New technology - Same old problems

Vibration-based condition monitoring has evolved dramatically over the last twenty years. Compared to tape recorders, carts with 50-pound analyzers, and pen plots held up against a light to match them against last month's readings, the small, lightweight and extremely powerful hardware and software systems of today are evidence of huge gains in technology. Yet, with all this technology, and even perhaps because of all of this technology, we continue to see the same problems in machinery. The condition monitoring field has become focused on the detection of bearing defects and has largely ignored the root causes of bearing failure. As a result, machinery is often repaired and then returned to service in less than 100% operating condition. The job of the condition-monitoring practitioner of the future is to become a machine analyst rather than a data collection technician. Becoming an analyst requires knowing how to find the vibration sources and parasitic loads that decrease bearing life, and identifying the assembly and installation practices that damage the bearings before they ever make a rotation. It's also critical to identify storage conditions, operational practices and other cumulative sources that steal life from bearings.