, Ramon Diaz, CMRP, of Meridium, and Glenn Gardner, CMRP, of Seattle City Light.

We are still looking for a few more bloggers to join our group, so if you think you'd like to help tell the story of the SMRP Annual Conference over the next few months and, onsite during the show, please e-mail me at mgribble@smrp.org.

In the meantime, enjoy the blog and please share your thoughts on what we post, as well as what we should post. We want you to participate in this exciting conversation!

-Maureen Gribble
Certification and Education Manager, SMRP