Recently I asked for recommendations for books for maintenance reliability engineers. The following list, in no order, are the recommendations. Thanks to all who participated. [Read more…]
Recommended Books for Maintenance Reliability Engineers
on Product Reliability
A listing in reverse chronological order of articles by:
- Kirk Grey — Accelerated Reliability series
- Les Warrington — Achieving the Benefits of Reliability series
- Adam Bahret — Apex Ridge series
- Michael Pfeifer — Metals Engineering and Product Reliability series
- Fred Schenkelberg — Musings on Reliability and Maintenance series
- Arthur Hart — Reliability Engineering Insights series
- Chris Jackson — Reliability in Emerging Technology series
What is Reliability Engineering?
At the start of class on reliability and maintenance engineering, one of the students asked,
“What is reliability engineering? What do you do?”
This made me think. What is it we do? How to you explain to someone our role?
Quick Answer
I like to say, “We break things” with a big wink and a smile. And to some extent, as we explore what fails and how it fails. We most likely have to test our theories and break something. Or, when working with new product designs we employ tools to discover what will break. So, I suppose part of what we do is break things. Yet, that is not a complete answer. [Read more…]
Unreasonable
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. In Maxims for Revolutionists (1903) by George Bernard Shaw
It is those that see the world as it should be that prompts change. I believe it is those resisting change to be unreasonable; I suppose it depends on your point of view. The idea or invention may be an inspiration or take diligent work, yet the real work is in changing the reasonable to a new way of viewing the world. Understanding everyone is not as unreasonable as yourself helps you prepare others for change. Challenging the resistance may label you as unreasonable. Be prepared and drive on, you are in good company. Fred Schenkelberg Reliability Quote of the Day, ISSN 2329-0099 http://www.fmsreliability.com/publishing/category/quotes/ where you can sign up for a daily quote sent to you via email —
I received a request from Quality Progress magazine to provide a quote and 100 words about the selection. The above is my submission. [Read more…]
Increasing Value
Value for any business activity is a guiding principle to stay in business.
While not always about money, it is about value. We invest in product design and distribution, plant design and operation, to realize a benefit or return on the investment which makes the investment worth the effort and time. Same with our individual work- we endeavor to make a difference and realize not just a paycheck, (well some do). Increasing value is our responsibility as reliability professionals. [Read more…]
Lead-Free Solder Accelerated Testing
A common issue with solder, other than its ability to compliantly attach electronic packages to circuit boards, is its ability to fail with normal use.
Over time the normal thermal cycling causes the packages to move relative to the circuit board and the solder moves to accommodate. Each cycle the solder accumulates damage. Over time the number of cycles accumulates as does the damage. Eventually, the solder cracks and create an intermittent connection or disrupts the electron flow completely (open).
Unreasonable
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
In Maxims for Revolutionists (1903) by George Bernard Shaw
It is those that see the world as it should be that prompts change. I believe it is those resisting change to be unreasonable; I suppose it depends on your point of view. The idea or invention may be an inspiration or take diligent work, yet the real work is in changing the reasonable to a new way of viewing the world.
Do we not think
as reliability professionals anymore?
During a normal day, we unconsciously tie our shoes, brush our teeth and drive to work, mostly by routine and without too much conscious thinking about the tasks. Occasionally we answer the phone and have to think a little about the conversation. Or we design an experiment for the next project, thinking we can save time by using the same test as last time. Then we slip comfortably into a routine. Do we not think anymore?
Reliability engineering is thinking.
Learning Reliability
… Or, reliable learning. One of the best things about reliability engineering is the never ending opportunity to learn. We work with materials, assembly processes, and people creating and maintaining products, machines, and systems. Other engineering disciplines tend to focus on one aspect of a design or process – mechanical engineers make allowances for the circuit board location and heat transfer requirements, yet do not word on the circuits themselves. Electrical engineers just the opposite, they focus on electronics and power and attempt to fit within the constants imposed by industrial designers. Maybe architects are close to the breadth of reliability engineering as they contribute the aesthetic and functional elements of a design, and consider the maintenance and longevity of the building. Yet, they are not involved with the actual aging and maintenance. [Read more…]
Reliability Program of One
All Reliability Tasks
Having been invited to evaluate reliability practices within a company, I conducted a series of interviews with various staff members. When asked any question on the reliability techniques used, members of the engineering, procurement, operations, and quality departments all responded with nearly the same comment: “Oh, the reliability guy does that.” It appeared that the organization had one reliability engineer who did everything related to reliability. His interview was scheduled last that day. I was looking forward to meeting him. [Read more…]
No Feedback
Imagine you are requested to assist a design team in determining how to best improve the reliability of a product. You learn that the organization produces a range of point of sale (POS) devices and they have invited you to a meeting with their staff to discuss the product and ways to improve the field reliability.
To help understand the situation, you may have already started to think of a set of questions whose answers would lead to suitable recommendations: [Read more…]
Reliability Goal Story
A life-support-equipment company manager desires to conduct a reliability program assessment. The company is experiencing about a 50% per year failure rate and at least the Director of Quality thought it should do better. One of the findings was related to reliability goal setting and how it was used within the organization.
Nearly everyone knew that the product had a 5,000-h Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF) reliability goal, but [Read more…]
Reliability Maturity Matrix
The concept of a maturity model is not new. It provides a means to identify the current state and illuminate the possible improvements to a reliability program. The matrix serves a guide to assist an organization in improving its program.
The matrix has five stages. In general, the higher stages are most cost effective and efficient at achieving higher rates of product reliability performance. These stages—uncertainty, awaking, enlightenment, wisdom, and certainty—are described in today’s post. [Read more…]
Decision Focus
An essential element of a successful reliability program is the notion that all reliability activity relates to decisions. If you are performing a HALT because it is listed in the product development guidelines, or because it was carried over from the last program’s plan, and the HALT results are not part of the design improvement decision-making process, then you probably should not be doing so. If the HALT results yield little or no information (e.g., it is just being checked off the list as accomplished) then the HALT itself provides little or no value. [Read more…]
Product Reliability Participants part 7
This will be the last of the series, considering the different positions in an organization that deals with product reliability. We’ve moved away from the positions where the focus on reliability is central, but there are important considerations in relation to product reliability for each of these roles still. In this concluding post the subjects are the manufacturing team, and field service and call center staffs. [Read more…]
Product Reliability Participants part 6
In this installment of the series dealing with the myriad participants within an organization, we’ll start with failure analysis specialists, before moving to marketing and sales, and finally getting to the finance team. We’re moving away from the positions where the focus on reliability is central, but there are important considerations in relation to product reliability for each of these roles still. The next post in this series will be the final one. [Read more…]
