"Plant engineers and maintenance managers know from experience: All manufacturing equipment will break down, often at the worst possible moment. To survive in today's lean-and-mean manufacturing environment, companies must head off these breakdowns with a preventive-maintenance management program that is both systematic and flexible -- and geared toward minimizing downtime and maximizing equipment life.

"Fundamentals of Preventive Maintenance" provides readers with an easy-to-follow, economically sensible maintenance and workorder management program. This results-driven guidebook outlines a 7-step process for designing and implementing the program, describing what needs to be done -- and why. Designed to transform an often unwieldy program into one that can be effectively managed, it provides hands-on techniques for:

* Establishing critical scheduling protocols

* Managing the daily workorder schedule

* Developing and issuing preventive maintenance workorders

* Monitoring the program and making improvements"

"From tragic accidents to public relations fiascos, we live in an increasingly crisis-ridden society. In fact, half of the major industrial accidents of the past century occurred in the last 20 years. Incidents such as Bhopal and the Exxon Valdez have become embedded in our consciousness, cultural icons of the worst sort. Other crises, less devastating but with serious impact on their businesses, occur almost daily. Why is this--and what can be done to reverse this disturbing trend? According to Ian Mitroff, one of the world's leading experts on crisis management, the rise in the crisis rate is due to an ingrained ""it-can't happen-to-us"" mentality--which, in turn, leads to a total lack of preparedness for crises. His solution? Find out in Managing Crises Before They Happen. This fascinating book provides readers with a powerful framework that will help them: * Recognize the early warning signals that almost always precede a crisis * Focus on the big picture, not just the details * Avoid becoming either the victim or the villain in a crisis situation * Understand the importance of personal character, corporate culture, and thinking outside the box to effective crisis management * Learn from one crisis things that can prevent or ameliorate the next."