Bi-Monthly Newsletter

Date: 3/10/2018

Our Mission: “To build a community that develops and promotes excellence in maintenance, reliability, and asset management in Kansas City and the surrounding area”

SMRP Welcomes Our New &/or Renewed Members

We would like to recognize the companies and individuals who have recently joined or renewed with the KCSMRP Chapter:

-VestannaMcGuigan of Mars Chocolate NA- Topeka, KS

-Gregory Wingert of Johnsonville Sausage - Topeka, KS

-Frank Newby of N Line Industrial Sales- Overland Park, KS

-Rick Raymer of Wolf Creek Power Plant- Burlington, KS

Welcome Back and Welcome Aboard!!!

Maintenance Tip

As time is often preciousin getting equipment installed and “up and running”, many companies have moved to using laser alignment systems in achieving a precision shaft alignment. While this certainly can aid in achieving an accurate alignment more quickly than conventional methods, the lack of having a detailed job plan of the pre-alignment tasks that should be considered will result in costly delays. The Top 10 tasks associated with performing thorough, pre-alignment checks are as follows:

Check Pipe Strain: Any excessive strain needs to be addressed prior to moving forward with the alignment

Check Run-out: Check for excessive shaft and coupling run-out and replace components if necessary

Check Soft Foot: Each foot should be measured for soft foot, angled soft foot & corrected if necessary

Cleaning: One of the simplest yet possibly most overlooked is to thoroughly clean the base prior to alignment

Equipment Speed: As alignment tolerances are based upon the machine’s RPM, you will want to know the operating speed of the equipment

Jacking Bolts: To aid in controlling moves, you may want to consider installing them beforehand

Lock-out/Tag Out:Ensure this fundamental safety step has been performed; Never assume

Proper Tools: Identify all required tools prior to starting the alignment; Pre-cut shims, emery cloth, port-a-power, etc.

Thermal Growth: Be sure to identify any dynamic movement your machine train may experience when running

Tolerances: Site tolerances for soft foot, run-out, overall alignment & possible torque specs should be agreed upon, communicated and committed to

Member Spotlight

This edition’s member spotlight focuses on Stephen Lacey, the current Kansas City Chapter Secretary! Stephen has been instrumental in organizing and laboring to grow the new local SMRP chapter. Allow me to introduce Stephen Lacey.

Stephen recently took the position of Director of Maintenance at Cereal Ingredients in Leavenworth Kansas. Prior to that Stephen worked at MGP Ingredients in Atchison, Kansas for seven years. While at MGP Stephen filled several roles: Maintenance Engineer, Maintenance Planner, Maintenance Manager and Electrical Project Engineer. He has also worked in various maintenance roles for Tyson Foods, Oscar Meyer- Claussen Pickle division, Sara Lee- Bryan Foods division, General Mills Pillsbury division and KIK Custom Products. Stephen was an Electrician’s Mate in the United States Navy. In addition to holding a CMRP certification, Stephen also holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He lives in Atchison and is married with five children.

Ask the Experts

We are excited to dedicate this space each Month to any M&R Best Practices questions you may have for our panel of experts. So,whether it pertains to Planning & Scheduling, Predictive Maintenance, RCM, Materials Management, PM Optimization, RCFA or CMMS, send in your “head-scratchers” and let us see if our experienced M&R Specialists can offer some helpful suggestions with those work-related issues keeping you up at night! e-mail us at:

Becoming an SMRP Member

For those of you who are considering joining the Society for Maintenance & Reliability Professionals (SMRP), you may be interested to know what the process is to become part of a network of practitioners and industry partners dedicated to developing and promoting excellence in the maintenance, reliability and physical asset management profession. It is as simple as:

  • Going on line and joining the National SMRP;
  • Going on line at our local web-site where you can find the step-by-step instructions for joining. Just go to:

SMRP Calendar of Events

Be sure to save the dates for the following upcoming events:

March:10th- KCSMRP Bi-Monthly Newsletter

April: 6th- KCSMRP Tour- Mars Chocolate, Topeka, KS. Pre-registration is required and space is limited. Event starts at 1:00pm.

May:10th-KCSMRP Bi-Monthly Newsletter

June:6th & 7th –SMRP Symposium- Memphis, TN;

TBD–CMRP Prep Workshop & Exam: 3-day local event hosted by the KCSMRP. Dates, start-time and fees to be finalized and communicated soon!

July:10th-KCSMRP Bi-Monthly Newsletter

KCSMRP Newsletter Edition #2- 2018