Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site
A listing in reverse chronological order of articles by:
In the article Reliability in Equipment Design it was stated that a project team can set reliability target(s) for new equipment using historical reliability data. One option OEMs have for capturing historical reliability data is a Failure Reporting And Corrective Action System, or FRACAS. The data captured can provide a comprehensive view of how the equipment is performing. This data can be used to improve legacy equipment and drive decision-making on new equipment. [Read more…]
The Coronavirus pandemic (COVID19) continues to spread throughout the world despite the best efforts of governments and the medical community. With no vaccine becoming available in the near term and perhaps even in the long term we are faced with growing uncertainty. It seems that ever since the emergence of COVID19 that conflicting advice, information and guidance has exacerbated the situation and created a lack of trust on the part of the public on what measures to take. Wear a mask.
Don’t wear a mask. Social distance. Don’t social distance. The only advice that seems trustworthy is “Wash your hands”; and, that is something that we should do regardless of the pandemic – it’s good common sense. [Read more…]
A while back, I felt that pretty much everything was out of sync and I was highly disorganized. There was a growing list of undone things whether that was around the house, at work, with my family, or at the places where I volunteer.
It was definitely time for a reorganization. [Read more…]
Changes are a part of the evolution of a new design. But managing the timing of changes is important. Figure 1 shows that the cost of making design changes increases rapidly beginning late in development. In well-run projects, design changes are mostly complete by early development. But project teams that ignore reliability often discover the need for changes during lab testing (late development) or commercialization. This is very costly, creates schedule delays, and can lead to brand damage. In Maximizing Oilfield Equipment Reliability, it is stated that Design for Reliability (DfR) programs are used by OEMs to elevate reliability. But DfR activities can also reduce the cost of changes. How is this achieved? [Read more…]
Fifty years ago, having your own car was a sign of adulthood and your ticket around town. But that is all going to change within the next five to ten years due to rising CO2 levels and a new trend called Transportation as a Service. TaaS sits at the intersection of four technical macro trends. These are:
These trends are here today and are predicted to grow significantly and quickly over the next five to ten years. It is a positive trend with a lot of positive affects on the country and world.
The risk to this trend is the need for electric power will outstrip the supply. This article presents the case for this risk. [Read more…]
George Bernhard Shaw once said, and it’s now been written down and put on posters and the like: “The problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place”.
In this ‘Information Age’ we have access to, receive, generate, and send more information than ever before. People can suffer from infoxication as a consequence of ‘information overload’ and decision making has, we are told, become more difficult as a consequence. [Read more…]
High reliability is expected of mature products with track records (low hazard rate). But new products with little or no track record (hazard rate = ?) are commercialized every day in the upstream industry. The technical objectives for new equipment always consist of performance targets, but should also include designing to maximize reliability. So, how does an OEM achieve this? The answer involves culture, capabilities, and best practices. [Read more…]
On 31 December 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) learned of several cases of severe pneumonia in the Chinese city of Wuhan. This strain of coronavirus has since spread through China and into other countries. WHO later named COVID-19.
The emergence of the coronavirus was exactly the type of fast-emerging risk with uncertain consequences that could have triggered quick actions by governments and organisations. Instead, it was played down or dismissed by many. They adopted a wait and see approach to risk management. [Read more…]
This is where the achievement of objectives must be translated into tangible successes that are linked to positive outcomes.
Growth for growth’s sake is meaningless. Achieving objectives for the sake of it is meaningless unless you want to game the system and get your financial bonuses by meeting some meaningless performance targets. It becomes a meaningless compliance exercise. [Read more…]
Equipment risk is a reality of every oil or gas well completion, but is this risk the exclusive responsibility of the equipment manufacturer (OEM)? To answer this question, let’s examine the major aspects of equipment risk in more detail. [Read more…]
COVID 19 throws a curve ball in the path of life and job security. If you compare life as a walk through a forest, then COVID-19 is a high stone wall (curve ball) along the path of life. Do you stop and retreat or go over or around it and continue your journey? I think you get through the pandemic and continue along the path back to job security and low unemployment. [Read more…]
I was shocked to find out about our drug and medical supplies reliance on China, a dangerous risk to the U.S. I believe most Americans were also shocked. I believe this revelation is a game changer and the American people will insist on change. [Read more…]
When a product is said to be of “high quality”, it is usually perceived to be reliable. Conversely, if the product is said to be “reliable”, it is probably perceived it to be of high quality. Why is this?
A product is an assembly of many components, all of which must be manufactured to some quality standard. Quality in component manufacturing is achieved through rigor in the manufacturer’s Quality Assurance (QA) system. QA systems define the Quality Control (QC) processes which ensure that materials, components, and assemblies meet the quality standard. The rigor must be appropriate for the product’s application. In critical applications (e.g. for sub-surface safety valves), the rigor must be high. [Read more…]
In the past, organizations have pr
acticed agility more than anything else because it is easy to simply pivot and put out small fires as they arise.
But with the world facing a global pandemic, statewide lock downs here in the United States, and a once booming economy now seemingly frozen in time, organizations both large and small are caught in the blaze as those small fires are now an uncontrollable inferno of a great unknown. [Read more…]
In his book “Willful Ignorance: The Mismeasurement of Uncertainty”, Herbert I. Weisberg notes: “Medical research is often held up as the paragon of statistical research methodology. Evidence-based medicine, based on randomized clinical trials, can provide proof of the effectiveness and safety of various drugs and other therapies.” (1) He goes on to note that clinical practitioners, who’s judgement is informed by evidence-based data, are finding little in the research that is useful. [Read more…]
