Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site
The Rate of Occurrence of Failure (ROCOF) curve is the sum of all the individual component failure curves across the service life of an asset. As shown below, it looks like a bathtub, giving it the nickname, a bathtub curve.
Equipment reliability is malleable by choice of policy and quality of practice.
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The late quality guru W. Edwards Deming advised graphing the process variables and the process outputs across time on a run chart (a time-series plot) to identify uncertainty and variability. When the run charts are used together, they help to identify the times and causes of poor results.
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Every organization and organism’s performance is limited to the capability of its design. If you want better business results, then get or build a new organization with systems designed to naturally deliver the outcomes and profits you want. Nothing else you do will ever work as well!
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There are only two ways to get high system reliability if you want a highly reliable system. Equipment in an operation can be configured in series or in parallel. In series, one item connects sequentially to the other. In parallel, each item is arranged as a companion, where one duplicates the other.
A series arrangement needs exceptionally reliable individual equipment to get a highly reliable system. A parallel arrangement can form a highly reliable system even if individual equipment has poor reliability.
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PLANT WELLNESS WAY EAM METHODOLOGY USES THE ‘IONICS’ STRATEGIC ASSET MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR BUILDING AN ASSET MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
SIMPLY FOLLOW THE INDUSTRIAL AND MANUFACTURING WELLNESS BOOK TO CREATE YOUR ORGANIZATION’S ISO 55001 SAMP
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Many people believe Proactive Maintenance is the ultimate physical asset management strategy—but there is one better strategy. To get world class reliability at the least cost there must be no maintenance. Only a “wellness” paradigm can achieve that result.
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Often used to pump slurries, helical rotor pumps (also known as progressivity cavity pump, eccentric screw pump, mono pump) use a spiral rotor to move a chamber full of product through the pump. When moving slurries it is critical that the rotor wipes the rubber or elastomer stator firmly, else fine particles get between the rotor and stator and rip material out. This article discusses a major operating problem when the wrong size rotor was used in a stator.
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This activity-based costing (ABC) method calculates the actual cost of a failure incident and uses the total dollar value to the business as the means to rate equipment criticality. The criticality of an item of plant is determined by the cost consequences and losses of equipment failure across the whole company. Using this method puts a real dollar value on a production equipment loss incident. This financially robust and reliable method provides an accurate way to prioritise production equipment and to justify the necessary risk management and maintenance measures to protect against failure. It recognises that a production failure event has cost repercussions throughout an organisation affecting many people and departments, with all of them incurring costs. These costs are lost business profit that could have been earned and banked, but for the incident. The financial model reflects the actual production and maintenance practices in the operation and their cost implications to the whole organisation if they are inadequate. It delivers clear indication of the responsibility’s managers, supervisors, operators, and maintainers have of properly running, maintaining, and caring for plant and equipment to prevent production-losses to the business.
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Reinforcing bar is forged steel used in concrete to give the otherwise weak concrete structural tension strength. Reinforcing bar manufacturing is done in a factory using computerised machines to straighten, cut and bend the steel. It is a highly automated process once the bar is loaded onto the manufacturing machinery. These machines are computer controlled and form the bar to the shape and dimensions instructed. The bar specification and dimensions are identified from the engineering drawings by the Scheduler who enters the details into a scheduling software program. The program converts the reo-bar size requirements into computer controlled manufacturing instructions for the machines and a delivery schedule for the production shop.
Our assignment was to identify opportunities to improve the business and streamline the operation from production through to delivery.
[Read more…]Example ACE 3T (Target-Tolerance-Test) Procedure with Reliability Standards: Machine performance is totally dependent on human beings. To address the problem of human error causing equipment failure, an Accuracy Controlled Enterprise sets best practice quality standards and uses 3T Target-Tolerance-Test work task quality control that assures high quality workmanship for high reliability results. Their work procedures are standardised so everyone follows the same methods to produce the same results, their training teaches people how to do craftsmanship work that creates outstandingly reliable plant and machinery. They create the reliability they want and as a result achieve operational excellence.
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Road Tanker Design For Fast Unloading And Onshore Pump Drain Tank. To completely empty a road tanker the compartments need to be designed to have a sump that permits total drain-out of the liquid from the lowest point. If a pump is mounted on the trailer, it is best mounted under the trailer. Where a pump is mounted on the tray or fenders it will cavitate at low tanker liquid levels. For an onshore unloading pump installation it is best to install a buffer tank between the tanker and onshore pump to let the road tanker completely drain-out before the pump starts cavitating. Tanker load-out pumps must have a very low net positive suction head requirement.
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This simple example explains how to calculate the failure rate of parts, known as the Hazard Rate, using a drinking glass. Historic records, like maintenance, operating, supply chain, and financial information, are accessed to understand the situation being analyzed and gather modelling data. Once all necessary information is collected and the situation is investigated, then proposals to address and solve the problems causing and permitting the failure to happen are selected and a business case is developed.
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Value Stream Mapping is a business process improvement tool. It derives from the Toyota Production System where it was used to identify the seven wastes in a production process. It is now used across all business processes because the principle of finding and removing waste applies throughout every business.
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