Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site
Ran across this question the other day from someone just starting in the role of reliability engineer. I wasn’t smart enough to ask this question when I started in the field, yet looking back I’m sure to have found the list of what one should learn and apply daunting. [Read more…]
Have you considered understanding your design better to eliminate service calls? An example of an organization that did this – powerful results. “Return to original factory settings and call back if that does not resolve it.” No calls for years! [Read more…]
I’ve always been proud to say that the first customer I provided RCM training and consulting for was Whirlpool in Findlay, Ohio.
Having just presented at SMRP’s annual conference in Denver, Colorado, I received an e-mail from Kirk Wolfinger who at the time was Whirlpools’ Maintenance Manager. Kirk wanted to know if I could come to Findlay and help his team get started in Reliability Centered Maintenance.
I was that one phone call that gave me the courage to leave Eastman Kodak and start my own company. [Read more…]
In 2015 the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued Circular A-123. It requires all federal agencies to implement Enterprise Risk Management (ERM). ERM is a methodology which allows an organization to, in a systematic manner, identify, prioritize and reduce the adverse impact of risks events, such as fraud, cyber-attacks, mismanagement, and natural disasters, that could prevent the organization from accomplishing its mission and objectives.
For the past several years federal agencies have been surveyed to determine the extent of the ERM implementation. This article reviews the results of the past four years. [Read more…]
Also called the Ishikawa or fishbone diagram, the cause and effect diagram is a graphical tool that enables a team to identify, categorize, and examine possible causes related to an issue. The intent is to expose the most likely root causes for further investigation.
This diagram is part of a complex failure analysis process when there are many potential causes for the problem or condition. Similar to a brainstorm session about the problem, this graphical tool provides a bit of structure and may prompt additional potential causes.
The Ishikawa diagram is one of the seven basic tools of quality control. [Read more…]
When creating a robust design, there is probably no more important consideration than identifying the correct parameters and associated values. A robust design is insensitive to anticipated variation and P-Diagram visually shows the relationship between what the system is designed to do, the anticipated noises the system will encounter and the correct parameters to achieve the desired outcome. P-Diagram can be an essential input to FMEA.
“Concern for man and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavors. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations.” Albert Einstein
In February I did a hit and run trip to Fairbanks Alaska with my daughter, age 11, to try and see the Northern Lights. It was a long shot but I’ve done nuttier expeditions and she was game. It was actually her idea, and she knew who the right person was to ask for such a trip. She turned 11 in January. I asked her what she wanted for her birthday. I was ready for the “this or that electronic” request. Instead she said “I want to see the Northern Lights.” First thought was “Geez that’s a bit extravagant” but
then my second thought was she’s 11 and this could have a great impact on her and what an interesting/cool thing to ask for. It might energize an interest in physics or natural photography, or cold weather clothing design. I also thought about how in a few years she may not want to do anything with me because I’ll be an “idiot who doesn’t get it.”
Published in Quality Progress in Nov. 2018, pp 34-39. Final 1/27/18 Posted here with permission of Dr. Wayne Nelson and by his suggestion.
Schenectady, NY , WNconsult@aol.com
I’ve been proving RCM Facilitator Training for over twenty years….
I ran into an old friend at a conference recently and after we chatted about the things going on in each of our lives he asked me a series of questions that caught me a bit off guard.
How much longer do you plan to work?
Don’t you get sick of the travel?
You’ve been teaching and facilitating Reliability Centered Maintenance for over twenty years, doesn’t doing the same thing all the time get boring?
Have you ever thought about teaching other courses just to change it up a bit?
What motivates you to keep doing what you’re doing? [Read more…]
Everyone wants excellence and continuous improvement, but what does optimization mean? And how do you get there? This video covers two basic optimization methods and how we blend them for Robust Design. [Read more…]
In our aging societies with a work force ranging from Baby Boomers through Generation Xers to Millennials the ‘D-Word’ may summon up images of stoical sergeant-major types shouting and barking and removing any freedom of thought or act. Discipline is variously defined but it is generally understood to be ‘the ‘training that produces orderliness, obedience and self control to follow rules‘ and, operatively, if rules are broken ‘chastising or punishing‘. . [Read more…]
Sometimes a process doesn’t happen one step at a time. Sometimes, a problem we’re trying to solve has many moving and interacting elements.
Mind Mapping is a technique to capture those scattered thoughts, those non-linear processes, those myriads of interactions and dependencies. It’s a tool that is useful for brainstorming, organizing, and problem-solving. [Read more…]
The first person I selected to write about is one who I consider a mentor. I met Marc Zimmerman in February of 1981, at the time he was a Journeyman Pipefitter in Kodak’s Polymer Department and I remember watching him work, making precise gore cut fittings and just being in awe of craftsmanship it takes to calculate, lay-out, cut and assemble these pieces. [Read more…]
Coach Dean Smith always used this phrase with his teams and his teaching. It is how I focus my coaching, but also how I consider New Product Development. Would this mix be valuable for your organization and your career? [Read more…]
Guest Post by Joseph Paris (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)
Transformation… I am hearing more and more talk about how companies are seeking to transform themselves, or that they are launching a transformation initiative. And as expected, there is the corresponding increase in transformation conferences, symposia, articles and books.
But what is “transformation”? [Read more…]
