Warranty to Failure Rate
Abstract
Chris and Fred discuss what (if anything) we can learn from advertised warranty or reliability specifications from vendors.
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SOR 817 Warranty to Failure Rate
Why Redundant Systems Aren’t Always Redundant
Why Redundant Systems Aren’t Always Redundant
podcast episode with speaker Chris Jackson
Redundancy has continually proven not always to be redundant. Whether the Fukushima nuclear power plant or United Airlines Flight 232, additional components or subsystems that are supposed to take over when others have failed don’t always work. Why is that? There are quite a few reasons … many of which we already know about. But time and time again, otherwise, smart people choose to ignore what we know about how to REALLY make things redundant in order to save costs, save thinking, or otherwise confuse efforts with outcomes. In this webinar, we will look at how redundancy is described in textbooks … and how it can go wrong in the real world.
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SOR 808 What is a Reliability Score?
What is a Reliability Score?
Abstract
Chris and Fred discuss how we communicate reliability to our customers. And they haven’t completed university courses in reliability engineering …
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SOR 807 Confidence and Tolerance Intervals
Confidence and Tolerance Intervals
Abstract
Chris and Fred discuss the difference between ‘confidence,’ ‘tolerance’ and ‘prediction’ intervals. Is there any point in understanding the difference between these concepts? … or is it something only statisticians find useful?
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What is the Weibull Distribution?
What is the Weibull Distribution?
podcast episode with speaker Chris Jackson
Whether new to reliability or a veteran, you have probably heard about the Weibull distribution. It has almost mythical status amongst those who conduct reliability data analysis … or in other words – turning a jumble of dots (data points) into information that actually means something. So why do we ‘worship’ the Weibull distribution? What is so special about it? Whether you have been doing this for a long time or five minutes, you will get something out of this webinar that looks at one of the most popular tools for reliability analysis.
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SOR 802 How to Talk About MTBF
How to Talk About MTBF
Abstract
Chris and Fred discuss the pointlessness of the MTBF. This comes from a listener who reached out to complain about how lots of industries enforce the MTBF … but why?
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SOR 801 Deferred Maintenance in the News
Deferred Maintenance in the News
Abstract
Chris and Fred discuss about what happens when we ‘defer’ maintenance … or do it later … or perhaps never. When is it OK to do this?
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SOR 800 What Could Go Wrong
What Could Go Wrong
Abstract
Chris and Fred discuss ‘what can go wrong’ in scenarios where it is almost impossible to even comprehend might happen … like when something is really old! ᐅ Play Episode
What is a ‘Fault Tree’?
What is a ‘Fault Tree’?
podcast episode with speaker Chris Jackson
If you have spent any time doing reliability engineering stuff, you will probably have heard of this thing called a ‘fault tree.’ You may have even used fault trees a lot. But it is amazing how many different reliability engineers have different ideas about how to use a fault tree best. Some think fault trees are strictly used to work out which combinations of components need to fail for the system to fail (system reliability modeling). Others think fault trees are really useful for helping us work out what the causes of failure are (root cause analysis). Both people are right. So why do we get these competing schools of thought? Join us for this webinar to learn more about how fault trees can help you … regardless of what you are trying to achieve.
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SOR 793 Putting Reliability Plans Together
Putting Reliability Plans Together
Abstract
Chris and Fred discuss how we create a ‘reliability plan.’ It is not simply a list of tools …
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SOR 792 Overcoming Resistance
Overcoming Resistance
Abstract
Chris and Fred discuss how we overcome cultural resistance to ‘good’ things – like better reliability engineering. Is it possible?
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SOR 787 Working with a Lab
Working with a Lab
Abstract
Chris and Fred discuss how you go about finding a lab to help you come up with some meaningful reliability information. Does that laboratory exist?
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SOR 786 Strength-Stress with Limited Information
Strength-Stress with Limited Information
Abstract
Chris and Fred discuss this thing called ‘stress-strength’ we hear a lot about in the world of reliability … especially when we need to use it to work out ‘reliability stuff.’
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What do you see in a ‘Probability’ Plot?
What do you see in a ‘Probability’ Plot?
podcast episode with speaker Chris Jackson
Some of you might have heard about probability plots … like Weibull plots. Some of you might not. A Weibull plot is a really useful way of quickly ‘looking’ at data and being able to ‘see’ really useful things. This could be seeing that a system’s failure rate is decreasing over time … which usually means there are manufacturing defects. It could be seeing that the rate of failure of a system is increasing over time … which means the system is accumulating damage or wearing out. And lots of other things. So, let’s look at a different sort of ‘probability’ plot … and see what we can work out from it. And that means working out what we need to do to improve reliability. Join this webinar if you want to learn how to see really useful things in lines that you might not have appreciated in the past.
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SOR 781 Data and Mechanism
Data and Mechanisms
Abstract
Chris and Fred discuss how reliability data analysis really doesn’t mean a lot … unless you pair it with a failure mechanism. Why is this? What does that mean?
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