During the week of July 11 to 14, 2006, Suzy Jamieson - the executive director of the International Council for Machinery Lubrication (ICML) - took part in the inaugural WCEAM - the first World Congress on Engineering Asset Management at the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
WCEAM brought together leading academics, industry practitioners and research scientists from around the world. The congress' main objective was to advance the body of knowledge in engineering asset management, strengthen the link between industry, academia and research, promote the development and application of research and showcase state-of-the art technology. There were seven different sessions addressing subjects such as condition monitoring and intelligent maintenance, reliability modeling and prognostics, information systems and knowledge management, risk management in asset management, maintenance strategies in asset management, and performance management in asset management.
Lubrication team at Clopay in Augusta,
Kentucky. Left to right: Rick Combs, Wayne Blevins, Junior Blevins, Fred Hargett, Brian Blackford, Randal Smith, John Henwood, Scotty Lippert, Robert Scott, Ronnie Youngman
A paper was presented entitled "Benchmarking Lubrication Excellence", a case study of Clopay Plastics in Augusta, Kentucky. Clopay was the inaugural recipient of the John R. Battle Award, ICML's recognition of excellence in lubrication programs. The paper correlated the criteria of the award with the changes implemented by Clopay in its quest for world-class lubrication. It explained how Scotty Lippert, Clopay's lubrication team leader carried out the improvements to Clopay's lubrication program. Members of the world academia were urged to support ICML in its mission of benchmarking the skills needed of world-class lubrication technicians, advocating the ICML-developed body of knowledge for lubrication technicians and oil analysts.
WCEAM was organized by the Cooperative Research Center (CRC) for Integrated Engineering Asset Manage-ment (CIEAM) and the Maintenance Engineering Society of Australia (MESA). It combined The Asia Pacific Conference on Systems Integrity and Maintenance (ACSIM), hosted by CIEAM; The Condition Monitoring Conference, hosted by the British Institute of Non Destructive Testing (BINDT); The Intelligence Maintenance Systems Conference (IMS) hosted by the IMS Center (USA) and The International Conference of Maintenance Societies (ICOMS®2006) hosted by MESA.
The first WCEAM was chaired by professor Joe Mathew, CEO of CIEAM (Australia) and had among its co-chairs Jay Lee of the Intelligent Maintenance Systems Center (USA). Professor Lee delivered a powerful keynote address on the future of maintenance and condition monitoring as well as current research at IMS in Ohio.
For more information on the John R. Battle Award of ICML or to nominate your company for the award, please visit www.lubecouncil.org or e-mail suzyj@lubecouncil.org.
