The Cost of Unreliability
Somewhere during the past 20 years, perhaps when words like Chernobyl, Bhopal, and Challenger filled the headlines, the expectations of industrial and manufacturing process plants were reordered and owners began to view their investments with a highly demanding economical eye. This is not to say that economics was never the top order of the day, but the emphasis and the associated costs placed on environmental protection, process safety management, worker health, and plant availability sounded the wake-up call. This forced owners and managers to look at new ways to keep their plants profitable. It was then that the forgotten stepchild known as maintenance was given the recognition it deserved. If keeping the plant running and profitable were the kingdom, maintenance would need to be the keys to that kingdom
