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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…]

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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…]

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The Power of Empowering Employees

Unlocking Potential and Driving Success

Empowering employees is more than a management buzzword—it’s a transformative approach to leadership that benefits individuals, teams, and organizations alike. When employees feel empowered, they take ownership of their roles, embrace responsibility, and actively contribute to the success of their organization. But what does empowerment truly mean, and how can leaders create an environment where it thrives? 

At its core, empowerment is about trust. It involves granting employees the autonomy to make decisions, solve problems, and take actions within their roles. This trust not only boosts morale but also encourages employees to innovate, challenge the status quo, and drive improvements. The result? A more engaged workforce that’s motivated to contribute at its highest potential. [Read more…]

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Book Review: An Elementary Guide to Reliability

Book Review: An Elementary Guide to Reliability

If you sort your Amazon search on ‘reliability engineering’ by price: low to high, you may find some interesting titles available for free or maybe a few pennies. Not one to resist a chance to fill another bookcase, it’s been a bit of a spending spree.

One of the reasons I am interested in older titles is to determine why MTBF is so prevalent today. So far, still looking and learning along the way.

There are many great books in our field. Sure, some are older. Some are not at all useful or helpful.

This book review is the first in what may become a monthly addition to the NoMTBF blog.

Today’s review is on the book, An Elementary Guide to Reliability (3rd) Third Edition, by G. W. A. Dummer and R. C. Winton. [Read more…]

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5 Why’s

5 Why’s

The 5 Whys technique is a powerful tool for root cause analysis, originally developed by Sakichi Toyoda and later popularized by Taiichi Ohno within the Toyota Production System. This method involves asking “why” five times to drill down to the root cause of a problem, rather than just addressing its symptoms. In the context of product development, particularly in the automotive industry, the 5 Whys approach can significantly improve overall reliability by uncovering the true sources of failure modes.

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Equipment Defect Elimination Strategy

Equipment Defect Elimination Strategy

If you want to drastically reduce maintenance costs, stop lost production, eradicate unplanned outages and equipment breakdowns, you need to stop the continual introduction of defects and errors into your operation.

You do that by using quality management practices to drive continuous improvement of your management systems and so continuously improve the business processes, and your peoples’ knowledge.

Abstract:

To reduce maintenance costs and production downtime it is necessary to reduce the causes of the maintenance and downtime.  Both maintenance and downtime are an effect and not a cause.  The causes can be traced back to defects and errors from a variety of sources.  Knowing that defects eventually lead to future equipment failures, production downtime and lost profits, it is necessary put strategies into place to purposely prevent them occurring in the first place and to eliminate them if they are present.

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PM Communications: Orders, Ordered, or Orderly Execution

PM Communications: Orders, Ordered, or Orderly Execution

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

Orders and being ordered can mean many things to many people.  In biology order concerns the taxonomic rank for classifying organisms.  More generally speaking it concerns the arrangement of people or things in relation to each other in some form of pattern, sequence, or method.  Alternatively, it can mean an authoritative command or instructions that are, typically, conveyed in a particular sequence.  When ordering a meal, for example, it’s normally done in the order in which the food will be served, but that’s always best clarified in some countries!

However, and despite orders regulating many of the things we do and being an intimate part of our lives, the concept of giving or taking ‘orders’ is taken as reprehensible and repugnant behaviour by some.  Ordering for them, outside of restaurants or other purveyors of supplies, smacks of being in the army or being subjugated.  Regimentation and discipline are often frowned upon by some of our more sensitive colleagues.

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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…]

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A Practical Path to Better Asset Prioritization and Critical Assets

A Practical Path to Better Asset Prioritization and Critical Assets

You will quickly run out of time, budget, and patience if your organization treats every asset as if it were the center of the universe. The Solomon-Oldach Asset Prioritization (SOAP) method offers a practical, facilitation-friendly approach for identifying which assets matter most. SOAP was developed as a streamlined alternative to the exhaustive (and exhausting) criticality assessments that often bog down teams. SOAP delivers a defensible, operationally relevant ranking of critical assets and systems with a fraction of the effort involved in traditional processes. [Read more…]

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Failure free? How come?

Failure free? How come?

Parameter Definition in Statistics

In statistics, parameters are numerical characteristics that describe a population or distribution. They summarize important aspects of the population. For example, in a normal distribution, the mean and variance are key parameters that define the distribution. Parameters are often denoted by Greek letters (e.g., μ for mean) and are used to create a parametric family, which consists of all distributions defined by the same parameters.

There is typically at least one parameter in every distribution. Some distributions can have different multiples of parameters. The exponential can have up to two, the lognormal have up to 3. This article deals with the Weibull distribution which can have 2 or 3 parameters.

[Read more…]

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When Do Failures Count?

When Do Failures Count?

One technique to calculate a product’s MTBF is to count the number of failures and divide by the tally of operating time.

You already know, kind reader, that using MTBF has its own perils, yet it is done. We do not have to look very far to see someone estimating or calculating MTBF, as if it were a useful representation of reliability… alas, I digress.

Counting failures would appear to be an easy task. It apparently is not. [Read more…]

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Correlation vs. Causation

Correlation vs. Causation

In the field of reliability engineering, distinguishing between correlation and causation is essential for accurately identifying the root causes of system failures and ensuring the reliability of engineered systems.

Correlation refers to a statistical relationship between two variables where changes in one variable are associated with changes in another. However, this relationship does not imply that one variable causes the other to change. For example, an increase in ice cream sales and shark attacks are correlated because both increase during the summer, but one does not cause the other.

[Read more…]

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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.

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