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Find all articles across all article series listed in reverse chronological order.
Across every mature RCA program we’ve seen, one pattern is unmistakable: leaders who consistently close the loop win.
Not sponsors who attend kickoffs. Not managers who ask for status updates. Leaders who personally ensure that corrective actions are implemented with the same rigor used to identify root causes have RCA programs that thrive.
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In this unit, we delve into the second and third steps of the Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) process: identifying Functional Failures and writing Failure Modes. It’s vital to distinguish between Failure Effects and the actual causes of failures. A Failure Mode, often termed a failure cause, specifically pinpoints what specifically causes a Functional Failure. Proper training is essential, as accurately identified Failure Modes are the cornerstone of developing effective failure management strategies. We will introduce the four criteria for including Failure Modes in an RCM analysis. This session uses practical examples, such as bearing failures, to demonstrate how well-defined Failure Modes lead to actionable solutions like vibration analysis or enhanced training programs. Learn to balance the level of detail in your documentation to prevent oversimplification and avoid analysis paralysis, ensuring your RCM process is comprehensive and effective.
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Is your CMMS cluttered with spare parts and throwaway items? Not sure what qualifies as an asset—or why it matters?
In this video, we walk through the logic behind building a clean, effective asset portfolio. Learn how to define what belongs in your CMMS or EAM system, how to structure your asset hierarchy, and how to avoid the common mistakes that derail reliability strategies.
✅ What counts as an asset
✅ What to leave out
✅ How to build decision logic that lasts
✅ Why this matters for ISO 55000 and long-term success
If you’re tired of second-guessing your asset list, this is your starting point.
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Message to “Inside FMEA” readers. This is a reprint of a message that went out earlier this week as part of the Accendo Weekly Update. I wanted to be sure to reach any “Inside FMEA” readers who may have missed the original request.
My new eBook is in draft form and ready for review. I am very excited to introduce this project, as it is the culmination of a career in reliability engineering and FMEA. The title is Achieving Effective FMEAs: Simple Principles for Realizing the Full Potential of Failure Mode and Effects Analysis. It summarizes and simplifies articles I’ve written over the years as part of the Inside FMEA Series, with added emphasis on principles, examples, exercises and case studies. Each chapter has a section called “Potential AI Application” which shares where AI is useful, and where human involvement is essential. [Read more…]
Performance monitoring is often where reliability intent meets operational reality and where many well-intentioned reliability programmes quietly lose focus.
Most organisations monitor something, such as failures, availability, response times or costs. The challenge is choosing indicators that genuinely reflect system performance, rather than those that are simply easy to collect or report.
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One of the issues I’ve had with failure modes and effects analysis is the focus on failure modes.
The symptoms that the customer or end user will experience are important. If a customer detects that the product has failed, that is a failure. The FMEA process does help us to identify and focus on the important elements of a design that improve the product reliability. That is all good.
The issue is that the FMEA process doesn’t go far enough to really aid the team in focusing on what action to take when addressing a failure mode. The process does include the discussion of the causes of the failure mode. The causes are often the team members’ educated opinions on what is likely to cause the failure mode. Often the description of a cause is a failed part, faulty code, or faulty assembly.
Generally, the discussion of causes is vague.
On November 24, 2000, PacifiCorp experienced a massive generator failure at its Hunter Power Plant in Castle Dale, Utah. Post-event inspection of the generator revealed a serious failure of the stator core—a cylindrical structure nearly 19 feet long and more than 16 feet across—which had partially melted. At the time, the generator was operating at its maximum capacity of 415 megawatts. Sparks and heavy arcing were observed before the unit tripped automatically, shutting the system down within 55 minutes.
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This article is adapted from Chapter 8 of my book, Measuring Manufacturing Effectiveness.
The book explores how manufacturing organizations define and use performance metrics, and how those definitions influence operational decisions, improvement efforts, and management behavior. While the chapters form a connected framework, each is written to address a specific aspect of manufacturing effectiveness and can be read independently.
Performance loss is often described in overly simple terms—the equipment is running slower than it should. While speed is certainly part of the story, this narrow view hides a much broader set of losses that affect output, flow, and stability.
Chapter 8 expands the discussion of performance loss beyond basic speed shortfalls. It examines how interruptions, minor stops, micro-downtime, variability, and operating practices contribute to lost performance—even when equipment appears to be running continuously.
By broadening how performance loss is defined and observed, this chapter aims to improve how organizations diagnose problems and select effective improvement actions.
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Cultures rise and cultures fall. That’s a fact. We’ve had the Aztecs and Mayans of Central America, the Hittites of Asia Minor, ancient Egypt and its pharaohs as well as classical Greece and the times of Alexander the Great. Genghis Kahn and his Mongol hoards created an empire and cultures that once dominated much of the known world.
In more recent times we’ve experienced a few short-lived cultures. Some, albeit too politically and morally sensitive to mention, only lasted for a matter of years despite proclaiming that they would last a millennium.
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ISO 55001 Certification Bodies are accrediting Service Providers to the ISO 55001 asset management standard in the misconstrued belief that a Service Provider’s ‘asset’ is the Contract with a Client. This misunderstanding is dire for service business success.
Having lots of paying clients is the cause of a Service Provider’s success. For a Service Provider, THE ASSET IS THE CLIENT. The Contract with a Client is not the asset!
There is a wonderful ISO 55001 certification benefit you get when YOUR CLIENT IS THE ASSET: The Contract between you and your Client can become your ISO 55001 Strategic Asset Management Plan (SAMP). After all, the Contract explains how you will provide your services to help the Client achieve their organizational goals. That’s exactly what a Strategic Asset Management Plan is meant to do.
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RCAs often get marked complete, but teams don’t know whether the investigation was actually effective.
Actions are assigned and work moves on, yet the investigation team rarely sees whether conclusions held up, whether actions prevented recurrence, or whether the same failure quietly showed up somewhere else.
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RCM in a Nutshell | Free RCM Overview Course – Understand the RCM Process, what RCM (really ) is, How to Apply it Properly, and What Can Be Achieved
In this unit, we delve into the foundational steps of Reliability Centered Maintenance: defining the Operating Context and Functions. Starting with an Operating Context provides a narrative about what the equipment is, its technical details, its operational environment, and its usage expectations. This story sets the stage for a unified understanding among all stakeholders involved in maintaining the equipment. We then move to Functions, the first of seven steps in the RCM process, where reliability is not just an abstract concept but a tangible attribute defined through specific performance standards of the equipment. Through real-world comparisons of air compressor analyses, I illustrate the stark difference between routine function descriptions and those meticulously crafted to meet precise organizational needs. This segment reveals how detailed function writing not only enhances reliability but also uncovers critical insights about equipment operation, which can correct misconceptions and prevent chronic failures. Join me as we explore how properly written functions are integral to effective maintenance strategies and responsible equipment stewardship.
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When senior management tells you not to discuss something with others, the worst move is to confront them. The second worst is silence. The professional approach is alignment. This article describes six proven techniques for understanding senior management’s concerns and providing options for disclosing necessary information to decision makers.
“I don’t care what you say. We are not going to turn in one of our clients to a regulatory agency,” one of our national technical managers exclaimed.
“Well, I am not licensed in this state,” I calmly stated. “But any of our licensed engineers or industrial hygienists are going to have big problems if the client doesn’t do it first.” [Read more…]
A Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is a structured approach to identifying the underlying factors that result in the unwanted/unexpected outcomes of chronic or sporadic events. It is a methodic and rigorous process. It also highlights what assets, systems or behaviors need to be modified to limit or eliminate recurrence of similar undesirable outcomes. The fundamental driver is to address, correct or mitigate the root causes that lead to the unwanted event(s) rather than addressing the symptom(s). Bob Latino, a renowned RCA expert, summarizes this concept as “the establishing of logically complete, evidence based, tightly coupled chains of factors from the least acceptable consequences to the deepest significant underlying causes.”
[Read more…]Supplier reliability is often treated as something that can be contracted out. When systems fail, the instinct is to point to the supplier, the specification, the warranty, or the contract. In practice, reliability is rarely owned by one party alone.
Suppliers design, build and deliver products, but customers define requirements, operating context, acceptance criteria and support concepts. Reliability outcomes sit in the space between those responsibilities.
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