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10 Reasons you Need to do Reliability Engineering

10 Reasons you Need to do Reliability Engineering

10 Reasons you Need to do Reliability Engineering

Reliability engineering has an image problem. It is seen as an imbugerance that destroys budget, schedule and fun. People sometimes think reliability engineering is simply statistics, data analysis and other mind-numbing stuff. Reliability purgatory. Which brings us to the first reason you need to do reliability engineering.

#1 – Reliability engineering is not reliability purgatory. Reliability purgatory is all effort and no outcomes. Reliability happens at the point of decision. Design decisions. Manufacturing decisions. Maintenance decisions. True reliability engineering helps you make better decisions – which often comes down to organized judgment and not statistics.

[Read more…]

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Human Factors in Design Error?

Human Factors in Design Error?

Human Factors in Design Error?

As I headed to work this morning in my Chevy Silverado Truck, this message appeared on my dash console.

As if there aren’t enough distractions these days built into our vehicles (i.e. – GPS, telephones, use of our various electronic devices, iTunes, Email, Text, etc.), do we really need a warning message to read while driving, that is telling us to focus on the road?  [Read more…]

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The Plug and Perf Process

The Plug and Perf Process

The Plug and Perf Process

Multi-stage horizontal wells have been drilled and completed in shale formations in North America for two decades, and now account for nearly 90% of new wells drilled in the U.S. The Plug and Perf process (PnP) is used for completing most of these wells. [Read more…]

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Is Making Assumptions Similar to Making Mistakes

Is Making Assumptions Similar to Making Mistakes

Is Making Assumptions Similar to Making Mistakes

Over the past week, I received a couple of interesting questions. One concerned assuming a Weibull beta value for an accelerated life test plan. The second involved assuming expected life models for elements within a reliability block diagram.

In both cases, we faced incomplete data and uncertainties, yet felt the need to assume some values in order for the math to work out. We do make assumptions in order to solve problems. We also can make mistakes that lead to unwanted consequences. [Read more…]

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Address Your LOI Before Your ROI

Address Your LOI Before Your ROI

Address Your LOI Before Your ROI

Guest Post by Andrew Sheves (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

As a risk manager, you will often be asked to explain the RoI (return on investment) of you, your team, even the whole risk management program.

Effective risk management can help an organization grasp an opportunity and realizing an upside risk should generate a positive RoI.

However, when you are focussed on shoring up a weak system, plugging gaps and minimizing risks, showing an RoI can be hard. Even so, an inability to show a positive RoI in a cost-conscious environment can threaten investment in your team. It can even make people question the value of the program as a whole. [Read more…]

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Do you need Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)?

Do you need Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)?

Do you need Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)?

Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) is without doubt the most effective method to determine your failure management policies, yet it is sometimes seen as an expensive and time consuming endeavor used to produce what some (mistakenly) believe they can get from manufacturer recommendations and other sources. The naysayers see it as a “gold plated” approach to a relatively simple challenge – produce a decent maintenance program.
They couldn’t be more wrong! And that error, could get them into a lot of trouble if circumstances align against them. [Read more…]

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How to Get Better Results with FMEAs, in Less Time

How to Get Better Results with FMEAs, in Less Time

FMEA Don’t Have to Take a Long Time

“Time is money” – Benjamin Franklin

One of the most common complaints about FMEAs is that they can take a long time to do. This article presents solutions to this challenge.

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I Learned How to Optimize Maintenance When I Caught My Husband Cheating…

I Learned How to Optimize Maintenance When I Caught My Husband Cheating…

I Learned How to Optimize Maintenance When I Caught My Husband Cheating…

When I caught my husband cheating, I learned the two criteria for scheduling a maintenance task. Satisfy these two criteria to create an optimized maintenance plan. [Read more…]

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A Story About Plus One

A Story About Plus One

There are many scenarios that can arise throughout product development programs. There is one in particular that I have seen unfold more than once: I call it the “Plus one program.”  Don’t let the name fool you; it’s horrible to watch unfold.

A startup or established player introduces an impressive jump in industry-standard technology, or sometimes an established player introduces an innovation to their industry. Since the technology is so innovative, there is great value in getting it to market quickly even if it isn’t a mature design.  In this case, it is actually a smart move to go to market with a device that doesn’t have “ideal reliability.”  In other words, the value of getting it out there quickly is worth the field issues. Those issues will be tolerated by the customer as well,  if the technology is that good.

[Read more…]

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Panning for Gold: Analyzing Chronic Failures

Panning for Gold: Analyzing Chronic Failures

Panning for Gold: Analyzing Chronic Failures

The majority of times that a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is ‘required’ is often due to some type of threshold of pain being met. Someone is hurt, we’ve had an environmental excursion, we lost a lot of money in throughput or equipment damage, we violated some regulation, etc. Essentially, when the ‘suits’ show up, something bad has happened and we will do an RCA whether we like it or not. This is the basis of ‘reactive RCA’, where we respond to an incident that has already met certain defined requirements, often called ‘triggers’. [Read more…]

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You Can’t ‘Contract’ your Way to Reliability

You Can’t ‘Contract’ your Way to Reliability

You Can’t ‘Contract’ your Way to Reliability

A recent student of mine was an engineer for a rail corporation. Let’s call her Liz. Liz kept asking me ‘what do I need to put in a contract’ to make sure my suppliers take reliability seriously? She kept asking this over, and over, until I got the penny to drop. Liz eventually realized that she was the one who had to take it seriously. [Read more…]

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Lessons Learned via Golden Nuggets

Lessons Learned via Golden Nuggets

Lessons Learned via Golden Nuggets

One of the enjoyable parts of reliability engineering work is the consistent need to learn. We learn how new materials, designs, applications, and systems work, and fail. Sometimes we learn through proactive characterization studies, sometimes via unwanted field failures.

Failures will occur, it is what we learn from them that matters. The ability to gather and remember the lessons learned is a common and ongoing need for every organization. We are not very good at it, in general. [Read more…]

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Have the Faith to Seize Risk Opportunities

Have the Faith to Seize Risk Opportunities

Have the Faith to Seize Risk Opportunities

Guest Post by Patrick Ow (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

Have faith to seize on opportunities that come your way (but the risk is within us!)

Everyone has opportunities. But it is up to us to seize the opportunities that come our way!

There will be opportunities to build lives, to better ourselves, or to serve the community.

Faith and opportunities

Faith is the complete trust or confidence in someone or something. It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. Faith is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead. [Read more…]

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Profit, Profit, and More Profit

Profit, Profit, and More Profit

Profit, Profit, and More Profit

One of the common misunderstandings about business profit among non-finance professionals is that it there is more than one way to define it.

At its core, profit is calculated as Revenue minus Costs. If you bought a bicycle at a yard sale for $50, then sold it a week later on Craigslist for $80, your profit is $30. In a simple transaction, profit is easily understood. But within an organization, different types of profits have to be defined to better understand the flow of money through it. [Read more…]

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Achieve Results Using RCM

Achieve Results Using RCM

Achieve Results Using RCM

In the field, we know that there are no “quick fixes” or “silver bullet solutions” when it comes to improvements in maintenance management. Many separate conditions and events must come together properly to achieve “schedule success” – i.e.: the high level of compliance to a schedule of planned work as produced by your planners. [Read more…]