Equipment Selection and Standardization!

Standardization in Equipment Selection!
Many engineers and their business organizations, prefer to standardize on certain equipment brands, mainly for parts interchangeability. Some people, however follow this rule blindly, like a donkey is led by its owner, wherein it simply follows; otherwise it gets the “the whip”. But every selection can be different, and parts interchangeability, may not even be a practical consideration for a large variety of reasons. Obsolescence is one of them; meaning to say, the old model is no longer in production or in the market. Another reason could be, that sizes and capacity of the new units, being selected are entirely different from the older units. Still another reason, could be, that better efficiencies and technology are now at hand. Newer technologies may have evolved over a period in time, and better efficiencies using a different design philosophy in the control system could now be available. Also, the older equipment could have existing design weaknesses and defects, that have already been outdone by the other newer models. So, the next time that you are confronted with an equipment selection, don’t “stick your neck out” in the name of commonality of brand relative to the existing units you now possess. The benefits of parts commonality and inter-changeability, may not be true in your specific case after all.
Written by: Sanoy Suerte, RME/MBM; Http://www.linkedin.com/in/sannysuerte; Http://businessmanage.sosblog.com; Http://suerte-sanisan.blogspot.com