The Yes Man Tax

The most expensive equipment failure in your plant may already have been approved. It just hasn't failed yet.

A cheaper seal. A "close enough" substitution. A value-engineered change that saves money today-and creates a much bigger problem months later.

After more than thirty years specifying industrial equipment, James Riggins saw the same pattern behind repeat failures:

Decision → Mismatch → Failure.

The Yes Man Tax shows how bad equipment decisions hide in plain sight until maintenance, downtime, cleanup, and lost production expose them.

Inside, you'll learn:

• Why recurring maintenance problems often begin with the specification

• How cost cutting gets disguised as Value Engineering

• Why mismatched equipment can run fine before suddenly failing

• How to use the five-question Application Mismatch Checklist before approving the next substitution or replacement

This isn't about always buying the expensive option. It's about asking whether the equipment actually matches the chemistry, temperature, pressure, flow, duty cycle, and real conditions it will face.

For plant managers, engineers, maintenance and reliability professionals, buyers, project teams, and industrial suppliers.

Before the next "close enough" decision gets your approval, know what you're actually signing off on.