Condition Based Maintenance

& Motor Reliability

How to start and sustain improvement programs
eBook
 Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

“Over the past twenty years, maintenance

has changed, perhaps more so than any other
management discipline. Maintenance is also
responding to changing expectations. These
include a rapidly growing awareness of the extent
to which equipment failure affects safety and
the environment, a growing awareness of the
connection between maintenance and product
quality, and increasing pressure to achieve high
plant availability and to contain costs.”
- Reliability- Centered Maintenance, John Moubray

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 Foreward
The Significance of Motors and
the Teams That Keep Them Running

The Motor Circuit

Power Meters Ground Fault Delays
Power Transformers
Motor Control Centers and Drives

M GF
Circuit Breakers Starters and overloads

M1
FVNR
Power Fuses

Reactor
Switchgear and Switchboards VFD M2
Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

Feeders, conduit Drives and

and busways accessories Low and medium
voltage motors

T he motor is the backbone of industrial motion, where an estimated 78% percent of industrial electricity consumption occurs on a
motor circuit. These machines make up by far the largest single category of electricity end use in the American economy.

Keeping motors running requires a coordinated effort across From power management, control, and ultimately to the
multiple disciplines. It takes a team of highly trained professionals connected load – the complete motor circuit is a complex
in maintenance, reliability, operations, and engineering to keep combination of electrical and mechanical challenges.
these motors running.

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Foreward

The Increasing Challenge of Maintenance

There are over 450 thousand industrial maintenance workers in the US. Every day they work with one goal in mind
– preservation. Teams of highly skilled technicians deploy complex methods and sophisticated technologies to keep
processes running at optimal levels. These high-performance maintenance teams have a direct correlation to quality,
process performance, and availability – also referred to as OEE.

Unfortunately, the job is getting tougher. Over the last decade, multiple factors have combined to increase the challenge:

Budget cuts – The demand to reduce the costs of maintenance and operations continues
to increase.

Obsolescence – Much of the electrical infrastructure in US manufacturing is 20 years old or

greater. Replacement is not always an option, and maintenance teams are challenged to
extend life cycle.

Change – New requirements for reliability and safety, as well as smart technologies and
communication standards, are making modernization initiatives more difficult.

Workforce – Much of the thought leadership for maintenance and reliability was developed
in the 60s and 70s. The knowledge of people retiring today is not being transferred fast
enough to the next generation.

This has resulted in an environment where it is far more difficult to get things done. Starting a reliability-oriented
motor program can be a daunting task in this environment. However, there are straightforward steps that can be
taken to cut through bureaucracy and increase odds of success.

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Foreward
Making the Case to Invest in Motor Reliability

Many motor reliability initiatives begin as a proposal to start a vibration program or another form of condition-
based maintenance. Proposals are usually written based on the cost to implement versus the expected impact,
which is often the root problem of a stalled or dismantled program. Getting a program off the ground today
requires a more extensive business case.

Starting a new program in this environment requires that more early work to:

Align Objectives – Identity cascading objectives. Clearly correlate the objectives of

The Increasing Challenge of Maintenance

manufacturing, maintenance, and your motor program.

Confirm Financial and Metric Guidelines – Understand the budget and financial constraints.
Define the key metrics and means of measurement to support these objectives.

Provide Justification – Conduct the required analysis to substantiate objectives. Define the
expected change in hard dollar terms.

Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

Increase Credibility – Develop a professional body of knowledge to support the program
including definitions, methods, and benchmarks.

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Foreward
Using This Guide

The objective of this guide was to assist others in their effort

to start and justify motor reliability programs. The scope is
narrowed to primarily condition based maintenance (CBM)
which is a portion of a complete reliability program.

The intent was to provide a methodology to propose and

drive change. Many people struggle with conducting analysis
for the business case, and so that is the primary focus.

Most sections include references to additional reading, which

is encouraged. There are also typically a few review questions
posed to aid the reader in reflecting on the content.

A worksheet is available for download to assist with analysis.

It is provided for instructional purposes and can be easily
modified to suit the needs of the reader. The suggested
analysis can be conducted in whole or in part depending on
the needs and requirements.

The specifics of CBM technologies are somewhat out of the

scope of this document. Please contact us for technology
specific information.

Thank you,
The EECO Motor Team

EECO | 1440 Diggs Dr. Raleigh, NC 27603 | 919-828-5411 | www.eecoonline.com

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 Table of Contents

4 The Significance of Motors and the Teams That 24 Condition Based Maintenance
Keep Them Running
25 The P-F Interval
5 The Increasing Challenge of Maintenance
26 Condition Based Maintenance Methods
6 Making the Case to Invest in Motor and Technologies
Reliability
29 Making the Business Case for CBM
7 Using This Guide and Motor Reliability

9 Understanding Maintenance 32 The CBM Analysis Worksheet

10 What is Maintenance? 33 The Objectives and Summary Sheet

11 What Defines a Successful Maintenance 35 CBM Program Worksheet – Loss and

Organization? Prevention Analysis

12 Types of Maintenance 36 The Loss Analysis Sheet

14 Manufacturing and Maintenance – Cascading 39 Prevention Prioritization Sheet -

Objectives identifying and preventing the
most significant failures
17 Financial and Metric Guidelines
41 Prevention Analysis Sheet
19 Performance Metrics of Maintenance
42 Planning the Scope of the Program
20 Reliability Centered Maintenance
46 Planning for Commitment and Costs
23 PM Optimization

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1 Understanding Maintenance

Maintenance and reliability are professional fields where The Society of Maintenance and Reliability Professionals
numerous certifications are available to highly trained offers this certification and various training programs.
personnel. There are numerous outlets for training,
Training is also available from reputable consulting firms,
typically through engineering consultants specializing
such as the Marshall Institute in Raleigh NC and Life
in various disciplines. There is also a well-defined body
Cycle Engineering in Charleston SC.
of knowledge, including applicable textbooks and
professional organizations. There is also large professional network associated with
maintenance, including several groups on Linked. A few
The most popular certification is the CMRP, or Certified
highly recommended authors and textbooks include:
Maintenance and Reliability Professional and CMRT
Certified Maintenance and Reliability Technician.

Reference Author
Maintenance Best Practices 2nd Edition Ramesh Gulatti

Reliability-Centered Maintenance Second Edition John Moubray

Rules of Thumb for Maintenance and Reliability Engineers Ricky Smith, Keith Mobley

These texts are a great source of applicable knowledge and are referenced throughout this document. Each also present
foundational points that aid in basic training and communication, including:

Types and methods of maintenance | Maintenance versus Reliability | Commonly observed metrics | Benchmarks of performance

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 Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

What is Maintenance?

When it comes to industry,

maintenance is the activity to
main • te • nance
preserve the functions and
(noun)
capacity of required equipment
The process of and processes. Maintenance is a
maintaining or requirement for sustainable success.

preserving, or the state Well-structured maintenance

programs have a direct correlation
of being maintained
to quality as well as equipment
performance and availability.

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1 What Defines a Successful Maintenance Organization?

“The ultimate goal of maintenance is to provide optimal reliability that

meets the business needs of the company, where reliability is defined
as “the probability or duration of failure-free performance under stated
conditions.” Smith, Ricky; Mobley, R. Keith; (2011-03-31).
Rules of Thumb for Maintenance and Reliability Engineers. Elsevier Science.
Understanding Maintenance

This very act of preservation requires investment today The success introduces new pressures from finance and

Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

for future benefits, and that is where things get difficult other areas, who begin to challenge the investment made
for maintenance. In earlier times, maintenance teams were in “preservation”.
highly praised for responding to break downs. The impact
The hard reality is that the better maintenance performs,
of maintenance was clearly visible. Maintenance evolved
the more it has to fend off those that want to cut it.
to act in ways to keep breakdowns from occurring.
Fortunately, there are commonly shared metrics that can
There are no celebrations for the recovery from disaster
be used to make comparisons or showcase the impact of
because they prevented the disaster.
a great program.

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1 Types of Maintenance

There are two major categories of maintenance activity – keeping things from breaking and fixing broken
things. Preventive maintenance includes time-based, conditioned based, and predictive activity. Preventive
maintenance often results in findings that lead to the second major category – corrective. This includes routine,
major, and emergency repairs.

The following definitions can be found in Maintenance and Reliability Best Practices by Ramesh Gulatti.

Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) – Also known as Predictive Maintenance (PdM).

Maintenance based on the actual condition (health) of assets obtained from in-place, non-invasive
measurements, and tests. The ultimate goal of CBM is to identify proactive maintenance actions
to be performed at a scheduled point in time when the maintenance activity is most cost effective
Understanding Maintenance

and before the asset fails in service.

Preventive Maintenance (PM) – A maintenance strategy based on inspection, component

replacement, and overhauling at a fixed interval, regardless of its condition at the time. Usually,
scheduled inspections are performed to assess the condition of an asset. Replacing service items,

Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

e.g., filters; oils, and belts and lubricating parts are a few examples of PM tasks. PM inspection
may require another work order to repair other discrepancies found during the PM.

Capital Project Maintenance (CPM) – Major repairs, e.g., overhauls and turnaround projects,
valued over a certain threshold are sometimes treated as capital projects for tax purposes. If these
projects are essential to restoring the asset back to the designed capacity — not to add additional
capabilities, they should be treated as maintenance costs.

Corrective maintenance (CM) – Repair actions initiated as a result of observed or measured

conditions of an asset after or before the functional failure. CM may be planned (scheduled)
or unplanned (reactive).

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1 There are multiple relationships between these programs, and
established KPIs to help evaluate their effectiveness.
A few rules of thumb¹ for best in class programs are:

1. Planned maintenance should be greater than 85%

of maintenance.

2. Unscheduled (reactive) maintenance should be

less than 10%.

3. PMs should be conducted within +/- 10% of

schedule to be in compliance.

4. Each hour of PM or CBM should yield .5 to

Understanding Maintenance

2 hours of corrective maintenance (PM

effectiveness, PM yield)

Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

Unplanned motor failure is extremely detrimental to these
KPIs. Most motor reliability programs, therefore, include a
combination of CBM strategies and defined repair practices.

The objective is to support the objectives of maintenance

and operations at the lowest cost per horsepower possible.
Improvements in technology have created new methods of
maintenance optimization that help find the balance
between cost and reliability.

Gulati, Ramesh (2012-08-17). Maintenance Best Practices. Industrial Press, Inc.

1

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2
Manufacturing and Maintenance
– Cascading Objectives

Many well intended preventive and condition-based maintenance initiatives never get off the ground because they lack
declared objectives and means of justification. Without objectives, it is difficult to prioritize or justify the initiatives. One
successful method is to align the objectives of the program to the higher level objectives of the corporation or site. Most
manufacturers have some form of established objectives at corporate, site, area, and departmental levels. The activities
of a motor reliability program, for example, should support KPIs and objectives that cascade upward, therefore ensuring
alignment with the mission of the company.

Maintenance metrics and objectives can be highly correlated with operations, and a commonly used framework is Overall
Equipment Effectiveness or OEE. Per Wikipedia, OEE is “a hierarchy of metrics developed by Seiichi Nakajima in the 1960s
to evaluate how effectively a manufacturing operation is utilized”.

OEE is an index that consists of three parts:

1. Quality – acceptable product over the total product produced.

2. Performance – the output (i.e., product) over the desired output.

3. Availability – the operating time over the planned operating time.

OEE Factor Calculation Sample Data OEE%

Quality Acceptable Product / Total Product Produced 242 Tons / 243 Tons 99.50%

Performance Tons of Product / Target Tons of Product 243 Tons / 260 Tons 93.30%

Availability Running Hours / Planned Running Hours 123 Hours / 140 Hours 87.80%

OEE = Quality x Performance x Availability 81.5%

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2 OEE provides a convenient construct for evaluating
and improving manufacturing performance across the
multiple teams supporting it. Concepts of automation,
motor control, and motor management affect all three
OEE can be difficult in application, as it needs to be
specific enough to act on and requires the means to
measure. Measuring OEE at a mill level provides an
overall indication, but measuring it or components of
components of OEE. In practice, most maintenance and it at machine or process levels allows maintenance and
motor programs tend to focus on availability, but there are reliability to more directly correlate their objectives.
implications for performance as well.

# of
Per our customers:
Breakdowns
“We measure OEE for our boiler and at
machine level.” – Food manufacturer
Manufacturing and Maintenance

“We observe OEE plant-wide, but the

– Cascading Objectives

maintenance team is measured on availability.” Unscheduled

Work (hrs)
– Paper Mill

Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

“We measure OEE on our main dryer and use
it as a measure of effectiveness. Availability/
downtime is observed as the primary metric Unplanned
downtime
mill wide.” – Plywood Mill
(hrs)
Production
Losses Availability
Unplanned motor related downtime can have a very
($)
detrimental effect on availability, thus impacting
OEE. Other examples of related metrics that may be OEE
considered include unscheduled work, breakdowns, and
the resulting production losses.

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2 Regardless of what metric framework is in place, it
is very important to be able to link objectives for
purposes of alignment and measurement of impact.
To summarize, it is important to understand:

1. What are the objectives and KPIs of the

maintenance organization?

2. How do these objectives support those

Manufacturing and Maintenance

of operations and the company?

3. What are the most important areas

– Cascading Objectives

to impact?

4. Are there known areas where motor

Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

reliability is impacting these objectives?

This will provide a foundation for understanding, aid in

business case development, and serve as a means of
evaluation of impact. With that in place, the next step
is understanding the financial constraints and budget
of the maintenance organization.

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3 Financial and Metric Guidelines

At the highest level, manufacturers need a relative means to evaluate maintenance expense. This becomes a basis for
budgeting and is critical to understand when designing new programs. A commonly used measure is total maintenance
cost as a percentage of the replacement value of the assets being maintained or %RAV.

The %RAV can be easily expressed as [maintenance cost / replacement asset value] where:

Maintenance cost - Includes all maintenance cost. Replacement Asset Value (RAV) - The total costs to
Parts, labor contractors, and even capital expense replace all assets being maintained. This is likely what the
driven by maintenance. assets are insured for.

“The annual maintenance cost for a facility or large group of assets

expressed as a percent of the RAV (%RAV) is the most scalable,
transportable, benchmark-able index or metric for measuring
maintenance spending that is in wide use.”
Sam McClair, Life Cycle Engineering

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4 There are commonly observed benchmarks for %RAV that companies use to evaluate their costs, which makes the
metric very useful. When comparing care must be taken to ensure that cost and assets are being evaluated consistently,
as this may vary even within the same company.

Other metrics may also be used for evaluation, such as measuring maintenance per unit of product. Regardless of the
metric, it is important to ensure the evaluation is made consistently.

“Our primary financial metric is maintenance cost per ton.” Paper Mill

Section Review:
Financial and Metric Guidelines

Additional Reading: 1. What measures are used to set the budget and
evaluate the costs of maintenance?
Maintenance Cost and
Estimated Replacement Value
2. How does the site compare to peer sites or

Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

industry benchmarks?

How to justify an investment 3. Are the benchmarks appropriate for the life cycle
in maintenance and reliability of the site?

4. What budget goals are in place, and are they

being met?

5. How do the cultural values and behaviors impact

budget performance?

6. How does motor (full circuit) maintenance and

reliability impact the budget?

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5 Performance Metrics of Maintenance

What gets measured gets done, and so the priorities of maintenance should be reflected in its metrics (KPIs). These vary
widely depending on the objectives of the business, state of assets, industry, and especially culture. A motor reliability
program should either support the KPIs or, if justified, introduce additional KPIs to the maintenance program.

Professional maintenance organizations promote planned, proactive activities that identify problems before functional
failure. They lead highly coordinated PMs that minimize required downtime and optimize resources.

The planning and coordination is reflected in their KPIs: When starting a motor reliability program, it is
important to evaluate KPIs for priority, performance,
a. Unscheduled work % of total
and relevance to motor reliability. These selected
b. Planned work % of total KPIs should cascade upward to support department,
operational, and site objectives.
c. Schedule compliance %
Section Review:
d. % Overdue work orders
1. What are the most important maintenance KPIs?
e. PM+CBM hours as a % of total hours
2. Are they being met? Why or why not?
f. PM+CBM % schedule compliance
3. How is motor reliability impacting these KPIs?
g. Corrective maintenance hours created by
PM/CBM hours 4. How could improved motor reliability impact
these KPIs?
h. Labor effectiveness - % hands on time /
total time

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6 Reliability Centered Maintenance

The field of reliability is well established with years of research and

development with its beginning in the military and aviation.
MIL standard 271C defines reliability as: “The probability that an item will
perform its intended function satisfactorily for a specified interval under
stated conditions”.

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6 Over the years, maintenance has evolved to embrace
concepts of reliability. This gave rise to reliability
centered maintenance. Reliability is usually measured as
a percentage of mean time between failure. Reliability is
may incorporate failure analysis, energy management,
motor repair practice, and replacement standards. Actual
reliability programs are much more complex, where the
goal is to manage risk in the most effective manner to
a design attribute , expressing the system performance
2
ensure the function of systems. The key term is function.
that can be expected. Maintenance is the action taken to
SAE standard JA1011 defines Reliability-Centered
preserve the system so it can continue to perform.
Maintenance (RCM) as a specific process used to identify
Most motor reliability programs are actually condition the policies that must be implemented to manage the
based maintenance programs designed to preserve failure modes that could cause the functional failure of
the operation of the motor. More developed programs any physical asset in a given operational context.
Reliability Centered Maintenance

“The development of a Reliability Centered Maintenance approach has

Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

provided a fresh perspective in which the purpose of maintenance is not
to preserve assets for the sake of the assets themselves, but rather to
preserve asset functions.” Ramesh Gulatti

2
Gulati, Ramesh (2012-08-17). Maintenance Best Practices. Industrial Press, Inc.
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6 SAE JA1011 is a Surface Vehicle Aerospace standard that
serves as a governing standard for RCM. The standard
describes the minimum criteria that any process must possess
to be deemed a compliant RCM process.

The requirements, in sequence, are:

1. Determine the operational context, functions and

associated desired standards of performance of
the asset (operational context and functions).

2. Determine how an asset can fail to fulfill its

functions (functional failures).
Reliability Centered Maintenance

3. Determine the causes of each functional failure

(failure modes).

4. Determine what happens when each failure

occurs (failure effects).

Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

5. Classify the consequences of failure
(failure consequences).

6. Determine what should be performed to predict

or prevent each failure (tasks and task intervals).

7. Determine if other failure management strategies

may be more effective (one-time changes).

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7 PM Optimization

This extensive process provides the variables of time and

Additional Reading:
conditions required to maximize functional performance.
The analysis of function, failure, and consequence Introduction to Reliability-Centered
provides a comprehensive maintenance optimization
plan. A more detailed approach to RCM can be found in
Maintenance (Moubray)
Maintenance and Reliability Best Practices and Reliability
Section 7 Proactive Maintenance 2:
Centered Maintenance.
Predictive Tasks
Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) is another Moubray, John; Reliability Centered Maintenance II
maintenance optimizing strategy. CBM uses non-intrusive
technologies to inspect asset health and provides critical
Section Review
input and feedback to RCM.
1. What operating or equipment functions are most
important for your program to protect?
PM Optimization

“A Process to optimize preventive maintenance (PM) tasks

2. What are the consequences of failure
(loss of function)?
and frequencies to reduce likely failure modes by utilizing
tools/techniques such as FMEA, RCM, and CBM.”3 3. What failures must be prevented to protect
these functions?

4. What steps can be taken to identify and prevent

these failures?

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8 Condition Based Maintenance

The objective of CBM is to “perform maintenance at a scheduled point in time when the maintenance activity
is most cost-effective and before the asset loses optimum performance”4. Where RCM provides the structure
plan, setting priorities to preserve functions, the role of Condition Based Maintenance is to assess the health
of assets with the intent to identify failure as early enough to limit consequences.

CBM programs provide necessary input into PM planning and effectiveness. A well-organized CBM program is,
therefore, vital for both preventive maintenance and RCM.

CBM also drives cost savings5:

a. Maintenance costs: 15– 30% reduction

b. Downtime: 20– 40% reduction
c. Production: 15– 25% improvement

3
The Professional’s Guide to Maintenance and Reliability Terminology by Ramesh Gulati, Jerry Kahn and Robert Baldwin | 4 Gulati, Ramesh (2012-08-17). Maintenance Best Practices. Industrial
Press, Inc. | 5 Gulati, Ramesh (2012-08-17). Maintenance Best Practices. Industrial Press, Inc

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8 The P-F Interval

Early failure identification is the driver of most CBM methods, such as vibration analysis. In application, failure is described as
stages along a curve to complete failure. The P-F Interval serves as the framework for discussion.

P– F Interval - The period between the

Leading Indicator
point at which a potential failure becomes
Potential Failure
detectable and the point at which it degrades Lagging Indicator

into a functional failure6.

Resistance to Failure
Leading Indicator
P – Potential failure. A pattern has progressed
Functional Failure
to a point where there is a potential to fail.

F – Functional failure. The system/asset

Condition Based Maintenance

Time P-F Interval

will not perform its function as expected.

Typically there is no hard data to define the period that exists between P and F, as there are so many variables that would
affect this. The goal is, therefore, to identify the potential as early as possible on the curve. Different methods and

Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

technologies provide for leading and lagging failure indication.

The best approach is to deploy methods providing the earliest detection (leading) before potential failure. This should allow
repair activity to be scheduled and completed either before or within the P-F interval
(and before functional failure).

When evaluating methods, such as motor circuit analysis, it is important to use known cases to help estimate how
early failures can be identified. This will help define the frequency of activity (monthly, quarterly, yearly). Another
important aspect is to evaluate how long it typically takes to remediate problems.

For example, if a potential failure is identified (P), how much estimated time could exist before failure and how long will it
take to schedule an outage for repairs?

6
SAE JA1011, Evaluation Criteria for Reliability-Centered Maintenance
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8 Condition Based Maintenance Methods and Technologies
In its most primitive form, CBM is observing for change in sight, sound, and even smell. In earlier times highly experienced
machinists could feel subtle changes in structural vibration, indicating a problem. It was once common to see technicians
using a probe in the form of a long screwdriver to listen for bearing noise.

CBM technologies have long since evolved into highly sophisticated, and usually very expensive equipment. There are also
training and certification programs specific to each major technology. Common used methods for CBM of motors include:

Technology Description
The collection and analysis of vibration data associated with rotating
Vibration Analysis machinery used to detect component defect and allow for machinery failure
mitigation.
Condition Based Maintenance

The testing and data collection of motor circuit component characteristics

Motor Circuit Analysis (Static)
with the equipment in a de-energized state.

Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

Motor Circuit Analysis The testing and data collection of motor circuit component characteristics
(Dynamic) with the equipment energized under normal operation.

The non-contact capture of infrared images of equipment or structures that

Thermography provides measurement of temperature differences and the assignment colors
based on temperature.

The detection of air-borne or structure-borne sound waves associated with

Acoustic / Ultrasonic pressurized systems leaks, mechanical defect of rotating machinery and
electrical discharge.

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8 In application, some CBM technologies provide an excellent means of planning. Motor circuit analysis, for example, will
often detect a developing problem in a “running” motor. These problems may be electrical, such as a poor connection, or
mechanical. This type of testing can be coordinated ahead of planned outages to help prioritize work.

Many motors that would be put back into condition Another consideration is confirmation. There will be
are often found to have easily remedied problems cases where a given CBM method suggests a problem,
that would lead to expensive failures. There are also but the severity and recommended action is uncertain.
cases where outage work was deferred because These “gray” areas can be difficult to navigate, and
the health of a motor asset could be confirmed by no one wants to pull a perfectly healthy asset out of
testing. This type of prioritization is a key element of service on a maybe. Identifying a second and appropriate
maintenance optimization. method, such as vibration analysis, to confirm suspect
threats is a responsible approach.
Condition Based Maintenance

EECO_1.rbm/rc/L10pmp 6A-W
M1V - Motor Outboard Vertical
0.075

Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

0.05

0.025

0 30,000 60,000 90,000 120,000

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 Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

Condition Based Maintenance

Additional Reading: Section Review:

Maximizing the P-F Interval 1. Based on your identified failures, which

technologies should be used to for CBM
Through Condition-Based inspection?
Maintenance
2. Considering the technology and failure
MCA - Cradle to grave approach modes, what minimum P-F interval(s) should
you expect?
to motor maintenance
3. How long does it take you (typically) to
The impact of condition on schedule an outage for repairs?
motor efficiency and reliability 4. How often should inspections be conducted?
Thermography – Managing
Motors and Reliability

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9 Making the Business Case for CBM
and Motor Reliability

Any CBM program, especially a new one, usually requires some form of approval and ongoing justification. This is where
a business case is critical. The objective of the business case is to drive a decision, educating all parties and serving as a
means of reference.

The business case should include several key points: Ricky Smith and Keith Mobley present several
suggestions when building a reliability business case,
a. Financial summary of the problem or opportunity
which has been condensed below to reflect steps specific
(what is at stake)?
to a motor program.
b. The recommended action and associated costs.
1. Get management involved in sourcing data for
c. Projected benefits that will accrue, such as cost your business case. This will lend more credibility
savings or greater availability. to the data, and get key people involved early in
d. An objective statement defining success and how the process.
results will be measured. 2. Take time to educate them on the basics, such as
e. A projection, comparing costs to realized benefits how equipment fails, how to monitor equipment
over a multiyear period. health, and case examples of how recommended
methods improve results.
The process of building the business case requires
commitment and the assistance of multiple parties from
areas production, accounting, maintenance, management,
and others. It is a lot of work, and many failed programs
can be traced back to a poor business case (or its absence).

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 9 3. Gather as much cost and performance data
as possible. Much of this may be in a CMMS
system, and the comptroller I typically a great
source. The cost data should answer questions,
involved in the commitment or the decision.
Plan to review the analysis with everyone
involved, obtaining multiple perspectives and
building alignment through the process.
such as what is the cost of maintenance labor
per hour, and how much does overtime costs?
5. Compile the analysis, matching methods of
improvement to specific modes of failure and
How much overtime is occurring as a result of
project the savings in each area. A Pareto analysis of
breakdowns? How long do motor related outages
known failures, together with ranking critical assets,
last (examples), and what is the impact on
will define the areas of priority to act on. As the
availability? Look for cost metrics in areas to be
data is compiled, groups and patterns of required
Some examples of cost categories include:
action begin to form, providing the foundation for
Making the Business Case for CBM

a. Availability program requirements. The fully compiled analysis

will result in a means of projecting the total costs
b. Quality versus benefits.
c. Performance
and Motor Reliability

6. Prepare a plan of action, together with your

d. Material cost/benefit projection. The plan should

Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

clearly define the required support of multiple
e. Outsourced services and repair parties and key roles. The project may require
4. Considering the intent of the program, begin additional personnel, and so HR support may
analyzing the potential impact of improvements be needed for recruiting, onboarding, and
regarding both loss and prevention. Specific training. New equipment may require capital
costs should be associated with failures as well budget and approvals. Multiple departments
as the benefits of failure prevention of critical may need to share in the expense, requiring
assets. This is a great application for a process budget alignment. Documenting these steps and
driven spreadsheet. It is important to conduct associated milestones will help communicate the
this analysis with management and stakeholders requirements to win the necessary support.

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 9 7. Prepare to present the business case to key stakeholders. Many should have helped during the process, which will
lend insight to potential hurdles, such as plant politics. Send out drafts for feedback ahead of time, and encourage
others to help present your case where possible. If you use a PowerPoint presentation be sure to keep it short,
leaning more on graphics and less on the text. Vendors may also be a good source of help to consider as they
would have presented similar material many times over.

Section Overview:
Additional Reading: 1. Who needs to be educated on the basics of
Making the Business Case for CBM

your program?
The Business Case For Reliability
2. What cost and expense data is available?
Reliability Business Case:
3.
and Motor Reliability

How will you analyze the data and define

Conversion Costs
your objectives?

Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

4. Who can assist you in preparing and
presenting your business case?

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10 The CBM Analysis Worksheet

The business case is much work, but it pays off. Many For help with this process, download a copy of the CBM
programs do not get started or take too long to start Analysis Worksheet. This excel sheet is designed to assist
because there is no written case. It takes persistence over with defining your program objectives and building the
time to complete, so getting in the right frame of mind from business case.
the beginning will increase your odds of success.
The sheet is broken into several sections:

Worksheet Description
The Objectives and Summary sheet is the basis of a business case. Begin with it and work
Objectives and
towards identifying your opportunity for impact in hard dollars ($). Additional sheets are
Summary
provided to assist with more detailed analysis, should it be necessary.

The Loss Analysis is designed to analyze and quantify know failures. It is based on historical
Loss Analysis
analysis.

The Asset Prioritization sheet is designed to identify assets and associated modes of
Asset Prioritization
failure where prevention is critical. This step goes beyond actual failure history.

Once assets are prioritized, the prevention analysis provides a means to assess the
Prevention Analysis opportunity of prevention in similar fashion to the Loss Analysis sheet. The difference is
that these failures may not be part of history are analyzed at the failure mode level.

You may only need the objective portion of the sheet, but if you have to get further into the analysis, the material is there
to support you. In practice, use the sheet in whole or in part. It is provided as a supplemental tool to help you along the
way. You can modify it as necessary to suit your needs.

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10
The Objectives and Summary Sheet
Start by identifying your motivation, why is this important to you? What are the core problems you are trying to solve,
and what are your expectations? When complete, what will success mean for you? Write this down as part of your case,
and reflect on it often. It is especially helpful when working through headwinds.

With your personal goals established, next identify why this 4. How much do you spend in replacement motors?
is important to the company. This is where the concept of
cascading metrics becomes important, as you need to find
5. Total other motor related cost do you expect
your program to impact?
ways to link your objectives to those of the plant.

1. What key results will be used to measure

6. What is the total estimated loss experience
due to motor failure?
program effectiveness?

2. What metrics are in place today, and what

7. What are the top 10 motor assets you must
protect, and what are the potential
The CBM Analysis Worksheet

are target levels?

consequences of failure for each?
3. If you achieve these key results, how will it
8. What methods could be used to detect/
impact the objectives and KPIs of your company?
prevent these failures?

Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

Probing these questions will require data as previously
mentioned. Areas of costs and other loss need to be
quantified in detail. The depth of the questions will
increase with the discovery of data. Same sample
questions include:

1. How many actionable or preventable motor

failures are occurring annually?

2. What did motor related downtime cost

last year?

3. How much do you spend annually on motor

repair and related services?

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10 The Objectives and Summary Sheet

You may be in a position where such information is conveniently available. If not we suggest some form of a loss and
prevention analysis, in whole or in part. This step is often skipped when planning CBM programs. Delays in approval
often occur because there are people participating in the approval process who have too many priorities and too little
understanding of maintenance. Moreover, it becomes very difficult to evaluate and justify the program without the
metrics provided through analysis. While it does increase work on the front end, a good analysis will make it much easier
to win approvals and sustain the program over time.

Section Review:

1.
The CBM Analysis Worksheet

Additional Reading: Why is this important to you? When complete,

what will success mean for you?
Download a copy of the 2. What key results will be used to measure
CBM Analysis Worksheet program effectiveness?

Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

3. Once achieved, how will these key results impact
the objectives and KPIs of your company or site?

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 Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

CBM Program Worksheet – Loss and

Prevention Analysis

The loss and prevention analysis provides the necessary data to build out the business
case. It also puts a great deal of support structure to the program. The first step of
preparation is to collect and organize motor related data.

For example:

1. What is the current state of motor records (IDs, specifications, service history)
2. Is the installed base documented?
3. Can you prioritize your installed base?
a. Number of medium voltage motors and total HP

b. Number of repairable DC motors

c. Number of repairable low voltage motors

d. Known critical motors (difficult to replace, high downtime costs)

e. What is the throwaway threshold?

f. What is the downtime required to replace a given motor (samples)

4. What spares are kept in the storeroom?

5. What is the definition of a critical application?

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10 The Loss Analysis Sheet
The objective of the loss analysis is to group and prioritize common failures.

Failure Grouping (Common Pattern)

Motor primary associated function or pattern
Failure mode # of Failures
of failure (group)

After examination of available failure records, group failures where possible by type and or associated motor
function. Grouping helps to prioritize areas to act on. One paper mill in NC, for example, had groupings for drive
end bearing contamination 9multiple functions) and hoist motor failure. One clearly grouped by failure type, the
other by the functional loss.
The CBM Analysis Worksheet

Failure Consequences
Required Outsourced repair Functional
Lost production Insourced material Total period
downtime or replacement downtime
costs and labor costs cost

Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

to restore (hrs.) costs loss $p/hr

The next step is to assess the consequences of each failure or failure grouping identified. This is where the data work
kicks in, and where CMMS and finance can be sources of help. For a given period (i.e., one year) attempt to quantify the
following for each entry:

1. Required downtime to restore (hrs). This should 3. Outsourced repair or replacement costs. What
be totaled for all failures within the group (if service costs were created by the failure(s)?
grouped).
4. Insourced material and labor costs. How much
2. Lost production costs. Based on the total material and labor did the plant have to provide
downtime above, what were the estimated to remediate these failures?
losses to production? This could be lost
revenue, waste, or other loss.
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10 Each of the failure areas combines to compute the total
period cost. Again, this may be a simple estimate but is
required to quantify the opportunity. The total period
cost divided by the total downtime in hours provides a
A simple Pareto analysis on the sheet will help rank the
failures by consequences, further prioritizing the list.
The next step is to consider any required corrective
activity. The correction could result in starting a
reference for downtime costs. These two parameters lubrication program, redesign, and some other actions
provide a means to sort and prioritize the sheet. too broad for the scope of this guide.

CBM Consequences
Min required
Primary CBM Max P-F interval
Configuring method corrective leadtime CBM frequency (wks)
method (wks)
(wks)
The CBM Analysis Worksheet

The CBM planning begins by matching the mode A final step is to estimate the frequency of your
of failure to proper methods of conditioned based activity. This could be difficult depending on availability
maintenance. It is typical to have a primary method to of case data. For each failure you are trying to identify,
identify problems and a confirming method for cases considering the methods you intend to deploy, what is

Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

that are less definitive. For example, motor circuit the minimum P-F interval you would expect. To review,
analysis may indicate a somewhat inconclusive current this is the time between detection of a potential failure
imbalance, where a problem may be confirmed by (p) and functional failure (f).
infrared analysis (i.e., a high resistance connection).
Once a problem is detected, how long will it typically
This step will help identify the required equipment and
take to schedule corrective maintenance activity? This
associated personnel, and begin planning the basics of
will vary depending on the nature of outage schedules.
the program.
The frequency of CBM activity, such as vibration
For help matching the CBM method to the mode of testing, can be established based in part on the length
failure, reference the CBM Tech Matrix included in of the P-F interval versus how long it takes to schedule
the Excel sheet. corrective maintenance.

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 Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

The Loss Analysis Sheet

Section Review:

Additional Reading: 1. What are the top 5 failures that must be

prevented?
Section 5 Failure Consequences, 2. What are the total costs, including
Section 7.2 the P-F Interval downtime, associated with these failures?
Moubray, John; Reliability Centered Maintenance II
3. What preventive measures can be taken
to reduce them?

4. What methods and technologies can you

deploy to detect them?

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10
Prevention Prioritization Sheet – identifying and preventing
the most significant failures
Where the loss analysis is conducted based on failure history, the prevention analysis seeks to identify the failures that
have yet to occur but must be prevented. This establishes a means to prioritize motors for inclusion in the CBM program.

Prioritizing assets can become emotional and complex. The (MV) Low Voltage (LV) Direct Current (DC) Wound
phrase “criticality assessment” itself often causes concern, Rotor (WR) and Synchronous (SY).
because it is often the case that “everything is critical”8. As
The next step is to rank the consequences of failure
a suggestion, keep it simple and go with your gut. What
for each motor entered. This is where things get a little
potential failure do you know of that would make the most
gray, but at this point we are simply prioritizing assets for
impact? Practicality is another concern. This exercise is not
inclusion and additional analysis.
to define what the most critical motors are, but to prioritize
them for your CBM program. Keep it simple. One common approach is to assign a relative numeric
The CBM Analysis Worksheet

value depending on the failure consequences. Not all

The prevention prioritization sheet provides an entry
consequences, or failures for that matter, are equal in
for motors by ID, description, and associated function.
significance. It helps to define categories of consequence
The suggested path is to identify critical functions to
and to appropriately weight those categories.
protect first. Failures of large assets (more expensive)

Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

may then be prioritized based on impact to the budget. The worksheet provides four suggested categories and
Assets may be categorized by type, and suggested weight ranges for demonstration:
types are included in the worksheet as Medium Voltage

Consequence Category Numeric Range Criteria

Safety 7 -10 How does functional failure impact the safety of personnel?

Environmental 5-6 How does functional failure impact the environment?

Production 2-4 How does functional failure impact the production?

Budget 2-4 How does functional failure impact your budget?

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 Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

Prevention Prioritization Sheet – identifying and

preventing the most significant failures

Section Review:

Additional Reading: 1. Can you identify the top 5 to 10 failures

that must be prevented?
Section 5.4 – EQUIPMENT 2. How will these failures impact safety, the
CRITICALITY ANALYSIS environment, production, or your budget?

Smith, Ricky; Mobley, R. Keith; (2011-03-31). 3. Considering the expense of failure, how
Rules of Thumb for Maintenance
should your motors be classified (type)?
and Reliability Engineers

4. Can you expand this analysis to additional

failures that must be prevented?

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10
Prevention Analysis Sheet
The prevention analysis is conducted in conjunction with the asset prioritization. The objective of the prevention analysis
sheet is to identify specific modes of failure for each asset prioritized. This analysis is very similar to the Loss Analysis
sheet, with the exception being that we are not working from actual history.

Failure ID and Prevention

Motor ID Primary associated function ID Failure mode Failure history (y/n)

Mtr 1 1

4
The CBM Analysis Worksheet

An entry is made for each motor identified through the prioritization exercise. The sheet provides entries for up to 5
different modes of failure to plan for, and can be modified to suit your needs. There is also a column to indicate whether

Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

or not there is a history of a specific mode of failure.

Failure Consequences
Required downtime Lost production Outsourced repair Insourced material
Total period cost
to restore costs or replacement costs and labor costs

The remainder of the sheet is similar to the Loss modes of failure, as well as the prevention steps, will
Analysis. What are the consequences of failure for each likely expand your CBM program and impact preventive
entry, and what CBM methods could be best used to maintenance procedures.
identify them?
Once completed, you should have a thorough analysis to
This exercise may seem to be redundant, but you are not only estimate the potential impact of your program
exploring for unknowns. Taking time to explore specific but to begin planning the scope for implementation.
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11 Planning the Scope of the Program

With the required analysis complete you can begin For example:
completing the remainder of the Objectives and Summary
sheet. The final section of this sheet is Planning the Scope
1. For each method of CBM to be deployed
(i.e., MCA), how many motors will be tested
of the CBM program, which begins with three questions:
and at what intervals? This will help quantify
1. What are the common modes of failure required manpower.
being observed?
2. Are motor records complete, including asset
2. What are the most important failures modes ID, specifications, and service history? This will
associated with priority assets? be necessary to setup CBM databases and for
ongoing analysis.
3. What methods could be used to detect/
prevent these failures? 3. Are all the motors accounted for? This is
really important because it is entirely possible
This is a high-level summary of findings to help others
to miss motors during both the failure and
assist in developing your program. The analysis should have
prevention analysis.
produced enough detail to determine what methods need
to be used and what is the potential for impact. However, 4. How will the program impact motors
the scope of work gets into more tactical detail. At this in storage?
stage, the CBM work needs to be quantified.
5. How will CBM activities be recorded?

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11 Some housekeeping may be necessary at this point
as there may be gaps in records. An Installed Base
Evaluation (IBE) may be necessary to ensure that all
motors are accounted for and that data is accurate. An
IBE is usually conducted over a period of days by trained
personnel. Motor data is aggregated into a database for
record keeping and further analysis.

IBEs are very productive exercises as they uncover

Planning the Scope of the Program

change that has occurred over time. The storeroom is a

great example, where there may be gaps in critical spares
or excess inventory. A storeroom assessment can also
check motors in storage for operations readiness, which is
particularly useful with critical spares. This is also a good
opportunity to ensure that proper motor storage and

Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

maintenance procedures are in place.

There should also be a means of managing CBM related

data. Activities will generate considerable analysis related
material, often requiring some form of follow up or trending.
If your CMMS system is restrictive, you may consider a
separate system of management, such as Tango. The need
to integrate and organize reliability information will increase
as your program evolves and becomes more sophisticated.

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12
Incorporating Repair Vendors in Your
Motor Reliability Program
The motor repair process creates value control points and feedback opportunities, both of which have strong synergies
with CBM and reliability goals. Getting your repair vendors on board early can increase the effectiveness and payback of
your program, especially if those vendors can support the follow three areas:

1. Failure analysis - The best way to prevent repeat It is also wise to have selection criteria for repair vendors, as
failure is to learn from the last one. Each motor sent most companies typically depend on more than one shop
out for repair should first have a failure analysis (as there certainly is no shortage of them).
conducted. This is valuable information that can
be used in conjunction with environmental and
operational data to perform a more thorough root
cause failure analysis.

2. Specification management - As your program evolves

you will want to specify improvement steps to be
taken in the repair process. You may also want to
ensure that specific test and methods are observed
to governing bodies, such as IEEE. The combination
forms a specification of repair. Better shops can
demonstrate that they can manage your specification
with traceability to the individual technician.

3. Documentation - Every repair job should include a

written record of the scope of work, before and after
data, pictures, failure analysis, and specific work to
adhere to specifications. This provides a source of
continuous feedback and control.

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 Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

Incorporating Repair Vendors in Your

Motor Reliability Program

Additional Reading: Section Review:

1. Can you identify the top 5 to 10

Mechanical repairs play a key failures that must be prevented?
role in motor repair and
2. How will these failures impact
reliability safety, the environment,
production, or your budget?
Low and Medium Voltage
3. Considering the expense of failure,
Motor Repair Shop Selection how should your motors be
and Evaluation Guide classified (type)?

Low and Medium Voltage 4. Can you expand this analysis to

additional failures that must be
Motor Testing and Common prevented?
Standards

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13 Planning for Commitment and Costs

The results of a CBM program are only as good as the combination of the people, technology, and management commitment. The
expertise should be specific to the type of equipment, technologies, and methodology. Commitment usually comes in the form of
capital and plant personnel. Will people be allowed to commit to and focus necessary time on the program, or will they “get to it”
when they are not fixing equipment?

When starting and managing a CBM program inhouse, it and thermography equipment & software include CSI/
should be understood that successful results will not be Emerson, Ludeca, SKF, PdMA, Baker, Fluke and FLIR
achieved overnight. Results that achieve a reduction in
• Training of a single technician to a point of independent
overall life cycle costs and increase productivity will require
analysis typically requires several levels of professional
a commitment to personnel development and training,
classroom training and 2 – 4 years working with and
dedicated scheduling of data collection and analysis time
practicing the skills provided in the professional training.
and, of course, the cost of data collection equipment and
Several reputable providers of training and certification
software. Maintenance and reliability leaders typically prefer
include CSI/Emerson, Technical Associates of Charlotte,
to fulfil the service requirements from within the plant, but
Ludeca, and Costs of training average $1,500 - $2,500
the requirements are also typically underestimated. These
per course
programs often get off to numerous false starts, resulting in
quality equipment lying dormant in a corner. • Time and scheduling commitment. Typical data collection
periodicity for critical equipment is monthly. As many
There are several considerations when building a CBM
as 100 – 200 individual data points may be collected in
program from scratch:
an 8-hour shift, analysis, and reporting would require an
• Purchase of data collection/testing equipment and analysis additional 2 -4 hours.
software range in initial costs of $20,000 to $80,000.
• One full-time, proficient reliability technician would be
Ongoing upkeep, upgrade and calibration costs in a
expected to manage the data collection, analysis, and
range of $2,000 - $6,000 should be expected annually.
reporting on up to 500 applications.
Market leaders in the supply of vibration, motor circuit,

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 Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

Planning for Commitment and Costs

Our recommendation is to consider

outsourcing the expertise needed to
achieve the goals of your program early
on, at least for the first year. This will
provide a means of achieving results
quicker, making adjustments while
mentoring in-house personnel.

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14 Conclusion - Presenting and Sustaining
Your Program

It may seem obvious, but this is the time to take a gut 1. The CBM Objectives and Summary sheet is a good
check. Is your business case justifiable? Does it make a tool to lean on when writing your business case.
meaningful impact, and is it worth the investment? Take Use the sheet to structure your written proposal,
time to think through this, preferably with a peer. Step back making good financial comparisons between cost and
and consider the project as if it were your money. Even if benefits.
you have a slam dunk case, this step will greatly increase
your confidence as your prepare to present.
2. Be sure to explicitly state how success will be defined,
and what metrics will be used (and how).
As stated in an earlier section, the objective of the
business case is to drive a decision, educating all parties
3. If you got management involved in developing the
business case, you probably received a great deal
and serving as a means of reference. By this point you
of insight into their thoughts on the project. What
should be well prepared to deliver a winning case and
kinds of questions did they ask, and can answers be
achieve approval for your program. Here are a few final
incorporated into your proposal?
points to consider at this stage:
4. Prepare a concise, one page summary and circulate an
early draft to key stake holders and participants. This
may flush early objections and hurdles, and provide
you an opportunity to address them prior to making a
formal presentation.

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14 Some consideration should be made for plant politics.
Whose budget(s) will be impacted by this program?
How will the management and administration work
be handled? Can you bring on additional sponsors to
Conclusion - Presenting and Sustaining Your Program

support you and share costs? These are a few questions

to help you think through some of the political pitfalls
that may exist.

And as a final word, take the initiative to evaluate the

program often and openly share the metrics, regardless
of results. Transparency is an ally when making change.
Even if you are not getting early results, tracking and
promoting your metrics will help steer the program
towards success in a timely manner. Keep a monthly

Condition Based Maintenance and Motor Reliability

record of activity, expense, corrective actions and
prevented expense. Update your stakeholders often,
and have at least one group review annually to
celebrate successes and make adjustments.

Enjoy, remember to have fun, and good luck.

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