Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site
It was 7:15 am. We had just finished up our morning kick-off meeting for our lab staff at the generating station, which was about to start-up following a planned outage. Mary, one of the senior lab technicians, came frantically into the lab from the plant.
“We have a problem! The circulating water pH meter is reading a 3.0!” Mary
My heart started racing. [Read more…]
This is part of a short series on the common life data distributions.
The Weibull distribution is both popular and useful. It has some nice features and flexibility that support its popularity. This short article focuses on 7 formulas of the Weibull Distribution.
If you want to know more about fitting a set of data to a distribution, well that is in another article.
It has the essential formulas that you may find useful when answering specific questions. Knowing a distribution’s set of parameters does provide, along with the right formulas, a quick means to answer a wide range of reliability related questions. [Read more…]
It used to happen once every few years and now it seems to happen twice a year or more. The customer who would like you to come in and perform an RCM analysis on a piece of equipment they are struggling with and when you begin to discuss the upfront work required to do a thorough RCM analysis they attempt to change the rules. [Read more…]
Every project begins wanting to impress the customer, complete on time and perform smoothly. However, this tends to erode away quickly and the optimization objectives are saved for the next project or next phase.
But you can achieve it now!
Toyota just issued a recall of all 1993 Toyota Camrys. Tokyo- “It’s simply time for drivers to move on.” Then added “We understand that the 1993 Camry was tremendously dependable, but, honestly, there’s just no excuse for driving a 24-year-old car at this point. You could have updated features like bluetooth and a backup camera” said Toyota spokesman Haruki Kinoshita. While Toyota is reportedly confining its recall to the 1993 Camry, it also issued a warning to owners of 1994 to 1998 models alerting them to the fact that they were really starting to push it.
I can’t take full credit for that joke. But like most satire it is inspired by a reality. I actually just walked by this car in a parking lot a few hours ago. [Read more…]
Consider the recommended action “Review results of XYZ test to confirm requirements are achieved.” Is this a good FMEA recommended action to address a high-risk issue? Is it sufficient? Challenge your FMEA knowledge by solving this problem and other problems presented in this article.
Does your team procure, setup and put into operation equipment with a single focus on reducing the initial capital expenditure?
Do you work with your equipment suppliers to fully specify the equipment’s functions, performance, and reliability? Maybe not the reliability? [Read more…]
Guest Post by Geary Sikich (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)
It is mid-year 2014 as I write this article. We have recognized the need to better manage supply chain risks for the better part of a decade now. Yet, we still seem to be deluded into thinking that the modern supply chain is resilient to the point of invulnerability. Most organizations have a supply chain that is a mix of competencies, from manufacturing to professional advisory services. [Read more…]
A proximity switch is the common name for a range of detectors that generate an electrical signal when a physical mass cuts through their sensor field. Upon detection of an object, the electrical signal is sent to a controlling device and is used to monitor and control the operation of the equipment.
You know the type. That person who demands the center of attention at all times and hardly pauses for a breath. The person everybody on site avoids or talks about when they aren’t around. Usually, younger people suffer the most from Knowing Everything All The Time (KEATT). Sometimes, though, it persists long after it should and people never recover.
For me, this lasted about two years after graduating. I’m not sure precisely what caused the change, but a moment came when I realized I didn’t know jack. By that time the damage had been done; many knowledgeable people didn’t like or trust me, I was frustrated and it was difficult to learn because nobody wanted to teach me. Thankfully, I did and you can recover from the disorder of Knowing Everything All The Time (KEATT).
The term “Physics of Failure” is used when referring to the underlying mechanism that has driven a failure mode. I have issue with the words “Physics” in this phrase as a “catch all.” This implies we are only working with physical or kinematic interactions when studying product wear-out. Wear-out failures are rooted in chemistry as well. Most electronic failures are chemistry based. If a failure can be 
tracked back to a material property change, dielectrics, brittleness, transformation (oxidation), strength loss based on property change without fatigue, we have a chemistry problem. Mechanical physics does not play a part in understanding the input and response relationship or assist with creating an accelerated life model in these cases.
I’m not an Engineer
Engineers want order. Everything should happen in a programmed sequence making an expected result predictable. It’s one of the traits that gives Engineers a reputation for being boring. When things happen out of order or sequence the engineers of this world become quiet while their brains churn out what they know the expected order should be and what might have occurred to upset the process. [Read more…]
Design of Experiments (DOE) is often only taught as a series of tools. Instead, we have used it as a tool in the Decision-Making Process which enhances implementation.
Each section below contains a 2-minute video to expand on the topic provided.
The setup and project definition are important for future success. Often, people want to jump to a solution. Then, they can start implementation and testing. Briefly pulling back to define the goal and appropriate outputs will help tremendously.
Consider these questions: How many recommendations are needed to address the root cause of a high-risk problem? If the FMEA team is addressing an issue with high-severity and high-occurrence ratings, is it usual to have a single recommended action to reduce risk? Why not? Read on, to learn the essential elements of FMEA recommended actions, and answers to this questions.
“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.”
Leonardo da Vinci
With the design FMEA complete, the equipment should have high inherent reliability. The equipment can then be installed in the plant, and provide a high level of performance to the business, at least initially. This is where Maintenance comes in. Maintenance can enable a low Life Cycle Cost, by preserving the reliability of the equipment. [Read more…]
