Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site
A listing in reverse chronological order of these article series:
Last time we discussed Alarms in the Opportunities for Maintenance and Reliability series. This week we will be discussing event rates. What is an event rate? Watch George break it down!
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Concurrent or simultaneous failures can happen with redundant or spared systems. This means that both spared equipment can fail at the same time leaving the operator with no production output. For example, we have two alternating pumps operating in a parallel configuration. Each one acts as a spare and at any one time can take over if the other one fails. This article is based on a question I was asked during a recent industry presentation. I thought the example was interesting and informative enough to share with the Maintenance and Reliability community.
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The world needs plant and equipment that are reliable and fault-free for decades. Yet Maintenance can only keep machinery working by replacing broken and at risk parts. Even industrial asset management only aims to lower the cost of plant and equipment ownership. Neither methodology has the capability to deliver what mankind needs in future. Before the end of this century both disciplines will die-out because intelligent production machines will be made that are completely reliable and maintenance-free for their entire lifetimes.
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In this video, we use RCM principles to decide if I should accept the consequences of failure or visit the dentist to eliminate the Failure Mode.
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Equipment and machinery reliability grows as machines are made more accurately and components kept in more perfect condition. Finesse and refinement practised on equipment parts extends equipment life by months, sometimes many months. Once you reach superb precision and work quality control your reliability growth bounds forward by years at a time. Conversely, when assembly accuracy is poor or parts’ environments are degraded you lose reliability at a rate of years at a time. In fact, the rate at which you lose reliability when component health is lost is as if you threw your machine from a cliff. Many industrial companies blindly commit industrial suicide daily by leaping off ‘reliability cliffs’.
George will be discussing basic opportunities for Maintenance and Operations. This is an 8 part video series that covers things such as eliminating nuisance alarms, looking into event rates, and how we develop PM Routes. This first video covers Alarms. What does opportunity look like from an alarm perspective? In most plants, it’s likely you have some type of building automation. Systems and Alarms can go through what is called a Pareto Analysis. Watch to learn more!
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Assets or components in an operation can be dependent on each other. The network of equipment contributing to the operation output is complex and intricate. A RAM model helps account for the complexities including dependencies.
The fundamental purpose of Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability (RAM) modeling is quantifying system performance, typically in a future interval of time. A system is a collection of items whose coordinated operation leads to the output, generally a production value. The collection of items includes subsystems, components, software, human operations, etc. For example, an automobile is a system. Its sub-components being the drivetrain, engine, gearbox, etc. In RAM models, it is crucial to account for relationships or dependencies between items. This helps determine the final output of the system. In various industries, RAM models have proven to be effective as cost avoidance or decision-making tools, as well as their ability to confirm or counter stated assumptions by internal stakeholders.
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Design-out maintenance is a root cause failure elimination category where the solution is to design for reliability and intentionally create highly reliable equipment through an engineering design change.
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I am a design engineer and am considering plant improvement as a more proactive activity for our department. Being in design I am interested in design-out maintenance solutions and the role they play in maintenance cost reduction. Particularly where design out solutions are used for failure elimination.
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After 23 years, I finally figured out that achieving our own personal and professional goals is similar to how we achieve our Reliability goals. Crush the Obstacles and Bring Your Goals Alive. Watch to find out more…
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Is your Maintenance at 100% performance in delivering all the six business purposes shown in Figure 1?
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ACE 3T analysis is a new problem inquiry tool that lets you find simple answers to difficult problems. It does not ask you to use Lean process assessment tools or apply Six Sigma statistical analysis. You only need to use your eyes and a spread sheet to explore the details that expose the simple options to solve your problem.
Absolutely not. This is one of the biggest misconceptions of the RCM process. Discover why it is often wrongly believed that RCM is too difficult to implement.
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It is becoming more apparent that companies are treating their operational data with the “respect” deserved. About time and if not, then they should start now. Operational Data is typically stored in the CMMS (Computer Maintenance Management System) or historical records repositories.
Data is knowledge. Data is power. Data is the basis of good decision making.
This article also suggests that data could be revenue generator. Therefore, a company’s data is akin to extracting gold from a mine. Like gold, data requires hard work to get and hold on to. Yet, it is highly lucrative when exploited, refined, and traded. The organization running the equipment generates the Operational Data. It can also be generated by a third party. In the following paragraphs, we see the untapped opportunities data and historical records can offer.
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It’s easy to lose your way in maintenance, reliability and enterprise asset management. Without a vision you are aimless. Without a map you are lost. To get maintenance, reliability and enterprise asset management success you must have both the right vision and the correct path to it.
