Management is impatient for results and wants to see results as soon as possible and long time horizons are usually not very interesting for them.  
 
Is it possible with the right focus, support and team, to make major reliability improvements within 60 days that show improved production and OEE?
 
If you had a 60 days charter to focus on one production line where would you begin your efforts to improve it?  What kind of team would you assemble? 

Face it, our day to day jobs generally keep us too busy to effectively drive changes in our organizations. 
 
Is it possible to drive reliability improvements with an internal team or are consultants required?
 
Even if you know what reliability strategies and techniques to use and you have a deep knowledge of their application – there are special skills required to successfully implement.  Implementation is a different skill than practice.
 
What is your opinion – can you drive improvement internally or do you need a consultant?

What are some guidlines and tips for making improvements yourself?

Next time you have a safety meeting - how about adding 7 minutes at the end where a Maintenance Reliability professional selects a topic to educate everyone on an aspect of equipment in the plant (example - discuss couplings, seals etc...)  so there is a general awareness of procedure, decision criteria etc...

At the end of the 7 minutes a single sheet is handed out with procedure details about the topic (kind of like Ricky Smith's Tool Box Talks).  You can laminate them and use a 3 hole punch to collect them in a binder.

Give the people you work with the knowledge and tools that support success and excellence.

Let me know if you already use Shirt Sleeve Seminars or Tool Box Talks

From Heinz Bloch workshop at Lube -2011 at the Reliability Performance Institute:

1) A clear role statement

2) A formal long range training plan

3) A journal that includes monthly summary of tasks and accomplishments

We are beginning Lube-2011 Machinery Lubrication Conference today at the new Reliability Performance Institute in Fort Myers.

It is amazing to me how many organizations still do not practice new oil filtering, contamination control, proper training, color coded containers and grease guns etc....

We have so many conversation about topics like Reliability Centered Maintenance that we soemtimes forgot that if we cannot get the fundamentals right - like having good lubrication practices, we will not have a high peformance Reliability program.