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Home » Articles » on Tools & Techniques

on Tools & Techniques

A listing in reverse chronological order of articles by:



  • Dennis Craggs — Big Data Analytics series

  • Perry Parendo — Experimental Design for NPD series

  • Dev Raheja — Innovative Thinking in Reliability and Durability series

  • Oleg Ivanov — Inside and Beyond HALT series

  • Carl Carlson — Inside FMEA series

  • Steven Wachs — Integral Concepts series

  • Shane Turcott — Learning from Failures series

  • Larry George — Progress in Field Reliability? series

  • Gabor Szabo — R for Engineering series

  • Matthew Reid — Reliability Engineering Using Python series

  • Kevin Stewart — Reliability Reflections series

  • Anne Meixner — Testing 1 2 3 series

  • Ray Harkins — The Manufacturing Academy series

by Ray Harkins Leave a Comment

Cohen’s Kappa: Measuring Agreement Beyond Chance

Cohen’s Kappa: Measuring Agreement Beyond Chance

Attribute inspection is one of the most widespread and difficult-to-control measurement methods in manufacturing. Whether inspecting machined surfaces for cosmetic defects, checking weld quality, reviewing molded parts, evaluating assembly completeness, or using go/no-go gauges, many operations depend on human inspectors to make subjective judgments. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, on Tools & Techniques, The Manufacturing Academy

by Larry George Leave a Comment

Why Weibull? 

Why Weibull? 

What if you don’t have lifetime data??

I searched the Internet for “Why Use Weibull Reliability?” and got 196 hits “similar sites omitted”. Some hits looked like they were generated by Chat GPT. None showed data. None told how to test or use Weibull reliability estimates. Many sell Weibull software. All require lifetime data.

Assuming a continuous, parametric distribution such as Weibull conveniently extrapolates limited, censored lifetimes to estimate MTBF, even though MTBF may be far in the future. Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weibull_distribution lists many uses for Weibull distributions. A client had me use Weibull to model durations of covered calls!

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, on Tools & Techniques, Progress in Field Reliability?

by Hemant Urdhwareshe Leave a Comment

System Reliability Quiz and Durability Case Study

System Reliability Quiz and Durability Case Study

Dear friends, we are happy to release this 101th technical video on system durability estimation! The first part of the video describes the quiz. Viewers are expected to try to solve it on their own before watching the second part of the video where we have illustrated the solution using Excel.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Institute of Quality & Reliability, on Tools & Techniques

by Hemant Urdhwareshe Leave a Comment

Computer Generated and General Full Factorial Designs using Minitab

Computer Generated and General Full Factorial Designs using Minitab

Dear friends, we are very happy to release our 100th technical video on the subject of Computer generated Optimal experimental designs!

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Institute of Quality & Reliability, on Tools & Techniques

by Ray Harkins Leave a Comment

The Shop-Floor Guide to DPPM vs. DPMO

The Shop-Floor Guide to DPPM vs. DPMO

In conversations about “Six Sigma level” performance, I hear people using DPPM and DPMO like they’re the same thing. And in fact, they’re close, but not interchangeable. Among manufacturing quality professionals though, this distinction matters critically when describing how good (or how bad) a process really is.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, on Tools & Techniques, The Manufacturing Academy

by Carl S. Carlson Leave a Comment

Quality Objective 10: TEST IMPROVEMENTS

“Evaluate what you want – because what gets measured, gets produced.”   James A. Belasco

Years ago, many FMEAs did not recommend actions to improve product designs or testing. They identified risk, which is important; but missed opportunities to actually improve product designs and test plans. In this article, I will outline how to evaluate an individual Design FMEA or Process FMEA against the FMEA Quality Objective for test improvements.

What is meant by “test improvement”?

The concept is to take specific action to add new tests and/or revise current tests, in order to address high detection risk. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Inside FMEA, on Tools & Techniques Tagged With: FMEA Quality Objectives

by Hemant Urdhwareshe Leave a Comment

Binary Logistic Regression using SigmaXL Software

Binary Logistic Regression using SigmaXL Software

Dear friends, we are happy to release our 99th technical video on Binary Logistic Regression (BNR)! BNR is an important statistical technique which helps in determining the effect of variable factors on a discrete binary response! Some application examples can be:

• Effect of pouring temperature, pouring time, carbon equivalent on casting defects such as porosity

• Effect of salary, and experience on attrition

• Bankruptcy prediction based on financial ratios.

Hemnat Urdhwareshe, Fellow ASQ, have explained the mathematical basis of the technique and illustrated the technique with an application example on SigmaXL software. We hope you find the video interesting and useful!

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Institute of Quality & Reliability, on Tools & Techniques

by Hemant Urdhwareshe Leave a Comment

Measurement Systems Analysis using SigmaXL software

Measurement Systems Analysis using SigmaXL software

Dear friends, many of the viewers had requested for an introductory video on measurement systems analysis (MSA) and Gauge Repeatability and Reproducibility (R&R) Study. We are happy to release this video on MSA! In this video, Hemant Urdhwareshe, Fellow of American Society for Quality, and ASQ Certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt, explains the terminology of measurement systems and also illustrates how to conduct, analyse and interpret the results of a Gauge R&R Study. Hemant has illustrated this with an application example using template from SigmaXL software. Your feedback on the video is welcome!

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Institute of Quality & Reliability, on Tools & Techniques

by Ray Harkins Leave a Comment

Making Sense of Gage R&R Analysis

Making Sense of Gage R&R Analysis

(Originally published in Quality Magazine, October 2025)

The term Measurement Systems Analysis (MSA) refers to a collection of experimental and statistical methods designed to evaluate the error introduced by a measurement system, and the resulting usefulness of that system for a particular application. In manufacturing, measurement system quality directly affects decisions about processes, products, and a manufacturer’s ability to meet their customer’s requirements.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, on Tools & Techniques, The Manufacturing Academy

by Hemant Urdhwareshe Leave a Comment

Weibull Probability Plotting of Right Censored Data on Excel

Weibull Probability Plotting of Right Censored Data on Excel

Dear friends, We are happy to release this 97th video! Many of you have requested to make this video on Weibull Probability Plotting of Right Censored Data. In this video, Hemant Urdhwareshe, Fellow of ASQ, explains how to construct a Weibull Probability Plot when the data is Right Censored!

Hemant has illustrated the complete procedure, step by step, using Microsoft Excel, with an Application Example!

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Institute of Quality & Reliability, on Tools & Techniques

by Michael Keer Leave a Comment

Hardware Product Realization in the Age of AI

Hardware Product Realization in the Age of AI

Chapter 2: Defining Product Realization and New Product Introduction

In the previous episode, the concepts of agile hardware product realization were introduced along with the idea of the ten best practices. Before diving into the details of these, there are a few basics to understand. In this episode Product Realization will be defined at a high level as well as the ideas behind a New Product Development Introduction (sometimes written as NPDI) framework.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: AI, Articles, on Tools & Techniques, The Hardware Product Develoment Lifecycle, Uncategorized

by Michael Keer Leave a Comment

Hardware Product Realization in the Age of AI

Hardware Product Realization in the Age of AI

In this series, we’ll dive into insights from the soon-to-be-released updated book on hardware product realization by unpacking the strategies, pitfalls, and opportunities that will define the future of building hardware in an AI-driven world.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: AI, Articles, on Tools & Techniques, The Hardware Product Develoment Lifecycle

by Hemant Urdhwareshe Leave a Comment

Reliability Sample Size P3 with failures using Binomial Distribution

Reliability Sample Size P3 with failures using Binomial Distribution

Dear friends, we are very happy to release this video on the first day of the World Quality Month 2023! Some of you have asked the question about how the formula for success run theorem was derived! You should find answer to that question in this video!

Also, the previous video shows the sample size calculation using template! However, in this video, Hemant Urdhwareshe, Fellow of ASQ, explains the mathematics of it and also illustrates how to perform sample size calculations using Microsoft Excel!

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Institute of Quality & Reliability, on Tools & Techniques

by Ray Harkins Leave a Comment

Back to the Basics: Calibration vs. Verification

Back to the Basics: Calibration vs. Verification

In the push toward digital transformation, automated inspection, and AI-enabled quality systems, it’s easy to overlook the fundamentals that quietly hold everything together. Among them are two terms that are frequently confused, even by seasoned professionals: Calibration and Verification

These words live at the core of measurement assurance, and understanding the difference isn’t academic; it shapes risk decisions, audit outcomes, and ultimately, product quality and reliability.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, on Tools & Techniques, The Manufacturing Academy

by Hemant Urdhwareshe Leave a Comment

Sigma Level and Process Capability Indices

Sigma Level and Process Capability Indices

Dear friends, we are happy to release this interesting video to explain and illustrate the relationship between sigma level and process capability indices Cp and Cpk! Hemant Urdhwareshe, ASQ Fellow and Six Sigma Master Black Belt, explains this relationship with animations! We are sure, you will find this video interesting and useful!

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Institute of Quality & Reliability, on Tools & Techniques

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