Blog - Accendo Reliability

What is Six Sigma and How is it Used in Quality Engineering?

Another of the most commonly asked questions about quality engineering is “What is Six Sigma and how is it used in quality engineering?”

Six Sigma is a data-driven approach to continuous improvement that aims to reduce defects and variability in products, processes, and systems. It is based on the idea that by identifying and addressing the root causes of defects and variability, organizations can significantly improve the quality of their products and processes. Six Sigma is used to identify and eliminate defects and variability by collecting and analyzing data, identifying patterns and trends, and implementing process improvements.

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by Sanjeev Saraf Leave a Comment

Terrorism Risk Insurance Act Exclusions: Gray Coverage Areas

The U.S. Government has extended the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) to 2014. TRIA is intended to support insurance companies in case the claims from a terror incident go above a certain threshold.

What is interesting are the exclusions used by the government for this reinsurance.

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by Bryan Christiansen Leave a Comment

Why Total Productive Maintenance Is The Answer To Reliability-Centered Culture

Despite their shared emphasis on maintenance, Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) are not competing strategies.

Manufacturers can create a powerful synergy to leverage the strengths of each if they understand their respective strengths. Such a combination leads to exceptional reliability, cost-effective maintenance, and improved corporate culture – if implemented successfully. [Read more…]

by JD Solomon Leave a Comment

17 Powerful Insights on Effective Communication Using FINESSE

There are a lot of keen insights in the 2022 FINESSE guest articles for improving communication skills. Looking back on this bold collection reminds me that much good work, and systems thinking, is still needed for as we move into the future.

Effective Communication is a System

Is there a single theme that we can gain from the 2022 guest articles that makes it easier to communicate information related to work-related decisions with complexity and uncertainty? Is there one thing we can do to be an effective trusted advisor? The answer to both is “not really.” [Read more…]

by Mike Sondalini Leave a Comment

Surprising Insights from Simple Run Charts

The late quality guru W. Edwards Deming advised graphing the process variables and the process outputs across time on a run chart (a time-series plot) to identify uncertainty and variability. When the run charts are used together, they help to identify the times and causes of poor results.

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by Greg Hutchins Leave a Comment

Risk is Round

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

Are project risks round? Curved objects can be less controllable than planar ones as they pitch, roll and yaw; and the tighter their curves the more difficult control becomes. Even a truly planar surface is, geometrically, a curve but with an infinite radius. The Earth’s horizon, that imaginary plane perpendicular to its radius is considered by some to be ‘flat’ but in reality it’s a sphere so we can never see over the horizon. But what has this got to do with project risk?

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by Larry George Leave a Comment

Why Isn’t It Working Like You Said?

Nonparametric, age-specific field reliability estimates helped deal with a Customer’s bad experience using a Hewlett-Packard part in the Customer’s product: 110 part failures out of 3001 shipped in the first five months. Comparison of HP population vs. Customer reliability estimates showed the Customer’s infant mortality was not typical. Using population ships and failures or returns data eliminated sample uncertainty from the HP population field reliability estimate.

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by Sanjeev Saraf Leave a Comment

A Proposed Classification For Reactive Chemicals

The reactivity of a chemical or a mixture is normally assessed by thermal analysis. Thus the thermal analysis data forms the basis of risk mitigation decisions. What does the thermal analysis data tell us and how to base risk mitigation decisions? How to tell which compositions are more reactive and should be scrutinized closely?

Missing from the current body of knowledge is a simple classification to help rank compositions in order of their reactivity.

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by Fred Schenkelberg 1 Comment

Product Reliability and Customer Service

After 30 minutes of being on hold, I wasn’t sure what to expect from customer service for a product reliability issue. The scratchy soundtrack didn’t foretell a great experience either.

Once connected to a company representative, we resolved the issue quickly and satisfactorily. Unfortunately, that was a pleasant surprise. All too often, the frequently repeated “Your call is important to us.” (an Amazon affiliate link) just isn’t true, in my experience.

Did you know that customer service can add significant value to an organization, especially when product reliability doesn’t meet customers’ expectations? Besides providing the team with valuable product reliability performance information for past products, the service team can improve customer loyalty.

The Power of Purpose: Exploring Transactions vs Relationships

With nearly four (4) decades of experience in Reliability, Maintenance and Safety in my rear-view mirror now, I’ve gotten to pondering about what have I actually learned? What has been my purpose? For those who don’t know me you can learn more about my career pathway by visiting my LinkedIn Profile. In short, I’ve been a practitioner, consultant, educator, author, businessman, mentor and thought-influencer (don’t like the term ‘Leader’, sounds too cocky).

Given all this ‘wisdom’ (polite term for dues paid in years or the state of being ‘old-er’), what have I really learned?

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by JD Solomon Leave a Comment

How ADA Compliance Improves Communication for Reliability Engineers

Sometimes it is easier to start with what not to do. That is often the case for technically trained professionals who are often not the best natural communicators. Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and international standards for the visually and hearing impaired provide good guardrails.

The Basics

These are five basics that should be considered as a minimum standard.

Failure Mode and Mechanism

In a previous article I discussed the degradation of materials due to exposure to stressors (use conditions) and how to identify stressors. Cracks form and grow in axles and shafts due to cyclic stress, steel screws corrode when exposed to water, some plastics become brittle when exposed to sunlight, and coatings on surfaces can wear away. When too much degradation occurs, components and joints fail, leading to product failure.

Things to consider during design

If you’re someone who likes to design reliable products, you must think about the stressors and their effects. When designing a product, we must identify the following things [Read more…]

by Mike Sondalini Leave a Comment

Is it Time to Kill Your Organization to Build a Better One?

Every organization and organism’s performance is limited to the capability of its design. If you want better business results, then get or build a new organization with systems designed to naturally deliver the outcomes and profits you want. Nothing else you do will ever work as well!

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by Greg Hutchins Leave a Comment

Risk Registers Over Time

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

Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) is becoming an important topic and activity worldwide. This is in part because of COVID 19. COVID 19 focused the public’s attention on health risks. As the world comes out of the pandemic crisis, the focus, particularly in government, will be on other risks. Already, in the United States, cities which defunded the police, are reallocating money back due to rising crime. However, because of the political atmosphere and retirement of senior officers, cities are having trouble recruiting enough people to fill the vacated ranks. Adding to this problem are the consequences of riots and work from home. In many urban areas, the result has been a hollowing out of the urban core.

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by Ray Harkins Leave a Comment

What Reliability Engineers Can Learn from Quality

a.k.a. “the dark side”

Reliability engineering and quality engineering are closely related disciplines that both focus on ensuring that products, processes, and systems are efficient, effective, and meet the required standards. As such, there are several ways in which reliability engineers can improve their skills by learning about quality engineering.

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