Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site
On the surface, it is easy to run a test. What is less easy is gathering the required and desired information. Set up and analysis do not matter if the data is of low quality. Consider these points to improve your effectiveness. [Read more…]
I get asked a lot of questions and asked for a help. Sometimes the “ask” comes from senior management, sometimes middle-level management and sometimes even from the shop floor. People and companies need help to achieve more than they are today.
Performance is already known and often less than desired. Change is needed and that means new ideas. After all, if they had the ideas themselves, they may have tried something different before calling me in. Sometimes they have, and it hasn’t worked. They are stuck. [Read more…]
The tumblers all fell into place, the lock clicked, the door opened and it all became clear.
Bad leadership almost cost me my life.
This was a few weeks ago in a session with my coach, Susan Hobson. I hadn’t put the pieces together. I hadn’t seen the connection. I saw my depression, my suicidal thoughts, my pain, my struggles as part of my story but something that just happened to me.
Now I see that it’s a gift. [Read more…]
More than one operational mode may need to be considered to ensure that all important failure modes are identified and analyzed in the FMEA. This article focuses on what you need to know about modes of operation when performing FMEAs.
“My favorite mode of transport is hot-air ballooning. It’s so graceful to be blown by the wind, to go where the wind takes you.” Richard Branson
Collecting information about a problem is easy at first. Ideas just flow. At a certain point the question is, did we cover enough ground? Are we missing anything? The Cause and Effect Diagram is a tool to visually help ensure we are broad in our approach. [Read more…]
I can’t believe it! They took it to the next level, They hired a sniper, and he was good, he got a kill shot with one round.
I’m in the hull of my boat doing what should be the easiest “Spring prep before launch” I have ever done. I got everything set up a week earlier to make this ritual of “man vs machine” as easy as possible. I even took care of the squirrel problem from the previous year. [Read more…]
This particular myth is not overly common, but it still occurs, usually in the minds of people who are really good a fooling themselves. It becomes more common when it is modified to say, “…running as well as it ever has”.
There are two parts to this one: 1. We believe it is actually running well, or as well as ever, and, 2. We really think we’re great and there truly is no room to improve. [Read more…]
The World Economic Forum has conducted an annual survey of its members since 2007. This piece looks at the results of the 2020 survey of 800 members. For the first time the survey separately reports the results of 200 members of a “Global Shapers Community”. This group is considered a younger generation of social entrepreneurs and leaders. By comparing the response of these two groups, one can see a divergence perspective on risk. This piece will also discuss how survey results can be overtaken by events. [Read more…]
A lot of businesses have had to make tough decisions during COVID-19, including decisions that affect their people. Some of these decisions include cutting hours, cutting wages & lay-offs. Throughout my career, I’ve been affected by some of these decisions. The line that stuck with me the most, when I was being laid off by an HR manager, she said to me “this is a business decision”. [Read more…]
One excellent starting point of the investigation phase of a root cause analysis is the comparison of the product measurements to the available process data. With an effective traceability system, you can define a relatively short time range in which the defective parts were manufactured. Once these “fence posts” are identified, use them to examine the available process data such as the recorded pressures, temperatures, times, and speeds. [Read more…]
When it comes to product development, most technology companies understand the importance of reliability. In particular, the engineering teams usually have everything they need to design a reliable product, including the right testing tools and analysis methods.
At times, though, there can be problems. A product doesn’t ship on time. Or if it ships on time, it fails in the field.
I’ve spoken with a few of my customers over the past couple of weeks, one who happens to be in the food business was cranking and working overtime to meet the increased demand that resulted from folks stocking their homes, the other two were labeled non-essential and were preparing to shut down for the foreseeable future. [Read more…]
The flow chart is a method to scope a process and gain agreement on conversation context. There are different approaches to creating them. Get an overview here and determine if it can help with your next situation. [Read more…]
Who really is our customer? Does your organization have a master: partner supplier relationship or a partnership relationship?
Consider that a customer regularly buys our goods or services. For operations/production to be our customer, then they would be paying maintenance for its service. Do they? In some organizations, this may be the case, but is it that way in yours? [Read more…]
In 2004, The Home Safety Council completed the most comprehensive study ever done of the severity and causes of home injury in the United States. Not surprisingly, the rates of injury are highest among young children and older adults. While there are literally millions of home hazards that exist, the study was able to separate out the five leading causes of unintentional home injury. These five leading causes are:
This article focuses on carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a poor furnace ventilation system. [Read more…]
