Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site
When analyzing a continuous variable or type of measurement using statistics, an analyst often assumes data is normally distributed. But, how can this normal assumption be verified? While there are numerical normality tests, an alternate approach is to use graphical methods. The old adage, “A picture is worth a thousand words”. This captures the idea that the human mind is good at discerning patterns.
Statistical Process Control (SPC) charts allow timely detection of assignable causes of process changes (e.g. shifts, trends, variation) so that root causes may be determined and corrective actions taken before product performance is adversely impacted. Proper use of SPC identifies and eliminates “special cause” sources of variation. To achieve desired process capability, sources of “common cause” variation may need to be identified as well, using tools such as Design of Experiments to develop process understanding and predictive models that explain the source of the unwanted variability. [Read more…]
Your engineering team tells you the new deep-water product is ready for field trials because it has passed an API validation test in the lab. But as the OEM engineering manager overseeing product development, how do you know that passing just the validation test is sufficient? [Read more…]
One of my more unfortunate memories of my early military career is the death of a soldier on a training exercise. I was posted to a place very close to the equator … along with the heat and humidity that came with it. The soldier who died suffered from heat stroke, brought on by dehydration. And when we looked back on what went wrong, a key issue was that the training exercise risk assessment was ‘word for word’ identical to previous risk assessments when it came to managing heat related illnesses.
This failure occurred on a turbine driven boiler feedwater pump (TDBFP) at a fossil fuel power plant. The pump in question is an outboard boiler feed pump. Plant is operating normally when unexpectedly pump shuts down and causes a forced outage.
What does the word statistics bring to mind when you hear it? Horrible high school classes that you sat through wondering why do I need this stuff? Complex math problems what were almost impossible to figure out? Or is it nonsense that is only used in political polls?
Statistics are used in every aspect of Reliability Engineering. So if you don’t have a good relationship with statistics, I highly recommend that you are starting investing time in building your knowledge in statistics. [Read more…]
Most of us wouldn’t argue that if you can measure it, you can improve it. Performance measures do indeed drive results, both good and bad. Knowing where you are now and what you want to achieve by some point in the future do help you to outline your path towards your objective. Once you know your path, you then need a way to make sure you are still on it. And once you’ve past way-points, you also need to know that what you’ve achieved so far, continues to be sustained.
In several pieces for Insights, I have discussed the decline of ISO 9001 certifications, the internal and financial problems ASQ is experiencing and the implications for the quality profession. Recently I was on the ASQ website. There are several references to Quality 4.0. This article will look at Quality 4.0 and its implications for the Quality Profession. It will also provide an update on ASQ’s financial problems and the possibility it will declare bankruptcy.
We are ready to learn how to analyze the data collected during the experiment. This is the most exciting part of DOE! We will cover the analysis in this article as well as the next several articles.
The following are the main steps to perform during the analysis:
“Team leadership is the secret that makes common people achieve uncommon results.” – Ifeanyi Onuoha
One of the key factors for successful application of FMEAs is skillful facilitation of FMEA teams. The skills needed for excellent facilitation are different from the skills needed to be a good FMEA team member. [Read more…]
Organizations are all about ‘success.’ Being ‘successful.’ Which can many different things to many different people. ‘Success’ is not simply the ‘antithesis of failure.’ One could argue that ‘mediocrity’ in many cases is accepted as the antithesis of ‘failure.’ ‘Mediocrity’ is hardly the same as ‘success.’
Organizational success means that a lot of different people need to be doing lots of very different, but very important things. And this often means things that can go unnoticed. The ‘one percenters.’ Getting things done right the first time.
This is a failed shaft that came out of a pump in a paper mill. The pump was only in service for about a month before it failed unexpectedly.
From the top view above, identify the type of failure pattern that you see from the fractured surface(s). If you need more info to make your assessment, just ask.
Materials management for maintenance purposes is often a big mess. When I visit operations (doesn’t matter what industry) I often hear complaints from maintainers that they cannot get the parts they need, when they need them. Sometimes, their supply chain (warehouse, inventory, and purchasing management) are indeed a mess, but more often than not maintenance planning is also a mess, and there is usually (almost always) a lack of integration between planning and supply chain.
The initial journey to create “sustained success” got off to a difficult start in 1987 when the intent was for quality managers to implement ISO 9004 followed by ISO 9001 for certification purposes. ISO 9004 was viewed as being associated with TQM. The extra work that was needed to fulfill TQM led organizations to use ISO 9001:1987 alone to certify their processes.
“Everything’s computerized now. The backyard mechanic is a thing of the past!”, I recall my father declaring more than 20 years ago while leaning over the open hood of my mother’s Ford Windstar. He was referring to the relative simplicity of repairing the largely mechanical systems in automobiles from the 1950’s and 60’s versus those of the early 2000’s that were equipped with digital sensors and a central processor. Of course, today’s plug-in EV’s, advanced driver assist systems, 360-degree cameras, and “guardians” like General Motors’ OnStar make my mom’s old minivan look like an Anglia in comparison.
