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The Reliability Engineering Role

The Reliability Engineering Role

What does the reliability engineer do?

Do they design reliable products?    Or       Do they guide the development of reliable products?

It’s some mix of course. It depends on the process for the organization they operate in. I will point out that neither extreme works. I am often surprised with how many organizations I see that still have the 1950’s model of ” Design it and then give it to the reliability team to make it reliable.” I still don’t believe there is a single person in any engineering role in any engineering organization that believes that works.

That is what one of my old mentors used to call a “window dressing program”. No one believes it actually helps the product but you get to take your customers around your facility and show them all the great testing you are doing (SILENT END OF SENTENCE ” on out of rev parts and in a program phase where results can’t be implemented.”). [Read more…]

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Risk Assessment Benefits

Risk Assessment Benefits

Risk assessment is a critical element of ISO 31000 risk management framework. Risk assessment provides the requisite evidence based data and information for Risk Based Thinking, specifically risk based problem solving and risk based decision making. Using the appropriate risk assessment for the organization can determine how to treat and manage specific risks. [Read more…]

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Use Words Instead of Code Numbers

Use Words Instead of Code Numbers

in your CMMS System

A work order full of code numbers confuses people. When work order type (breakdown, corrective, modification, etc) is described as Work Order Type ‘04’ you can guarantee that no one knows what ‘04’ is without looking it up on a list.

If a Trade Type is a ‘02’ and it means a fitter, you can be sure that a lot of work order requests from operators will be wrong and they will take the planner’s time to correct. Even more confusing is when the Work Order Type and the Trade Type are both an ‘04’!  [Read more…]

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A Framework for Risk Management

A Framework for Risk Management

Making or supporting decisions involving product or system reliability is fraught with uncertainty. Is it reliable enough? Will failures occur prematurely? Are failures dangerous?

Uncertainty is risk.

In recent years more organizations and international standard bodies have focused on risk management. Identifying, analyzing, and mitigating uncertainty in a systematic manner.

There is not a set way for every organization to organize a risk management process. The ISO 31000 standard does describe a framework for the implementation of risk management within your organization. [Read more…]

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Applying S@ Faults with a Simulator: An Introduction

Applying S@ Faults with a Simulator: An Introduction

When I introduced you to the Stuck at Fault Model I stated that the size of VLSI devices necessitated the usage of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools to support testing.

My first full-time job at IBM exposed me to the world of test and to their EDA tools.

In the mid-1980’s, testing of logic devices relied upon the S@ fault model. Three common software tools included fault simulation, automatic test pattern generation, and fault diagnosis.

This article will provide an introduction to fault simulation as one can view the other two tools as applications built upon a fault simulator. [Read more…]

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Is Warranty Big Data?

Is Warranty Big Data?

 Vehicle Warranty Big Data

Automobile companies pay dealers to perform vehicle prep and make warranty repairs on customer vehicles. A lot of data is collected thus warranty is considered big data.

Generally, vehicle warranty covers 3 years or 36,000 miles. When a vehicle is serviced, the customer, vehicle, repair, and text data are collected. Claims are entered into a transaction database, may be rejected for a number of reasons, and then resubmitted until resolved. The transaction database covers many model years, millions of vehicles, and a number of warranty claims for each vehicle. As a rough estimate, assuming 10 years, 2 million vehicles/year, and 2 claims for each vehicle, yields 40 million records. The actual number is higher due to the submission, rejections, and resubmission cycle.

[Read more…]

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Reliability Stakeholders

Reliability Stakeholders

Get to Know Your Realibility Stakeholders

Understanding the reliability stakeholders in an organization is an interesting exercise.

Who are they?

  • Executive management
  • Business unit
  • Sales
  • R&D
  • Quality
  • Manufacturing

It’s easy to look at each of those and say “They all could easily get by and appear successful even if a product has moderate to poor reliability”. You could also state that ” Reliability is a key factor to success in their role” [Read more…]

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The Recipe for RCM Success!

The Recipe for RCM Success!

RCM Implementations don’t fail, believe me if you understand what your getting into upfront, use a proven process to select your asset for analysis AND you commit the resources, your implementation will be a huge success.

Looking back 20 years I can clearly remember performing my first RCM analysis and the ordeal that followed as we struggled to:

a) See the value in the analysis we had just completed (Someone told us that RCM should be performed on every piece of equipment at our plant so we selected one of our most common assets.

b) Free up the resources necessary to implement the tasks that came out of the analysis. [Read more…]

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The Philosophy of Effective FMEAs – Part 2

The Philosophy of Effective FMEAs – Part 2

Stand Like a Rock
(Problems and Solutions)

What did American inventor and businessman Charles Kettering  mean when he said, “A problem well stated is a problem half-solved”? Framing the problem and pondering solutions can be enlightening, and a great way to learn. This article will pose three problems and offer solutions, as a way to learn by doing.

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”
Confucius

[Read more…]

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What is FMEA?

What is FMEA?

A Brief Overview

Should an FMEA result in design or manufacturing improvements? Should it ensure that tests discover the right problems? What are the objectives of FMEAs? Whether you are new to FMEA or an experienced practitioner, there is always something to learn. This is the first in a series of articles on FMEA that should expand the knowledge of every reader.

“Successful engineering is all about understanding how things break or fail.” ~ Henry Petroski

[Read more…]

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Welcome to “Inside FMEA”

Welcome to “Inside FMEA”

New Insights on Achieving FMEA Excellence

Do you consider yourself new to FMEA, or are you an FMEA expert?

Or somewhere in between?

I’m a great believer that knowledge of any tool such as FMEA, is a lifelong journey. In the new series of articles called Inside FMEA, my intention is to bring to life the subject of FMEA, and provide value to readers from all levels of experience.

Each week I will publish a new article on Accendo. The topics will span the full range of FMEA applications, and offer guidance to real-world challenges that FMEA teams face each and every day. [Read more…]

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Run to Failure is a Viable Option

Train wreck
Image by Robyn Jay

How Allowing Equipment to Fail, Will Improve the Uptime in your Facility.

Often times the maintenance team is focused on preventing failures in the facility.  All failures need to be addressed and no failures are acceptable.   This mindset may be holding back the uptime in your facility.  How is this?  After all, if we strive to prevent all failures shouldn’t uptime improve?

Most organizations do not have the resources to prevent every single failure and as such, resources are often pulled from failure to failure.  When the organization focuses on the consequences of the failure, instead of the failure itself, it can free up the resources to improve reliability.   Once the consequences are understood, running equipment to failure becomes an option.  This allows the team to focus on preventing the failures that make a difference to the business. [Read more…]

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ISO 31000 Challenges

ISO 31000 Challenges

ISO 31000 is going to be used more often as more ISO certified companies adopt Risk Based Thinking.  However, ISO 31000 can be challenging.  Why?

Interestingly, the descriptive nature of the ISO 31000 standard may well be its strength, but may also be its weakness.  The standard without the proper guidance of a risk practitioner maybe come discretionary and even arbitrary.

ISO 9001:2015 has Risk Based Thinking requirements.  Note ISO 31000 was developed in 2009 and is not harmonized with the new annex SL standards and ISO 9001:2015. [Read more…]