Archive for August, 2010

Mechanical Training for Centrifugal Pumps

Monday, August 30th, 2010

Centrifugal pumps are used to transport a wide variety of materials including water, oil, bleach, acid, and more. When a pump grinds to a halt because of a blockage or other problem, this can disrupt the entire system. Centrifugal pumps not only fail when they get older, but also after years of service. They need to be maintained regularly in order to reduce erosion, corrosion, overheating due to low flow, leakage, and surge. Regardless of whether your manufacturing plants use inexpensive pumps that require low maintenance or more expensive pumps, mechanical training is a necessary part of keeping your plant running smoothly.

ITC Learning’s mechanical training courses offer your employees the ability to improve their knowledge about the normal operating conditions of the pumps, how to clean and troubleshoot excessive temperature and more. Our mechanical training programs will also teach your employees effective troubleshooting skills to give them the ability to observe changes in performance over time, and in the event of a failure, the capacity to thoroughly investigate the cause of the failure and take measures to prevent the problem from re-occurring. Although poor operation and poor maintenance practices are the two main causes of centrifugal pump problems, this can be reduced with training. Upon the successful completion of our mechanical training programs, your employees will be able to reduce the number of centrifugal pump problems and their frequency.

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Maintenance for Instrument Calibration

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

Printing companies frequently calibrate their printing equipment to ensure that the items they print such as brochures, catalogs, and other materials all have the same quality. Any deviation from the preset standard point will lead to a low quality product or machine failure. In an industrial plant, equipment calibration is also a critical part of the manufacturing process because if the measurements are off then your company will have wasted its time and money. If your employees don’t understand the importance of accurate instrument calibration, your company’s productivity will decrease and the quality of products produced is sure to be low. Maintenance training in these instances are always extremely important.

It’s impossible to run a manufacturing plant and generate profitable revenue streams without instrument calibration. Regardless of the type of manufacturing plant you manage, instrument calibration plays an important role in the efficient and smooth operation of the plant. If you want to reduce waste and increase productivity, training your technicians to accurately calibrate your instruments is necessary. Once manufacturing employees know how to properly calibrate their instruments you don’t have to worry that your projects will get stopped midway.

ITC Learning’s maintenance training courses are designed to train your employees on-site and your time schedule. Our courses will teach your employees how to use the preset “standard” measure to reference the measurements they make. Plus, our classes usually begin with discussing the principle of calibration, how it affects quality, productivity and safety, perform five point checks, how to identify common instrument errors, and more. Our maintenance training classes are essential to turn your employees into experts.

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Mechanical Training– Bearings

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

Bearings are used in a wide variety of manufacturing plants, and when bearings fail they can cause the machinery to break down or the entire plant to grind to a halt. Most failed bearings have a story to tell. It can help mechanics to identify the cause of the problem, maintenance issues, bearing selection errors, and other important issues.

For instance, since a paper pulp processing plant will probably use bearings everyday this can lead to premature bearing failure. But when bearings fail, they need to be replaced as quickly as possible. But sometimes it’s necessary to have your mechanics evaluate the bearing to identity the problem so they know what not to do or look for in the future. Although it might seem that having your mechanics evaluate the bearings will increase the amount of time it takes to get the new bearings replaced, doing this a few times can actually decrease maintenance time and cost.

ITC Learning’s mechanical training courses are designed to help companies reduce bearings failure rate through educating their employees in how to remove, inspect, select, handle, install, and troubleshoot bearings according to the manufacturers’ instructions and best practices. Our mechanical training classes will also show them how to replace bearings as well as maintain and identify the indicators of bearings failure using the right tools. Since all bearings need lubricants in order to function, we’ll teach your employees to properly lubricate them. From our courses your employees will take away methods to prolong bearings life, improve productivity and in essence reduce bearings maintenance cost. ITC Learning’s mechanical training program is essential to prolong the overall lifespan of your equipment.

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Industrial Lubrication Training

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

In an industrial plant it’s important to maintain proper lubrication. Since most large equipment is oil lubricated, knowing the right type of oil to use is a critical part of keeping your machinery in good working condition. Plus, it’s important that your mechanics, oilers, and other employees know the best type of lubricant to select. Not only that, but they should know how to properly store and handle the lubricant during delivery, otherwise it won’t perform as expected. The right amount of lubricant can mean the difference between a disaster and a well run machine. For instance, over greasing can cause the machine to fail. Without an effective mechanical training course, your machinery won’t work properly especially if your mechanics don’t know how to apply lubricants to the right places.

ITC Learning’s mechanical training courses are designed to educate employees about the concept of lubrication and friction, the benefits of a proper lubrication program, the benefits associated with synthetic lubricants, and the functions of additives and inhibitors. Our mechanical training courses will also discuss the common types and causes of lubricant contamination. This is important for your employees to know in order for them to properly operate and maintain your machinery. By establishing a mechanical training program for your employees, it will allow you to enhance your equipment reliability and save money. When you work with us, we’ll organize a comprehensive mechanical training program to turn your employees into industrial lubrication experts. The results of our mechanical training program will be well worth the investment.

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When Accidents Happen

Monday, August 16th, 2010

After 87 days the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has finally been plugged. This unfortunate accident is the biggest example of what happens when equipment such as valves and other instruments are not maintained properly. It’s possible that if the companies involved had a worst case scenario plan for their employees to implement, the disaster would not have been so catastrophic. But industrial companies can take note and use this disaster as a lesson to ensure that something like this never happens to them.

So whether you operate a chemical manufacturing plant, product manufacturing facility or other facility, having an industrial training and maintenance training program in place is important. Not only should you check to make sure that your industrial employees are properly trained, but it’s also important to ensure that all equipment is frequently monitored and checked for safety problems. Once these issues are found they should never be ignored and equipment inspections should never be skipped, even if there were no problems found in the last few inspections. This is a lesson that the oil giant is learning the hard way.

Industrial and equipment standards need to be maintained at all times to ensure that the equipment continue to operate in proper working order. ITC Learning provides globe and control valve maintenance training classes that are designed to teach individuals to identify the parts of a gate valve and describe their functions; inspect a valve and make adjustments to stop leakage; remove, disassemble and reassemble the bonnet assembly of a gate valve as well as disassemble and inspect a control valve for damage. This is just a few of the topics discussed in ITC Learning’s industrial training courses. Now, we all know that small mistakes can become costly catastrophes pretty quickly, so don’t make the same mistake and consider implementing a comprehensive industrial training program today.

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Industrial Troubleshooting 101

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

Knowing how to devise a solution to a problem and implement it is a skill that is much valued, especially by industrial organizations. Because equipment malfunctions for a variety of reasons skilled mechanics and maintenance personnel who know how to troubleshoot problems will always be in high demand.

When mechanical seals and other parts wear out, wires overheat, and centrifugal pumps start to operate erratically, a mechanic will be needed to repair the equipment as quickly as possible to contain further damage. If this defective equipment is a part of the assembly line, then it can lead to significant down time and loss of revenue. It’s times like this when a manager will appreciate the investment in a comprehensive industrial training program. This is why ITC Learning offers industrial training troubleshooting courses to companies who want their employees to learn effective troubleshooting strategies. The best thing about our courses is that the strategies taught can be applied to the analysis of problems in any type of industrial system.

In addition, our industrial training courses will teach your employees to develop logical thinking skills and create a personal troubleshooting outlook that will prove valuable under any troubleshooting situation. By taking our troubleshooting courses your employees will learn:
• How to obtain information about a malfunctioning system
• Develop a trouble-shooting plan and take the necessary steps to repair the problem
• Describe measures that can be taken to prevent future problems
• Learn how to troubleshoot under pressure

You might think that the machine operator will have a good understanding of how to repair the equipment because they use it every day, but often times this is not the case. Being good at troubleshooting requires more than this. If you want them to be able to troubleshoot like an expert, they’ll need to complete an industrial training troubleshooting course.

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