Plant Engineering Publishes Insightful Shaft Alignment White Paper

Hamar Laser’s X-Series™ Brand Manager Terry C. Southall makes the case for reintegrating shaft alignment into preventive maintenance programs

Plant Engineering, a leading publication for plant engineers and managers, has published a timely white paper on shaft alignment written by Terry C. Southall, Global Brand and Distribution Manager for Hamar Laser’s X-Series™ Laser Shaft Alignment Systems.

Sharing knowledge and insights gained from many years of experience in operations, maintenance and reliability, Terry’s informative white paper will help readers recognize the causes and consequences of shaft misalignment, understand why industry has drifted away from alignment best practices, and then apply strategies to reintroduce precision alignment into their company’s maintenance programs.

In “How to avoid shaft misalignment in rotating machinery,” Terry explains that over time even small misalignments generate reactive forces in rotating machinery, stressing bearings, seals, and couplings, resulting in premature wear or catastrophic failure, and how proper shaft alignment minimizes these forces, eliminates breakdowns, extends the useful life of these components, and contributes to greater efficiency and cost savings.

Terry looks at the many reasons industry has drifted away from best practices in shaft alignment, including workforce demographics, budget constraints, lack of training, poor implementation of standards and short-term performance metrics. To reverse the trend, Terry argues, organizations need to reintegrate high-precision shaft alignment with best-in-class tools into the core of their preventive and predictive maintenance programs.

Persuading with hard data, the paper offers two case studies: one a high-output food processing facility, and the other a pulp and paper mill. In both of these cases, in which alignments had previously been performed with outdated methods and inferior tools, proper alignment of critical process pumps with advanced X-Series™ Laser Alignment Systems from Hamar Laser resulted in dramatic, measurable improvements in pump performance and the elimination of costly repeat failures.

To help your organization successfully buck the misalignment trend, read the illustrated white paper in Plant Engineering and get Terry’s practical wisdom, real world advice and insights, and see why he believes precision shaft alignment is not just good maintenance, but good business as well.

For further information, visit Hamar Laser’s X-Series™ website or contact the company at +1-203-730-4600 or sales@hamarlaser.com.