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First Impressions

First Impressions

Note: This first article in the NoMTBF campaign was published on April 1st, 2009. Thus, we’ve been at this and making progress for a long time and come a long was since starting the NoMTBF campaign. I am looking forward to your comments, contributions, and suggestions.

Fred

At first, MTBF seems like a commonly used and valuable measure of reliability. Trained as a statistician and understanding the use of the expected value that MTBF represented, I thought, ‘Cool, this is useful.’

Then, the discussions with engineers, technical sales folks, and other professionals about reliability using MTBF started. And the awareness that not everyone, and at times it seems very few, truly understood MTBF and how to properly use the measure.

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RCM Analysis Success Starts w/Proper Scope Definition: 4 Key Factors

RCM Analysis Success Starts w/Proper Scope Definition: 4 Key Factors

Hi everyone, I’m Nancy Regan, and in today’s video, we’re diving into the crucial role that scope definition plays in the success of Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) analysis. Proper planning is essential, and in this video, I’ll walk you through four key factors that demonstrate how the scope of your RCM analysis drives the entire planning process.

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Hypothesis Testing Part-3: Two Sample t-test with tables and using Excel

Hypothesis Testing Part-3: Two Sample t-test with tables and using Excel

Dear friends, we are happy to release our third video in our series on Hypothesis Testing! In this video, Hemant Urdhwareshe explains the application of Student’s t-test for comparison of two independent samples using tables of t-distribution and also using Microsoft Excel Add-ins. The concept is illustrated with an application example of comparing tire life of two makes.

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Understanding the Six Types of Measurement System Error

Understanding the Six Types of Measurement System Error

Our work as quality and reliability engineers, or as countless other technical positions across every industry, relies heavily on the instrumentation we use. Torque meters, tensile testers, micrometers, spectrometers and coordinate measuring machines provide critical data about the variation within the processes we design and maintain. 

But these tools execute measurement processes which, like all processes, introduce variation into the results they generate. This fact – that every gage contributes variation to the values it reports – is the basis for Measurement Systems Analysis (MSA), a collection of statistical tools and approaches designed to isolate and quantify sources of measurement error.

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Are You A Hero or A Reliability Leader?

Are You A Hero or A Reliability Leader?

With Ramesh Gulati

The management and organization can create heroes and reliability leaders by their behavior. When an asset breaks down, some people in the workforce fix it quickly. We may celebrate their work as heroic, but another group of people fix things rapidly while finding and eliminating root causes. These proactive individuals are the real heroes, also known as Reliability Leaders. This webinar discusses the attributes of reliability leaders: the real heroes.

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Facilitation & Collaboration: 10 Proven Tips For Asking Great Questions

Facilitation & Collaboration: 10 Proven Tips For Asking Great Questions

“I can’t believe you asked him if he married a trophy wife,” my colleague stated. “Even more, I can’t believe he answered it without getting mad. Or that he told you so much about his first marriage and himself.”

“Well, the key was that I kept the questions short and followed where he took the conversation,” I replied. “On its own, the trophy wife is a bit over the top. But in the larger context, it flowed with everything he described and his comfort in discussing it with me.”

10 Tips for Better Questions in Business Environments

Effective communication is important in all relationships. The opening story was among business colleagues after a professional association meeting. While it is a bit personal, it reminds us that asking good questions – including in business environments – is personal.

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We Need to Try Harder to Avoid MTBF

We Need to Try Harder to Avoid MTBF

Just back from the Reliability and Maintainability Symposium and not happy. While there are signs, a proudly worn button, regular mentions of progress and support, we still talk about reliability using MTBF too often. We need to avoid MTBF actively, no, I mean  aggressively.

Let’s get the message out there concerning the folly of using MTBF as a surrogate to discuss reliability. We need to work relentlessly to avoid MTBF in all occasions.

Teaching reliability statistics does not require the teaching of MTBF.

Describing product reliability performance does not benefit by using MTBF.

Creating reliability predictions that create MTBF values doesn’t make sense in most if not all cases. [Read more…]

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HALT or ALT ? Is it Only One Letter Differences?

HALT or ALT ? Is it Only One Letter Differences?

HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Testing) is the foundation for the definition of HASS (Highly Accelerated Stress Screening) and HASA (Highly Accelerated Stress Audit).

HALT is primarily used to expose weaknesses in the design of a product by subjecting it to extreme environmental conditions such as temperature, vibration, and humidity, in order to identify and eliminate design flaws and weak points before the product is released to the market.

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Electric Grid Risks

Electric Grid Risks

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

When the electricity grid fails, there is a risk of cascading impacts from what might seem to be a relatively minor event.

Having just watched a Electric Power video on this very topic, I feel obligated to inform the masses, what would happen if the power grid shut down?

If the power grid goes down, water and natural gas will also likely fail at some point, so planning is critical. Without a plan in place, most of us would be in bad shape with an extended grid outage.

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How to Use SOPs to Achieve Zero Failure Operations

How to Use SOPs to Achieve Zero Failure Operations

To get world class operation and profits your Asset Lifecycle Management System must prevent every opportunity for defect-creation in all life cycle phases, for all your operating equipment

Every physical asset has a lifecycle starting at conception through to its eventual disposal and site remediation. In each phase of the lifecycle errors can occur that cause defects within the asset. In operations with hundreds of assets there easily can be tens-of-thousands of defects. Each defect is a risk that eventually contributes to breakdowns, losses, wastes, safety incidents during operation, and shortens the asset’s service lifetime. Eliminating thousands of defects and risks forever is what Plant Wellness Way EAM does for its users.

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Defining Your RCM Analysis Scope to Achieve the Results You Need

Defining Your RCM Analysis Scope to Achieve the Results You Need

Join me, Nancy Regan, as I guide you through the process of effectively defining the scope of your Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) analysis to ensure you achieve your desired analysis goals. In this video, I’ll illustrate the importance of tailoring the RCM analysis scope using a practical example of a Plant Air system. Key Takeaways: • Understanding Scope: Learn how to avoid common pitfalls by appropriately narrowing down your analysis to a manageable size. • Adapting to Environments: Gain insights into how identical equipment can behave differently in varied operational environments and why specifying your analysis scope is crucial for clarity and effectiveness. • Goal-Oriented Analysis: Understand how the goals of your RCM analysis, such as developing a proactive maintenance plan, dictate the scope and focus of your analysis. What’s Next?: Stay tuned for tomorrow’s video where I delve deeper into why accurately identifying the scope of analysis is foundational to successful RCM analysis planning. Subscribe and hit the bell icon to follow along with the “100 Days of Reliability” series and enhance your Maintenance and Reliability knowledge with expert insights. Thank you for watching! Remember, the success of your RCM efforts starts with the right scope!

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Hypothesis Testing Part-2: One Sample t-test, t-distribution, Degrees of Freedom and P-Value

Hypothesis Testing Part-2: One Sample t-test, t-distribution, Degrees of Freedom and P-Value

Dear friends, we are happy to release this second video on Hypothesis Testing! In this video, Hemant Urdhwareshe explains One Sample t-test along with illustrations of Student’s t-distribution. Hemant has also explained the concept of degrees of freedom and p-value in this video.

We recommend viewers to watch Hypothesis Testing, Part-1 video before this video.

We are sure, you will find this useful!

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Sample Sizes for Hypothesis Testing

Sample Sizes for Hypothesis Testing

As an industrial statistics consultant for the past 25 years, I have frequently fielded questions related to sample size determination.  Unfortunately, I have encountered many instances where simple rules of thumb were used for any purpose (like always use 30).  Sample size guidance really depends on what the goal of the study is, the type of data we are dealing with, what statistical method we are using and some other factors as well.  Common activities which typically require sample size determination include:

  • Hypothesis Testing (including Equivalence Testing)
  • Estimation of statistics like means, standard deviations, proportions
  • Calculation of Tolerance Intervals (range of data a process uses)
  • Designed Experiments (number of replicates)
  • Statistical Process Control Charts (e.g. X-bar charts)
  • Acceptance Sampling (to disposition lots or batches of raw materials or finished products)
  • Reliability Testing to estimate Reliability performance
  • Reliability Testing to demonstrate Reliability performance

All these applications require different assumptions and calculations to determine an appropriate sample size.  In this article, we focus on Sample Size determination for Hypothesis Testing.  It is assumed that the reader is already familiar with Hypothesis Testing.

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Why Facilitators Should Ask Questions When They Think They Know the Answer

Why Facilitators Should Ask Questions When They Think They Know the Answer

The urge to ask questions can sometimes feel redundant, especially when you already have the answers. When you’re on the verge of holding back a question you already know the answer to, pause and consider your motives. As a facilitator, what impact are you aiming for? Are you looking to guide the group toward understanding, or are you merely asserting dominance with your knowledge? Assessing the significance of arriving at a predetermined answer versus fostering an environment of collaboration and openness is essential.

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3 Ways to Expose MTBF Problems

3 Ways to Expose MTBF Problems

MTBF use and thinking is still rampant. It affects how our peers and colleagues approach solving problems.

There is a full range of problems that come from using MTBF, yet how do you spot the signs of MTBF thinking even when MTBF is not mentioned? Let’s explore the approaches that you can use to ferret out MTBF thinking and move your organization toward making informed decisions concerning reliability. [Read more…]