The Motor Repair Industry and IEEE Editorial
By and large, most industries and professionals are honest, hard working folk. Unfortunately, there are those few that are not and they cause problems for the rest of us. Such is true in virtually every industry including the motor repair industry.
The real question is: how do you identify the organizations that are the best for you at the best price? Especially when it comes to pricing, the motor repair industry is pretty much all over the map. Hourly rates will range from $35+ to well over $100 but somehow the initial end cost comes out to be the same. In other cases, you may go out for three bids and get three wildly different repair descriptions/scope and quoted prices.
Over the past year SUCCESS by DESIGN has been qualifying repair shops for our clients. We use our experience to go on site and evaluate the programs and processes looking for the little tricks and shortcuts that reduce your long-term reliability. What we have found is that most places do not have the motor repair experience to perform such surveys. The result is that a company will get a tour of a facility, or just send out a checklist, and accept them at face value.
With electric motor assets being one of the most significant MRO costs associated with manufacturing, why is it that so little effort is spent on managing that asset? Worse, why do many companies just rely upon the repair shop rather than having controls in place? Of course, on the repair shop side, why do companies constantly go after the lowest bid rather than the best cost, best reliability?
The impact of proper motor repair practices and asset management can be staggering. In one instance related to a program we were involved in, the cost impact of motor repair, had an issue been allowed to occur, was close to a $million in plant downtime and repair costs for a 200hp motor! If we had not issued a motor repair specification, the poor quality would have been accepted and the company would have suffered. However, with the standard in place, and attention/questioning some of the results, the repair shop was required to re-do the associated work at their cost. As is often the case with companies of this type, they attempted to offer an ‘extended warranty’ in lieu of rework, which has the exact value of ‘$0.’
We went through this several more times, even with shops capable of passing review and even ISO 9000 certified. In one case, we discovered a motor repair facility was surge testing dirty 460 volt stators at over 3500 volts! When confronted, they stated that the test instrument company had provided that instruction, which was, of course, untrue. Sometimes people confuse my PhD with my being an academic instead of having also been a Navy trained motor repair journeyman and field experienced analyst, diagnostician and troubleshooter. The PhD is nice, the experience is better, and being able to identify the BS from the repair facility, and knowing who to contact at the test instrument company retained their reputation and protected my client. We do not compromise, so the repair shop was required to rewind what should have been a clean dip and bake, prior to the damage, at their own cost.
Just because a motor repair shop is associated with EASA (Electrical Apparatus Service Association, Inc.) does not guarantee quality repair. EASA is a trade association which means that it serves it constituents, not the motor owner. This does mean that there is organized training on technical programs, recommendations, engineering support, and education provided to the motor repair shops and motor owners making EASA membership a very important part of the motor repair process to small repair facilities that cannot maintain engineering level resources. It also means that the buyer must still beware the motor repair vendor and be able to provide and support a motor repair specification. When possible, verify or certify that the repair shop can meet that specification.
Standards are being developed within the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) that provide greater guidance for motor repair than ever before. The developers include a number of EASA engineers and professionals throughout the industry. In this case, IEEE Std 1068 is being completely revised and even includes a scorecard to evaluate your repair vendor. We will be discussing this standard in detail in this edition of the MDMH News eMag and will be offering a FREE 2-hour webcast of the motor repair industry and qualifying your repair vendor on February 27, 2009, through http://www.motordoc.com/training1.htm. There are a limited number of seats, but the webcast will be recorded for later viewing. Full day training courses will be announced in our February, 2009, eNewsletters.
An area that generates confusion in motor repair, as well as any electrical testing, is knowing pass/fail and understanding standards such as the IEEE standards for insulation to ground testing and so on. The IEEE DEIS Web (IEEE Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society) is officially launched on Friday, February 6, 2009, at 6pm EST and includes the ability for members and non-members to participate in a forum and blogs in which you can ask questions, be involved in discussions, and hear from the very people who develop the standards that you use. Let your voice be heard! http://ewh.ieee.org/soc/deis.
For more information on how we can assist you in evaluating your repair facility based upon your or other industry standards and specifications, please email us at info@motordoc.com. For information on the IEEE DEIS Web, please contact me directly, as the Web Editor-in-Chief, at hpenrose@ieee.org.
Sincerely,
Howard W Penrose, Ph.D., CMRP
President, SUCCESS by DESIGN®
WEiC, DEIS Web
The real question is: how do you identify the organizations that are the best for you at the best price? Especially when it comes to pricing, the motor repair industry is pretty much all over the map. Hourly rates will range from $35+ to well over $100 but somehow the initial end cost comes out to be the same. In other cases, you may go out for three bids and get three wildly different repair descriptions/scope and quoted prices.
Over the past year SUCCESS by DESIGN has been qualifying repair shops for our clients. We use our experience to go on site and evaluate the programs and processes looking for the little tricks and shortcuts that reduce your long-term reliability. What we have found is that most places do not have the motor repair experience to perform such surveys. The result is that a company will get a tour of a facility, or just send out a checklist, and accept them at face value.
With electric motor assets being one of the most significant MRO costs associated with manufacturing, why is it that so little effort is spent on managing that asset? Worse, why do many companies just rely upon the repair shop rather than having controls in place? Of course, on the repair shop side, why do companies constantly go after the lowest bid rather than the best cost, best reliability?
The impact of proper motor repair practices and asset management can be staggering. In one instance related to a program we were involved in, the cost impact of motor repair, had an issue been allowed to occur, was close to a $million in plant downtime and repair costs for a 200hp motor! If we had not issued a motor repair specification, the poor quality would have been accepted and the company would have suffered. However, with the standard in place, and attention/questioning some of the results, the repair shop was required to re-do the associated work at their cost. As is often the case with companies of this type, they attempted to offer an ‘extended warranty’ in lieu of rework, which has the exact value of ‘$0.’
We went through this several more times, even with shops capable of passing review and even ISO 9000 certified. In one case, we discovered a motor repair facility was surge testing dirty 460 volt stators at over 3500 volts! When confronted, they stated that the test instrument company had provided that instruction, which was, of course, untrue. Sometimes people confuse my PhD with my being an academic instead of having also been a Navy trained motor repair journeyman and field experienced analyst, diagnostician and troubleshooter. The PhD is nice, the experience is better, and being able to identify the BS from the repair facility, and knowing who to contact at the test instrument company retained their reputation and protected my client. We do not compromise, so the repair shop was required to rewind what should have been a clean dip and bake, prior to the damage, at their own cost.
Just because a motor repair shop is associated with EASA (Electrical Apparatus Service Association, Inc.) does not guarantee quality repair. EASA is a trade association which means that it serves it constituents, not the motor owner. This does mean that there is organized training on technical programs, recommendations, engineering support, and education provided to the motor repair shops and motor owners making EASA membership a very important part of the motor repair process to small repair facilities that cannot maintain engineering level resources. It also means that the buyer must still beware the motor repair vendor and be able to provide and support a motor repair specification. When possible, verify or certify that the repair shop can meet that specification.
Standards are being developed within the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) that provide greater guidance for motor repair than ever before. The developers include a number of EASA engineers and professionals throughout the industry. In this case, IEEE Std 1068 is being completely revised and even includes a scorecard to evaluate your repair vendor. We will be discussing this standard in detail in this edition of the MDMH News eMag and will be offering a FREE 2-hour webcast of the motor repair industry and qualifying your repair vendor on February 27, 2009, through http://www.motordoc.com/training1.htm. There are a limited number of seats, but the webcast will be recorded for later viewing. Full day training courses will be announced in our February, 2009, eNewsletters.
An area that generates confusion in motor repair, as well as any electrical testing, is knowing pass/fail and understanding standards such as the IEEE standards for insulation to ground testing and so on. The IEEE DEIS Web (IEEE Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society) is officially launched on Friday, February 6, 2009, at 6pm EST and includes the ability for members and non-members to participate in a forum and blogs in which you can ask questions, be involved in discussions, and hear from the very people who develop the standards that you use. Let your voice be heard! http://ewh.ieee.org/soc/deis.
For more information on how we can assist you in evaluating your repair facility based upon your or other industry standards and specifications, please email us at info@motordoc.com. For information on the IEEE DEIS Web, please contact me directly, as the Web Editor-in-Chief, at hpenrose@ieee.org.
Sincerely,
Howard W Penrose, Ph.D., CMRP
President, SUCCESS by DESIGN®
WEiC, DEIS Web
posted by MotorDoc at
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