ReliabilityRadio

Join Jonathan Guiney and Brendon Russ on Reliability Radio as they welcome Jeremy Frank, CEO of KCF Technologies. Jeremy shares his company's fascinating journey, which began 25 years ago with niche, high-tech work for the Department of Defense on applications for submarines and helicopters. He explains how KCF successfully transitioned this "exotic" technology to the industrial world, applying it to solve complex machine health problems.

Jeremy reveals their key technical differentiator—a proprietary wireless protocol that provides high data throughput on a low power budget, enabling them to "eradicate all the problems, not just the easy ones." The conversation then turns to the biggest challenge facing the industry: the people problem. Jeremy candidly discusses how to overcome the "grizzled veteran" mentality and the fear of change, emphasizing that once workers embrace the technology, it leads to improved work-life balance, recognition, and genuine satisfaction. This episode offers a powerful message for leaders and technicians on why understanding and embracing change is the key to unlocking the true potential of AI.

Join Jonathan Guiney and Brendon Russ on Reliability Radio as they welcome Andy Hancock from SAP to discuss the transformative impact of artificial intelligence on enterprise asset management. Andy explains how SAP is leveraging AI—from its early predictive analytics library to its new digital assistant, Joule—to fundamentally change how users interact with the system.

The conversation delves into the three phases of SAP's AI strategy: a "help me" function for new users, an advanced "decision support" phase that pulls insights from multiple systems, and the future of autonomous workflows that run in the background. Andy also addresses the critical role of data quality and the importance of a well-executed change management plan. This episode offers a clear roadmap of how AI is becoming a core, mainstream feature that will simplify processes, reduce screen time, and empower maintenance teams to make more accurate decisions, quicker.

Jeremiah Woodford – Verusen AI: Optimizing spares inventory tends to be a forgotten item with the focus being on day-to-day operations and maintenance activities. Often enough, companies are over buying parts and/or not accounting their use property to know where to start. We speak with Jeremiah Woodford of Verusen AI to discuss their current capabilities in leveraging organizations purchase history to identify the right MRO strategy based on your needs.

In this episode of Reliability Radio, Jennifer Gatza from Maven joins Jonathan Guiney and Brendan Russ to discuss a common problem in the Maximo® community: the "shiny object syndrome." Jennifer, a computer engineer by background, shares her powerful insight that putting technology first—before process and strategy—is a critical pitfall that leads to poor outcomes and user frustration.

She details Maven's objective, disciplined methodology for guiding clients, which starts with a focus on core asset management principles and the establishment of robust governance. The conversation provides a roadmap for success: hone your fundamentals in Maximo Manage, take an incremental step with the Health module, and then strategically expand to advanced applications like Predict. This is a must-listen for anyone who wants to ensure their Maximo journey delivers sustainable value, not just a collection of cool tools.

Join Jonathan Guiney and Brendon Russ on Reliability Radio as they welcome Louis Innocent, Director of Asset Management at EAM 360. Louis dives into a core problem facing the industry: the persistent failure of mobile adoption strategies.

He explains the "why" behind this resistance—from generational knowledge gaps to poorly designed applications—and shares EAM 360's philosophy for success. Their approach prioritizes a user-friendly, offline-first experience with smart features like voice-to-text and automated work mapping. Louis also offers a powerful insight for the future: that mobile is the "last mile" for a successful AI strategy, as the quality of data captured by technicians in the field is what will ultimately enable AI's full potential.

Join Jonathan Guiney and Brendon Russ on Reliability Radio as they speak with Peter from Hexagon, a company focused on Asset Information Management (AIM). The discussion begins with a look at a fundamental challenge facing every industry: the "silver tsunami" and the loss of critical knowledge. Peter explains how Hexagon's solution bridges the siloed gap between engineering and maintenance by creating a "smart digital reality"—a digital twin of a facility.

This virtual map is created using drones, scanners, and cutting-edge technology, transforming old, paper-based drawings into an explorable, video-game-like environment. Peter outlines the immense benefits of this approach: it significantly improves technician safety, boosts efficiency by providing instant access to asset information, and helps attract and retain young talent who grew up in a digital world. The conversation concludes with a look to the future, where AI will become a standard feature, offering autonomous task suggestions before humans even have to ask.

Join Jonathan Guiney and Brendon Russ on Reliability Radio as they welcome Roger Ham and Muhammad Yusuf Bin Nazman from Kerry Ingredients, a global food production powerhouse. This episode tells the story of Kerry's journey, which began in 2021 with a commitment to "safety first, quality always," and culminated in a prestigious Uptime Award for reliability and sustainability.

The guests share the "golden nugget" of their success: recognizing that people are the ultimate competitive advantage. They detail how they secured executive sponsorship from the CEO and overcame challenges like language and cultural barriers across 30 sites and 17 countries by creating a common, competency-based roadmap. Their strategy focused on building a strong foundation and empowering their team with training before jumping to advanced technologies. This discussion offers invaluable lessons on how to lead a multi-regional reliability program and demonstrates that the biggest factor in long-term success is a strategic, unwavering focus on the people who make it happen.

Join Jonathan Guiney and Brendon Russ on Reliability Radio as they welcome John Fortin and Billy Appleton from the Beverly Salem Water Board. This episode tells the inspiring story of a small utility (18 employees, 4 in maintenance) serving 100,000 residents, and their incredible journey from outdated, verbal maintenance practices to winning an Uptime Award for sustainability.

John and Billy detail their strategic adoption of the Uptime Elements framework, transforming operations that once relied on 1990s paper records into a structured system. A key focus is their proactive approach to succession planning and onboarding new talent, integrating the "language of reliability" (Uptime Elements, CRL) into job descriptions and training. Billy shares his first-time experience at the conference, highlighting the invaluable power of the Reliabilityweb community for learning and peer-to-peer sharing from diverse organizations. The discussion underscores how strategic alignment, cross-collaboration, and continuous learning are vital for even the smallest teams to achieve significant impact, including preparing for an upcoming $8.5 million plant upgrade.

Join Jonathan Guiney and Brendon Russ on Reliability Radio for a controversial debate with Tom Woginrich from IBM on "predictive maintenance vs. condition-based maintenance." Tom challenges the traditional view, defining the "predictive maintenance" of old as limited "univariate analytics" (single variables like vibration), often leading to frustration and missed failures.

He then unveils the true power of multivariate analytics: high-frequency data from dozens of variables (amps, temperature, load, even time of day) analyzed by machine learning to predict problems long before they become potential failures. Tom shares a fascinating anecdote of how a simple window shade caused a multi-million dollar recall for an automotive manufacturer, a problem only uncovered through disparate data analysis. Learn how IBM Maximo's capabilities, including multivariable health scores, are building the foundation for this next-level prediction. The discussion culminates with a glimpse into the future, where AI-powered systems automatically suggest actions without human prompting. This episode is a must-listen for anyone ready to move beyond guesswork and unlock the true predictive power of their asset data.

Join Jonathan Guiney on Reliability Radio as they sit down with JLL's rising stars, Alexis Madris and Eric Rosales. Offering a fresh, younger perspective on the industry, they reveal the unexpected appeal of reliability and asset management: the creativity in data analysis, the thrill of problem-solving, and the satisfaction of seeing assets perform with "fantasy football" like precision.

The conversation delves into their unique career journeys, from planning and maintenance technician roles to strategic reliability platforms, highlighting how diverse, hands-on experience provides a crucial "leg up." They offer powerful advice for aspiring professionals: don't be afraid to ask questions, seek out experienced mentors (especially those on the shop floor), and always challenge complacency. The discussion candidly addresses the perception problem of "facilities" work, advocating for "sexifying" the industry to attract new talent by showcasing its true complexity, impact, and "fun." Eric and Alexis ultimately emphasize the vital role of operations in ensuring essential systems, from steam to power, reliably keep the world running.