What is a Protective Device? Why are Protective Devices important? And how do you properly take care of them? Watch as I explain all three. [Read more…]
Are you protected…?
Articles
Find all articles across all article series listed in reverse chronological order.
How do I know what product or process characteristics to control?
While the construction of control charts is relatively straight-forward, often a more difficult question is “how do I know what process characteristic to control in the first place?” Clearly, controlling “everything” is not feasible or a smart use of limited resources. [Read more…]
Actuarial Forecasts, Least Squares Reliability, and Martingales
I learned actuarial methods working for the USAF Logistics Command. We used actuarial rates to forecast demands and recommend stock levels for expensive engines tracked by serial number, hours, and cycles. I had a hunch that actuarial methods could be applied to all service parts, without life data. [Read more…]
How to not do supplier relationships
You can’t win wars where your allies are also your enemies
Steve Tengler from Forbes Magazine recently wrote about how Audi was improving the reliability and quality of its cars … by helping its suppliers. And while I wished he had a little more robustness behind his conclusions, he reinforced just how important it is to focus on who makes your products and not just what they make. [Read more…]
Materials and Design Risk
The materials used in new equipment can pose a design risk. But what makes a material a design risk? And how is de-risking achieved for metallic and nonmetallic materials?
To satisfy design requirements for loading, corrosion resistance, and manufacturability, materials properties must be controlled. Design risk is high when material properties are not controlled and materials are not selected using best practices. And as stated in Equipment Risk, material stability is also necessary for long service life, meaning that mechanical and physical property response to elevated temperature and corrosive media is predictable or reasonably estimated. Thus, controls for material properties and selection are the basis of de-risking. [Read more…]
Professional Development & Growth
The key to growing your knowledge and career
To increase your knowledge, you need to learn new things, try new things and generally push outside of your comfort zone. One of the key components of growing your knowledge is knowing what is new and happening in Maintenance, Reliability, and Asset Management.
I recently had the privilege to attend and present two papers at the Society of Maintenance & Reliability Professional’s 2016 Annual Conference in Jacksonville. This premier event was 5 days long. The conference had 3 Days of workshops and courses, with 2 days of presentations. Many certification exams were held, such as the CMRT, CMRP, CAMA. [Read more…]
A Risk Imperative for Agency Leaders
Guest Post by James Kline (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)
In June 2019, the Association for Federal Risk Management publish a document entitled: “Getting Ahead of Risks Before They Become Government Failures: An Imperative for Agency Leaders to Embrace Enterprise Risk Management”. The document states: “Agencies are under increasing pressure to perform their missions more effectively and efficiently, while the types of challenges that government confronts are growing more complex.
Agency leaders are expected to keep program and operations on track by getting ahead of risks before they turn into problems.” (1) [Read more…]
Entropy Fundamentals for more Uptime – Part 1
Entropy fundamentals for more Uptime can help us understand maintenance and reliability a little bit better. Reliability requires good execution of the right maintenance (energy), otherwise we will see reactive maintenance (entropy and chaos) increase. Engineers are familiar with the concept of “entropy” and the laws of thermodynamics. The second law of thermodynamics states that the total entropy of an isolated system always increases over time. It can remain constant in ideal cases where the system is at a steady-state or undergoing a reversible process. So what does that mean for us in the world of asset management and maintenance? [Read more…]
Stratification: A Basic Quality Tool
Stratification implies layers or differences. A quick test for soil composition is to place a sample of soil with water in a clear jar and give it a shake. The sand, silt and loam will settle at different rates and create a layered appearance within the jar over time. The height of each layer provides information about the proportion of each type of soil within the sample.
Stratification as one of the seven basic quality tools (some lists use a run chart or flowchart instead) the idea of layers or differences still applies. The idea is to identify potentially meaning differences within a sample set. [Read more…]
Basic DOE Terminology
In this article post, we formally define or describe the basic terminology that is commonly used in Design of Experiments. Some of the terms we have already been using in prior posts, but they will also be presented here for completeness. This is Part I of a two part article covering DOE Terminology. [Read more…]
Storeroom and Spare Parts Management
Unlocking the Hidden Cash Flow in Your Organization
Imagine not have the right spare parts to make a repair, or maybe you don’t have to imagine it. It has already happened. Now imagine having to go through the storeroom and throw out $300,000 worth of parts because they were obsolete. Once again, you may not have to imagine it. [Read more…]
Ergodicity, Toilet Paper, and Field Reliability
Ergodicity means that cross-section probabilities equal longitudinal lifetime probabilities. (“Ergos” is Greek for “work.” Think of “ergonomics”.) Ergodicity means that we can estimate age-specific field reliability functions from cross-section data: ships (installed base) and returns (complaints, failures, service parts’ sales, etc.). Ships and returns provide information about lifetimes. Returns are the superpositions of failures of products or their parts started at different times. What does ergodicity have to do with toilet paper? [Read more…]
Relationship between FMEA and Risk Management
“If no one ever took risks, Michelangelo would have painted the Sistine floor.” – Neil Simon
FMEA and Risk Management are two distinct bodies of knowledge. This article explores some of the interactions between these two important methods. It is not intended to be a complete analysis of the similarities, differences, and linkages between FMEA and risk management. Rather, it is a high-level overview.
Decision Points: How to Prepare for Big Decisions
Guest Post by Andrew Sheves (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)
A decision point is a moment when a significant choice presents itself and the decision made will result in a significant change of course that cannot be undone easily. Moreover, that same choice or option is unlikely to reemerge in the future. The essential elements are that the decision is significant, non-repeatable, and non-reversible.
The problem is that decision points don’t always announce themselves as clearly as the examples above suggest. Sometimes, the decision point looks a lot like other, similar moments except the context or consequences are very different. At other times, the decision point might get overlooked, mixed in with other less critical choices amongst a flood of activity. So it can be easy to overlook or miss the decision point. [Read more…]
Asset Management in Public and Private Sectors
Asset Management in Public and Private Sectors have some similarities and some contrasts. Most of our clients are in the private sector but occasionally we do some public sector work so we see both sides. Often, we notice distinct differences in practices and in what motivates those practices. Both have strengths and weaknesses. Both can learn a lot from each other. [Read more…]
