Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site
A listing in reverse chronological order of these article series:
First parts fail, then machines stop! If its parts don’t break your machines and equipment will always be reliable
Physics-of-Failure microstructure science explains why components fail, and why they get failed during service life. Understanding Physics-of-Failure is foundational to the Plant Wellness Way EAM methodology
[Read more…]
Between 1670 and 1700, the Royal Navy installed lead sheets over the hulls of some ships to help preserve them and reduce repairs. (See Failure Modes of Lead Hull Sheathing Explored by the Royal Navy.) Galvanic corrosion attacked the iron bolts holding the hull and rudder together, so the program had to be canceled.
The British reverted to their previous practice of installing thin wood sheathing on top of the main hull. The wood sheathing was sacrificial and had to be replaced every few years. When the sheathing was stripped for replacement, inspection and repair of the main hull was accomplished.
[Read more…]
Suppliers and users of any product want that it performs well during its lifetime. That is, the item must perform within specified operating parameters during its life cycle. The life cycle of an item comprises Concept, Research & Development, Production, Operation & Maintenance and, Disposal phases. Each phase carry costs its owner wishes to minimize. The idea is to realize the most value from the item when the whole life cycle costs and benefits are considered. In most cases, usually 80% of the total costs are incurred during the operation & maintenance phase of the life cycle. Machine failures cause plants to stop production causing accidents, economic impacts and reputation loses. Asset components gradual degradation with age, operational/maintenance errors and design flaws all can cause assets or processes to fail. A failed asset is considered unreliable, which means that it is no longer able to fulfill its intended function.
[Read more…]
The very best monitoring and measuring analysis you can do for your company’s maintenance success is to develop the distribution curves of your range of maintenance KPI’s.
At least they will be useful in the honest decision-making you need to do to continually become a better and better maintenance performer.
[Read more…]
In the intricate web of industrial operations, maintenance, repairs, and operations (MRO) process development stands as the unsung hero, optimizing workflows, minimizing downtime, and ensuring the seamless continuity of production. It’s a craft that requires precision, strategic planning, and a knack for efficiency. Let’s embark on a journey to uncover the art of MRO process development and why it’s the lynchpin of high-quality operations.
[Read more…]
A business management system needs a quality management system built to make customers happy.
Every company already has a business management system they use to deliver products or services. If you want to be a more profitable business, you need to continually create a better management system.
—
It took a long time to understand why a business in the same market did better than other businesses. Every one thought it was due to better marketing, or access to more capital. But it was not. It was simply that one business had products that better suited customer needs. The best product always gains most market share and makes the biggest profits. Which is why a business management system needs a quality management system that improves their products.
What is the purpose of Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)? Why do RCM? As Reliability professionals, we are not in the business of preventing all failures. Sometimes it’s impossible to predict or prevent some Failure Modes. But that doesn’t mean we can’t do anything about it. RCM helps us figure other actions we can take to manage the consequences of failure.
[Read more…]
There is a definite distinction between Reliability Engineers (RE) and Maintenance Engineers (ME). Although they are highly dependant on each other. REs rely a lot on MEs and vice versa. However, those roles are often confused let also not well understood by recruiters, managers or regrettably, even professionals in the roles.
In a Reliabilityweb.com article, Paul Barringer provides a good summary of this distinction. He also underlines the vital partnership between those specialties. Some aspects highlighted by Barringer are:
[Read more…]
The Phonograph came first in 1877, cassette players arrived in 1971, CDs made it to the market in 1982 and the just arrived ultra-modern solid state hard drives are devices all capable of recording sound. Likewise, the 1876 telephone and the 2 decades old cell phone are all good for making possible long-distance conversations. Certainly, sometimes technology changes faster than our ability to adapt to it. When you are still getting used to a specific computer operating system X.1 its creator is already announcing the launch of the newer version X.2 and the extra features it brings making it a better option than its predecessor. A change to the new version’s ‘toy’ always seems more convenient than keeping the current stuff – just think of Apple’s product development trajectory!
[Read more…]
Behaviour Based Safety (BBS) programs address safety culture barriers with effective solutions for changing safety culture and securing a positive safety behaviour change.
Behaviour Based Safety passively and positively changes existing unsafe workplace behaviours by identifying and reinforcing the use of the right behaviours that protect people in real-world safety problems.
In workplaces that want high safety performance, behaviour based safety programs, when properly implemented, significantly improve personal safe performance and greatly reduce workplace injury and illness.
Behavioral Observation Programs using behavior based safety management reduce safety incidents by bringing beneficial workforce safety behavior change.
[Read more…]
In the realm of industrial operations, a culture of reliability isn’t just a preference; it’s a necessity. It’s the bedrock of efficiency, safety, and sustainability, providing the fertile ground for organizations to thrive and adapt in an ever-evolving world. In this blog, we will explore the methods and principles that guide the development of a reliability culture, the essence of operational excellence.
[Read more…]
Overhauling equipment is expected to bring it to an “as good as new” state. But is this really the case in reality? Equipment will deteriorate over time and progressively lose its ability to function. No matter how extensive the overhaul, the equipment will unlikely be up to the level of “newness” as when it rolled out of the assembly line. Sure, if you have this vintage automobile from the 1930s, and spend an absolute fortune on its overhaul, it might come close to being new again. But somewhere in the structure of this automobile, there will an element that is “as good as old” and vulnerable to imminent failure. Also remember that this vintage automobile is not out there generating revenue. There is no accountant running after you with regards to budget constraints or revenue increases. Where there is passion, cost might not matter.
[Read more…]
A risk management risk matrix can trick you into leaving high consequences uncontrolled and convince you it is fine to do nothing to reduce the impacts of failure. Whether you think a bad event cannot happen has no standing in Law. The likelihood of an adverse event is unimportant; only the resultant severity is how the Law will gauge your risk abatement efforts. Did you do ‘reasonably practicable’ risk control?
[Read more…]
False. Nearly all organizations do not have adequate historical data found in databases to successfully carry out an RCM analysis.
[Read more…]
Accelerated life tests are used to help predict the rate of failure of components. Capacitors are frequent victims of accelerated life testing, and have a distant relationship with one of the earliest documented accelerated life tests: the unit of capacitance, the farad, is named for Sir Michael Faraday.
Michael Faraday remains one of the most important scientists of all time. He made foundational discoveries in electricity, magnetism, and electrochemistry. Today, Faraday is less well known for documenting the Royal Navy’s results of accelerated life tests on dry rot of wood.
[Read more…]