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Take a Risk and Acquire Skills for Future Work

Take a Risk and Acquire Skills for Future Work

Guest Post by John Ayers (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)




Today, there is a lot of attention and discussion regarding future work. How will new technology impacts jobs? What will it look like? What jobs will be eliminated? What will the future jobs look like? How should I prepare?




It is difficult to identify with any accuracy what jobs will be eliminated and what new jobs will be available. My advice is to focus on skills. What skills will help ensure job security in the future?  This is the real question.




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Uptime Insights – 4 – Basic Care

Uptime Insights – 4 – Basic Care

Like the human body, our plant and mobile equipment will break down if it’s not looked after. If we exercise and push ourselves harder, we gain strength. Unlike our biological bodies that can self-repair, our physical plants and mobile equipment do NOT strengthen if we overload them.  Yes, they will tolerate some abuse but not for long. Machinery, unlike biological organisms, can not recover from damage on its own. It needs a bit of basic care. Basic care is all about taking care of our physical assets so they continue to do what we need them to do. Take care of their fluids (e.g.: oils, coolants), keep them from running hot (e.g.: clean heat transfer surfaces like cooling fins), and keep them free of contaminants that damage their insides (e.g.: keep moisture and dirt out). In the “Uptime Pyramid of Excellence,” the pinnacle is “Choosing Excellence”. That choice implies an active application of all of the model’s components. It’s a journey, not a destination.

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Credible Reliability Prediction?

Credible Reliability Prediction?

ASQ Reliability Division published “Credible Reliability Prediction” (CRP) in 2003. Harold Williams, Reliability Division monograph series editor, wrote, “[CRP] …delineates statistical methods that effectively extend MTBF prediction to complex, redundant, dependent, standby, and life-limited systems… This is the first text that describes a credible method of making age-specific reliability predictions…. This monograph presents insights and information inspired by real applications and [still] not covered in contemporary reliability textbooks.” 

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Words (like ‘failure’) are important. But not as important as leadership.

Words (like ‘failure’) are important. But not as important as leadership.

I (like most of us) try to keep learning about stuff. And this includes (on occasion) listening to guys like Simon Sinek who has made a name for himself as an inspirational speaker and author. I learn a lot from some of his stuff. Most people like Simon are skilled at simplifying fundamentally ‘good’ ideas and principles into really simple messages that are easy to break through our sometimes cluttered brains. 




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Error: Is it a Cause or an Outcome?

Error: Is it a Cause or an Outcome?

Trick question, it’s neither!

When we hear people use the term ‘error’ it is normally associated with being the cause of some type of bad outcome. We hear it all the time with airline accidents where they conclude ‘pilot error’.

‘Error’ is neither the cause nor the undesirable outcome! Let’s see why.

Is the only type of error a ‘human error’? I struggled to think of an ‘error’ that is not a human error, so I asked if others could think of something else. I would like to thank Dr. Peter Elias who commented that errors can occur in biologic processes, such as RNA and DNA replication or messaging. He also cited non-human animals make errors all the time as well.

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Ensuring Equipment Doesn’t Grow Out of Alignment

Understanding & Compensating for Thermal Growth

A major asset is being installed, and the asset is vital to the success of a brand new, high-profit product being introduced to the site.  This product is enough to keep the site operational for many years to come.  The installation of the asset is critical, and there is extensive prep work to eliminate soft foot, ensuring the base is flat (using geometric measurement) and that the asset is aligned properly.
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Structure, Silence and Lots and Lots of Notes – How to Conduct an Effective Interview

Structure, Silence and Lots and Lots of Notes – How to Conduct an Effective Interview

Guest Post by Andrew Sheves (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)




“Well, there was the kidnapping. Is that something you’re interested in?”




It was our last day of a week-long site security survey. We were meeting with the site manager to wrap up our visit but this was the first time we had heard anything about something as serious as this.




So yes, a kidnapping was something we were very, very interested in learning about….




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Planning for Results

Planning for Results

There are two things you must do in a successful maintenance program: be good at doing your work, and only do the right work. Both are needed to deliver asset reliability – the cornerstone of sustainable, safe and quality production levels. In chasing reliability many turn to programs for defining the right work, yet many of those efforts will fail. Why? Poor or ineffective planning. The greatest benefits come from defining the right maintenance program using RCM and then implementing with quality work and on schedule.

Failure of reliability improvement programs can be from poor execution of RCM, but more often it is the result of something more basic. They are stuck in a culture of unreliability. [Read more…]

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Closing the Manufacturing Skills Gap

Closing the Manufacturing Skills Gap

Manufacturing companies are struggling with the persistent and growing problem of finding employees with the skills needed to sustain and grow their businesses. This problem is commonly called the “skills gap.” Other sectors like construction are also affected by this skills gap. But at the macroeconomic level, the skills gap in manufacturing is particularly profound because of the growth in other sectors that manufacturing influences.




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RCFA…What is the Problem?

RCFA…What is the Problem?

In all the years of facilitating RCFA, what seems like the easiest part has proven to be one of the most challenging.  Documenting the problem statement.  It is human nature is to immediately develop an opinion and provide a solution.  When a group of people are put in a room together for an RCFA they immediately believe they are there to solve THE problem.  This leads to a focus on solutions to the event as it occurred.  The team gathers in the room and the facilitator asks what the problem statement is, and the replies tell it all.  “Jane, the operator, hit the wrong button.”  “The technician didn’t know how to install the bearing.”  “Poor lubrication.”  Sound familiar?

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How to Change Design Reviews from Tedious to Awesome

How to Change Design Reviews from Tedious to Awesome

We’ve all been ‘there.’ Watching the ‘mechanical’ design team lead go through 378 PowerPoint slides of suffocating technical content, pixelated iPhone pictures of bearing housings, and lists of ‘open’ items in fonts that are too small. There are ‘senior’ engineers wheeled in to ‘review’ but instead nod knowingly and ask sporadic questions about something they once designed ‘back in the day.’ And the chairperson will often ask our ‘mechanical’ design team lead if they are ‘on track.’




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