downturn

The school year has started here in Cincinnati. For some families, it’s the very first year in the school system; for others, it’s the last. Every year in between brings its own mix of emotions. Personally, I look forward to the sports and events, watching the camaraderie grow between my daughters, their friends, and their teams.

This year, we have a 10th, 7th, and 5th grader. One is about to get her learner’s permit, one is trying out for school volleyball, and one is in her final year of elementary. It feels like a big year all around. The pace of activities has been so fast that it’s hard to fully process what’s happening—and that same thing can easily happen in our work lives.

At home, my wife and I often feel like we’re treading water, bouncing from one thing to the next. We use downtime not just to catch our breath, but also to talk through what’s working, what’s not, and how to prepare better for the weeks ahead. When we skip those conversations, tension builds, and we end up storming as a team. The same holds true in a production environment: without regular evaluation and planning, the whole system suffers.

In manufacturing, output rarely stops. Even when a sector halts for a planned shutdown, the project list is carefully managed to minimize disruption. The focus is always on keeping production moving—whether that means picking up speed, adding shifts, or running longer hours. But smooth production depends on proactive planning.

Take compressed air systems as an example. A simple habit like measuring pressure drop across filters can prevent costly downtime. By installing pipe tees and pressure gauges upstream and downstream of filters, you can monitor performance. Once the differential hits 5 psig, it’s time to plan for an element replacement. Adding this to a maintenance schedule and aligning it with your purchasing cycle turns an unexpected expense into a controlled, predictable one.

Pressure gauges and filters with indicators are both great options for monitoring filter performance.

Just like meal prep and calendar reviews keep our family life running more smoothly, preventive maintenance and equipment monitoring keep production lines efficient. For parents entering the whirlwind of school activities—hang in there. Build a community with the other parents around you. It truly takes a village, just like it takes every department working together to deliver a finished product.

Brian Farno, MBA – CCASS Application Engineer

BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

Maintenance is something that can have two different forms; preventative and reactive. At home, I try to ensure I perform preventative maintenance on my major appliances. For instance, I clean the coils on my A/C condensing coils at least once a year, if not twice. I change the intake air filter on the air handler once a month because it is a 1″ thick filter, which is the manufacturer’s recommendation. When it comes to our aging vehicle fleet of two, I do a combination of preventative maintenance such as tire rotations, fluid checks and changes, as well as reactive maintenance such as thermostat replacements and sensor changes when they go bad.

1 – Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant Mechanical Technician

Regarding industrial facilities, the same kind of maintenance can be found. I have worked in facilities where the only type of maintenance that is done is in fact reactive. You know the old adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” That is legit how some of these facilities I have been through function. In fact, they will take parts off a broken production line that they are waiting on the parts for and put on another machine when it breaks down just to keep something going. The inventory of replacement parts was non-existent on-site and would cause downturns due to mechanical failures often. This has resulted in low up-time scores, which also sends production costs through the roof because they are trying to make up for downed lines by running overtime and increasing speeds on the lines that aren’t down.

While preventative maintenance can seem like it is costly and troublesome because it can take a machine out of production, I assure you it is still cheaper and easier than having that emergency maintenance call that comes after hours on a Friday. This is one of the main reasons we talk about installing point-of-use filters on systems that require clean compressed air. If you start to see more than a 5 psig drop across a filter, then you should look at replacing the filter element to ensure optimal performance like the video below showcases for model 9004. Should something like a main dryer fail, these point-of-use filters will help to collect any bypass or remnants in the system from just such a failure of up-stream equipment.

If you would like to discuss other preventative maintenance steps, like monitoring the usage of a system to see leakage when it starts, or how to clean and maintain your EXAIR products, contact an Application Engineer today.

Brian Farno, MBA – CCASS Application Engineer

BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

1 -PEO ACWA, 1/14/2019, Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant Mechanical Technician, retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/acwa/39775534373/in/photostream/

Tag: downturn

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