Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site
Find all articles across all article series listed in reverse chronological order.
Breaking an old business model is always going to require leaders to follow their instincts. There will always be persuasive reasons not to take a risk. But if you only do what worked in the past, you’ll wake up one day and find that you’ve been passed by.
[Read more…]
Dear friends, I am posting a video after some gap! This is our first video in our series on Response Surface Designs. Response Surface Designs become necessary when we want to model a second order response in an experiment. In this first video, Hemant Urdhwareshe explains addition of centerpoint to a factorial design to assess presence of non-linearity in the response. The concept is explained with a virtual catapult with a two-factor two-level design.
Links to the related videos:
(1) DOE-1: Introduction to Design of Experiments
(2) DOE-8: Linearity and Orthogonality in Experimental Design
(3) DOE-6: Case Study in Creating Full Factorial Design in Minitab
(4) DOE-7: Analyse Factorial Design with Minitab
[Read more…]
What Is SAE JA1011? The International Standard for Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)
In today’s video, I explain SAE JA1011, the internationally recognized standard that sets the minimum criteria for any process to be called Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM). Published in 1999, this 12-page document was created to ensure that the term “RCM” is used correctly, following the original principles defined by Stanley Nowlan and Howard Heap. If you’re ever presented with a process claiming to be RCM, SAE JA1011 is your go-to reference to verify that the process is True RCM.
[Read more…]
Once a problem is clearly identified, the team must gather information concerning the problem, and identify potential solutons. After evaluating the potential solutions, the team can select the solution that will solve the problem effectively. It is then time to plan the details on the design change implementation.
[Read more…]
Everyone loves a great story. Storytelling has been a long tradition to pass along knowledge and wisdom.
There are good stories, tales of inspiration. There are sad stories, tales of caution.
There are fables, ghost stores, legends, epic poems, and more. When considering the reliability performance of your product or equipment, you probably have a few stories that you can tell. “That time … “
Simple join colleagues for lunch and ask about the ‘major disasters’ of the past. The stories help us to remember and hopefully avoid repeating mistakes.
Here are three stories with MTBF as a central figure. It is a site and blog that does take about MTBF, so it fits. To start, let me introduce you to Martin, a new reliability engineering reporting to his first day of work at a bicycle design and manufacturing company. Two sad stories and a good one. enjoy. [Read more…]
The level of care given to an equipment item depends directly on the size of business risk if it fails. Reduce the chance of its failure and you increase its reliability. It becomes vital to know the full range of risks each part within an equipment item will suffer. The right asset management strategy starts by knowing which parts are at risk and it is completed when the necessary actions to prevent all failures are in use. Asset Management that does not identify all the risks to equipment parts when selecting equipment maintenance and operating strategies will get you doing the wrong work.
[Read more…]
Back in 1990, I was introduced to Og Mandino, a best selling American author, just three of his books, “The Greatest Salesman in the World” The Greatest Miracle in The World” and “The Greatest Secret in the World” these three books alone sold over 50 million copies, his lecture was on “How to write and Speak.” In his presentation, which had been a tradition for more than 40 years, was posted on YouTube not long after his death in 1996. In it, he explains the relationship among three critical elements of any level of success: knowledge (K), practice (P) and talent (T).
“Gremlins today” is a series of short articles on problems that plague industrial operations the world over.
Originally, Gremlins were fictitious mischievous trouble makers who caused Royal Air Force aircraft breakdowns during World War II. Author Roald Dahl published a book about them in 1943, based on his own experience as an RAF pilot. Pilots in the RAF used to carry lucky Gremlins to ward off their effects. Dahl worked with Disney to publish a cartoon book based on them, but it never made it into a movie at the time. Never-the-less, it did loosely inspire the 1984 movie, “Gremlins,” by Steven Spielberg.
[Read more…]
In leadership, vision is everything. It’s the guiding star that directs decision-making, inspires action, and shapes the future of an organization. Whether in business, maintenance, or any other field, a clear and compelling vision can determine the trajectory of success or failure. Without it, even the most well-intentioned efforts can flounder. The power of vision in leadership and organizational success cannot be overstated. In essence, all things rise and fall on vision—or the lack thereof.
[Read more…]Dear friends, we are happy to release this second video on statistical process control charts. In this video, Hemant Urdhwareshe illustrates how to use attributes charts, specifically p-charts for proportion defective and np charts for number defective! Watch our video SPC-1 for Introduction and Selection of Control Charts, and X-bar and R charts.
[Read more…]
Do You Need a Formal Criticality Analysis to Select Equipment for RCM? In today’s video, I answer a common question: is a formal criticality analysis required to determine what equipment should undergo Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)? While you can perform a formal criticality analysis, it’s not always necessary. One of the best ways to get started with RCM is to focus on equipment that causes chronic downtime or has the highest costs. Starting small with pilot projects on your highest pain points is a practical approach. Join me in beautiful Santiago, Chile, as I share how common sense can guide your RCM efforts, ensuring you get the reliability you need without overcomplicating the process.
[Read more…]
Continuous improvement doesn’t happen in a vacuum. To raise the quality, reliability, and performance of their products and processes, organizations must look beyond their own four walls.
Benchmarking — the practice of studying others to improve your own performance — is a foundational tool for competitive advantage.
Whether comparing products, processes, or management systems, effective benchmarking helps organizations discover new ideas, set realistic goals, and accelerate improvement.
Let’s take a step back and explore the basics of benchmarking: what it is, how it works, and why it matters.
[Read more…]
In recent articles we covered value stream concepts and characterized the value stream in the context of supply chain major sub-processes. We summarized the manufacturing value stream according to the following process blocks:
A picture is worth a thousand words. An interface is worth a thousand pictures. Ben Shneiderman
In this article, I will outline how to evaluate an individual Design FMEA (DFMEA) against the FMEA Quality Objective for Interfaces. [Read more…]
When we think of reliability tools, the FMEA often takes the spotlight. But if you’re skipping the P-Diagram, you’re likely missing the very foundation of failure prevention.
In my 15+ years working on field reliability and failure analysis, I’ve come to view the Parameter Diagram (P-Diagram) as the unsung hero of robust design.
[Read more…]