Noah Bethel, Vice President and Product Development, PdMA Corporation
Reliability is the application of knowledge and technology to identify correctible conditions that would otherwise lead to failure, thus extending the life of a company’s assets. Having a machine reliability program can make the difference in preventing a shutdown to key systems during periods of supply chain shortages. Too often, companies will operate under a reactive or run-to-failure mindset, especially when equipment is cheaper to replace than repair, or cannot be repaired. Though this is a legitimate strategy for some types of assets, it is considerably less so for high-cost assets that are complicated to repair. That is why when supply chain issues surface, it becomes even more disruptive since there is no longer a means of replacing key equipment in the short term.