Tuesday, April 14, 2009

A cry for help is heard

Responding to my NFMT Charge At the National Facilities Management and Technology Conference in Baltimore, MD this past March, I spoke on "Fighting the Maintenance Crisis." I gave each attendee a charge to go back and do one thing to help fight the maintenance crisis. The youngest person at the session has responded to my charge by sharing about the research she is doing:

Angela Lewis, a graduate student and researcher, at Penn State is developing a decision analysis tool to help Facility Managers assess, plan and implement energy performance and maintenance programs for commercial building mechanical equipment. The main goal of the tool is to quickly help Facility Managers assess their current maintenance and energy performance programs and provide one recommendation with three specific, actionable items that can be completed. As each item is completed, the tool can be used for continuous improvement to move from reactive to proactive maintenance.

Her work includes an web-based survey and testing of the decision analysis tool. The Current Practices, Needs & Challenges of the Energy & Maintenance Programs survey will come out on May 1st. The decision analysis tool is under development. Test case participants are being sought to complete the survey and participate in the decision analysis tool testing. Further information can be found at www.improvebuildingperformance.com or by contacting Angela at ama259@psu.edu

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Breaking Silos- can be fun!

Above Shannon Smith of WGHP Fox 8 shares with viewers the Asheboro Chili Cookoff where they will using Infrared Thermographic Camera to detect temperature levels of foreheads of the brave/stupid contestants. April 18th.
http://www.myfox8.com/video/?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=3631386

Click on above link to see the news footage of the Hot Head Pre Contest. What was interesting was that the black gentleman, although not visible to the naked eye was actually the hottest of the 3 volunteer contestants.
See with the sensitivity of the Infrared Thermographic camera you can see who is actually the hottest head after eating hot sauce.

This event enabled the public to see the power and potential of infrared and raise the public apprecation of the predictive maintenance profession.















Monday, April 6, 2009

Heating Up for Asheboro Chili Cookoff


Skill TV Host, Joel Leonard is busy getting ready for morning TV shoots for Fox and CBS Affiliates to showcase Asheboro Chili Cookoff and Hot Head Contest. They want to sample real chili, so Joel is busy concocting unique varieties.
Roasted tomatoes, garlic, onions in Coconut Milk to make extra smooth.

This chili will have 8 different varieties of beans, have dried pineapple chunks, chocolate, chipotle peppers, smoked sausage, and numerous intersesting items.
In case you are wondering what does this have to do with the Maintenance Crisis. Well, in part nothing but with the Hot Head Contest using Infrared Camera to measure forehead temperatures, Joel will have the opportunity to showcase to the public the advance technologies in the FM and Reliability World so that hopefully more respect, appreciation, resources, and future workers will be developed.

Skill TV's Hot Head Contest getting national attention

We are learning when you combine Technology and stupidity together. the resultant product is lots of curiousity.


In hopes of breaking down the silos between the public and the maintenance and reliability function, Skill TV is excited to host the upcoming Hot Head Contest during the April 18th Asheboro Chili Cookoff.

Recently, Skill TV host Joel Leonard was interviewed by NPR reporter Fred Echols. Also Joel will be interviewed by a Fox and CBS affiliates about this unique event.For more details about the Hot Head Contest check out this new blog http://www.hotheadcontest.blogspot.com/