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Communication and Facilitation Secrets for Reliability Engineers

Communication and Facilitation Secrets for Reliability Engineers

Things get a little dirty when humans get involved. In any system, human involvement can sometimes cause delays or issues. Here are some effective communication and facilitation secrets for reliability engineers.

Communication

Communication is the exchange of information from one person to another.

Communication requires a sender, a receiver, and a message. Technical professionals (sender) usually believe the decision maker (receiver) cannot understand the message because the decision maker is not as smart as they are. Most of the time, the lack of understanding comes from the noise the sender generates. The burden of effective communication is on the send (technical professional), not the receiver (decision maker).

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Mitigating Employee Fears

Mitigating Employee Fears

Fear is that hidden factor present in every organization, preventing leadership from achieving the growth they desire.  In the 2 previous articles, I brought up the types of employee fears and how that fear can negatively impact a given organization.  Additionally, I brought up the importance of assessing these fears and understanding how they’re specifically affecting your organization.  In this third and final article in this series, I’ll explore what leadership can do to mitigate these fears towards cultivating a culture of trust and empowerment.

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A Systematic Process of Data Collection

A Systematic Process of Data Collection

Article first posted at Conscious Reliability by James Reyes-Picknell, Jesus Sifonte, and team.

Condition Monitoring – A Closer Look

By Jesús R. Sifonte

Condition Monitoring is a broad term referring to the systematic process of data collection for the evaluation of asset’s performance, reliability and maintenance needs with the purpose of planning repair works. Its main purpose is Potential Failures finding. It requires the collection of good asset’s health data which trending is studied. The primary advantage of Condition Monitoring is that it incorporates health indicator monitoring activities performed while the machine is operating. Assets failures are predicted well in advance of their occurrence. It allows for planning repairs safely and economically for the plant. Also, machine parameter data trending allows extending assets operation as close as possible to their actual useful life. Condition Monitoring data provides vital information for taking important decisions affecting plant operation goals. Maintenance decisions are taken based on the actual asset condition avoiding unnecessary repairs leading to start up failures. Catastrophic failures of a critical assets presenting accelerated wear trends can be avoided by using C tasks too. Sometimes operating conditions changes causing components life expectance to reduce as noted by steeper indicators trends leading to unexpected catastrophic failures. This can be detected by CM and earlier planned shutdowns can avoid such disasters.

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Simplified Risk Management for Small Organizations

Simplified Risk Management for Small Organizations

Guest Post by Patrick Ow (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

Smaller organisations, especially those with less than 100 people, often struggle with putting in place the right-size effective risk management practices that do not take up too much of their time and resources.

What I have often seen and experienced is that small-size organisations implement the ‘standard’ risk management practices that are commonly found in larger organisations without much thought as to whether it is fit-for-purpose to enable better organisational performance given their unique context or operating environment.

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Mastering Lubrication Excellence

Mastering Lubrication Excellence

Building a World-Class Lubrication Program

In the industrial landscape, the humble lubricant might seem inconspicuous, but it plays a pivotal role in ensuring the smooth operation of machinery, reducing friction, and extending the life of critical assets. Achieving lubrication excellence isn’t just a matter of choosing the right oil; it’s about developing a comprehensive program that encompasses the best practices, advanced technologies, and a culture of precision. In this blog, we will explore the methods to build a world-class lubrication program that’s the cornerstone of operational success.

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Unveiling the Kano Model of Customer Satisfaction

Unveiling the Kano Model of Customer Satisfaction

In the ever-evolving landscape of engineering and design, strategic frameworks play a pivotal role in deciphering the intricate dynamics of customer satisfaction. Consider, for example, the Kano Model of Customer Satisfaction, brainchild of management science professor, Noriaki Kano. This model offers a nuanced approach to understanding the diverse aspects of customer satisfaction, making it a valuable tool for engineers and design professionals as they transition from problem definition to ideation and prototyping. [Read more…]

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If it Ain’t Boeing, Are you Still Going?

If it Ain’t Boeing, Are you Still Going?

Boeing is really having a bad stretch. Or more specifically, the passengers flying in its 737 MAX aircraft are.

Most recently a ‘plug’ flew off the side of Boeing 737 MAX 9 plane in flight, leaving a refrigerator sized hole next to startled (but mercifully still living) passengers. A ‘plug’ is a panel that seals up a hole in the fuselage that is included during manufacture to allow an optional emergency exit to be installed. 

This failure is not a good look … especially for a three-month-old plane. Lots of manufacturers of different machines throughout history have been able to successfully bolt panels to cover holes of a similar size to that of an aircraft emergency exit. It is not hard to do. Nor is it hard to have systems in place to make sure it is done right.

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What is the FINESSE Fishbone Diagram?

What is the FINESSE Fishbone Diagram?

FINESSE is a fishbone diagram, a mnemonic, and a mental model. FINESSE stands for Frame, Illustrate, Noise Reduction, Empathy, Structure, Synergy, and Ethics. Systems thinking as applied to effective communication is the cornerstone of FINESSE. We’ll briefly explore these aspects in this article.

FINESSE as a Mnemonic

Acronyms are a subset of mnemonics that use the first letter of each word to create another memorable word. FINESSE is both an acronym and a mnemonic. [Read more…]

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Measuring Employees’ Fears and Effects

Measuring Employees’ Fears and Effects

In the previous article, I shared how employee fears can negatively influence the work culture of your organization, stifling innovation, hampering collaboration, limiting growth and preventing continuous improvement.  In this, the second article of a 3-part series, I’ll share the elements of an effective tool to evaluate your organization for employee fears and the impact of those fears.

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Communication and Consultation in ISO 31K Risk Management

Communication and Consultation in ISO 31K Risk Management

Guest Post by Peter Holtmann (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

This article is the ninth of fourteen parts to our risk management series. The series will be taking a look at the risk management guidelines under the ISO 31000 Standard to help you better understand them and how they relate to your own risk management activities. In doing so, we’ll be walking through the core aspects of the Standard and giving you practical guidance on how to implement it.

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What if Ships Cohorts Were Random?

What if Ships Cohorts Were Random?

The Kaplan-Meier reliability estimator is for dead-forever products or parts, given individual lifetime data or a “Nevada” table of periodic ships cohorts and their grouped failure counts. This estimator presumes that ships cohorts are NOT random. Production, sales, installed base, and cohort case counts are random! What does that do to Kaplan-Meier reliability estimates? What is the nonparametric reliability function estimator if ships cohorts are random?

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