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First Impressions

First Impressions

Note: This first article in the NoMTBF campaign was published on April 1st, 2009. Thus, we’ve been at this and making progress for a long time and come a long was since starting the NoMTBF campaign. I am looking forward to your comments, contributions, and suggestions.

Fred

At first, MTBF seems like a commonly used and valuable measure of reliability. Trained as a statistician and understanding the use of the expected value that MTBF represented, I thought, ‘Cool, this is useful.’

Then, the discussions with engineers, technical sales folks, and other professionals about reliability using MTBF started. And the awareness that not everyone, and at times it seems very few, truly understood MTBF and how to properly use the measure.

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Boeing 737 MAX: A Reliability Perspective

Boeing 737 MAX: A Reliability Perspective

The tragic crashes of the Boeing 737 Max serve as a stark reminder of the critical role reliability plays in engineering design and practice. These incidents, which occurred in October 2018 and March 2019, resulted in the loss of 346 lives and sent shockwaves through the aviation industry. The crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 were not mere accidents but the culmination of a series of engineering oversights, management decisions, and regulatory failures.

At the heart of these tragedies was a complex interplay of advanced technology and human factors. The Boeing 737 Max, designed to be more fuel-efficient than its predecessors, incorporated a new flight control system that would ultimately prove to be its Achilles’ heel. This system, known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), was intended to compensate for the aerodynamic changes resulting from the aircraft’s larger, more fuel-efficient engines. However, the MCAS relied heavily on data from a single sensor, creating a single point of failure that would have catastrophic consequences.

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Defining TEEP, OOE, and OEE

Defining TEEP, OOE, and OEE

This article is adapted from Chapter 3 of my book titled Measuring Manufacturing Effectiveness.

The book is organized as a structured, multi-chapter exploration of how manufacturing organizations define, measure, and interpret “effectiveness.” Rather than focusing on isolated metrics or tools, it examines measurement as a system; one that shapes decisions, priorities, and behavior across operations, quality, reliability, and management.

Each chapter is written to stand on its own, while also contributing to a larger, integrated framework for understanding manufacturing performance.

Chapter 3 focuses on three of the most commonly used, and most frequently misunderstood, manufacturing effectiveness metrics:

  • Total Effective Equipment Performance (TEEP)
  • Overall Operations Effectiveness (OOE)
  • Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)

Although these measures are often treated as variations of the same idea, they differ in important and meaningful ways. This chapter clarifies what each metric is designed to measure, the assumptions embedded in each definition, and the types of questions each metric is and is not capable of answering.

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An Accuracy Controlled SOP Protects Against Human Error

An Accuracy Controlled SOP Protects Against Human Error

An Accuracy Controlled Enterprise Ace 3T Standard Operating Procedure Protects Against Human Error and Mistakes

With thousands of opportunities to make human errors and mistakes in a job an ACE 3T standard operating procedure is a powerful way to get work done right-first-time. When the situational risk from errors is too high a Plant Wellness Way EAM System-of-Reliability uses ACE 3T SOPs to ensure work tasks and activities are correct and error-free.

We’re all human, and humans make mistakes—lots of them every day. The image below warns that 10 to 30 errors per 100 opportunities is typical for trained people not using a standard operating procedure. Mistakes happen to all of us. The more complicated the job and the more stressful the situation the higher is the human error rate. A PWW EAM System-of-Reliability protects against human error by giving people an ACE 3T standard operating procedure to follow and be 100% successful.

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Agile 2 and Agility (Part 1)

Agile 2 and Agility (Part 1)

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

If you are running a business today, you probably incorporate digital elements in your products and services.  At the very least, you employ digital technology in the operation of your business.  It’s likely that you have adopted an Agile framework and possibly even DevOps processes.  It’s also likely that you are not getting the productivity boost from it that you should.

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Hardware Product Realization in the Age of AI

Hardware Product Realization in the Age of AI

Chapter 7: Preparing for Agile Hardware Implementation Part 1, Ten things to look out for.

In the previous chapter, we discussed how to prepare your organization to have the strong foundational principles needed to fully utilize agile hardware product development.

This chapter sets you on the path towards being ready for agile hardware product development.

As we mentioned in the previous two episodes, hardware companies need to establish strong foundational principles before applying the best practices of agile hardware product realization. These best practices will be covered in a later episode, but before getting to them, it is worth considering the following set of warning signs to look out for in your current processes and methodologies. Comprehending these as they relate to your current working practices will help you to focus on those elements which can negatively impact your hardware developments.

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What is the REAL reason we do Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)?

What is the REAL reason we do Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)?

Why do we practice Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)? In this video, I share a real-life example from a recent trip that perfectly illustrates RCM’s purpose: managing the consequences of failure.

When my flight faced an issue with its auxiliary power unit (APU), the pilot used alternative methods to keep us moving safely. This experience highlights how RCM principles guide us in deciding which failures need proactive maintenance and which can be managed with other strategies. Join me, Nancy Regan, as I walk through the essence of RCM and how it helps us focus on what truly matters.

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Evaluating Risk: When to Apply a Risk Matrix or Monte Carlo Analysis

Evaluating Risk: When to Apply a Risk Matrix or Monte Carlo Analysis

I seldom hear anyone criticize the risk matrix in asset management. Such criticism is usually reserved for the risk management community, where the risk matrix remains the favorite punching bag. On the other extreme of analytics, Monte Carlo analysis is seen as the quiet, poorly understood savior of all. As with most things, the truth is somewhere in between. This article briefly describes when to apply a risk matrix and when to opt for Monte Carlo analysis.

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Illuminating MTBF’s Lack of Information

Illuminating MTBF’s Lack of Information

Here’s a simple illustration of how MTBF oversimplifies data, concealing essential information.

By convention, we tend to use MTBF for repairable data. That is fine.

You may also be aware of my dislike for the use of MTBF, for many different reasons. If you find yourself suggesting your organization, customer, industry or whomever to stop using MTBF, you may want to use this simple example to illustrate the ‘value’ of MTBF. [Read more…]

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Return Parts Analysis – Why?

Return Parts Analysis – Why?

As industries increasingly rely on complex electromechanical systems, the importance of Return Parts Analysis (RPA) cannot be overstated. This crucial process involves forensic examination of failed components to determine root causes and prevent future issues. Let’s explore why RPA is essential, particularly for components like valves, sensors, pumps, and electrical boards.

Return Parts Analysis provides invaluable insights into component failures, offering benefits that extend far beyond simple troubleshooting:

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How to Make ISO 55000 and ISO 55001 Successful 

How to Make ISO 55000 and ISO 55001 Successful 

ISO 55000 and ISO 55001 are frameworks into which you must add the correct policies, procedures, knowledge, and actions that deliver world class physical asset management. They cannot of themselves cause asset management, maintenance and operational excellence. Users of ISO 55000 and ISO 55001 must turn the framework into a full set of the correct and proper processes and practices used business-wide and life-cycle-long in your company to cause it to operate at world class performance. 

What is missing in ISO 55001 you do with the Plant Wellness Way enterprise asset management methodology. There is but one rule to follow in the PWW EAM methodology to get the best asset management and operational excellence solution: Produce the least atomic stress state in component materials-of-construction all the time. Select strategies, procedures and practices that cause that result and you have the best asset management solution to feed into an ISO 55001 framework. Plant Wellness Way EAM perfectly complements ISO 55000 and ISO 55001 so that when used together you build a life cycle EAM system with the processes and practices that ensure outstanding equipment reliability and great enterprise asset management success.

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Killer AI and Risk Based, Decision Making

Killer AI and Risk Based, Decision Making

What happens if an autonomous AI robot has preemptive authority to use deadly force to ensure its safety or the public’s safety ?  We are not too far from this when autonomous robots will have risk based, problem solving and decision making capabilities and even statutory authorities.

Last week, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors gave the San Francisco Police Department authority to use killer robots.  The vote was 8 to 3 to approve robo cops.  San Francisco is the most liberal city in the United States. Oakland and other cities are thinking the same.

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Failure Management in Maintenance: Turning Setbacks into Success

Failure Management in Maintenance: Turning Setbacks into Success

Failure is an inevitable part of maintenance operations. Machines break down, components wear out, and unexpected issues arise despite the best preventive measures. However, the difference between a high-performing maintenance team and one that struggles lies in how failures are managed. Effective failure management is not about eliminating all failures—an impossible goal—but about controlling their impact, learning from them, and using them as opportunities to improve reliability and efficiency.

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Is Failure Data Essential for RCM? Insights from Resnikoff’s Conundrum

Is Failure Data Essential for RCM? Insights from Resnikoff’s Conundrum

Do we need comprehensive failure data to perform Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)? This question brings us to Resnikoff’s conundrum, a thought-provoking concept introduced by mathematician Resnikoff in the 1970s. Resnikoff pointed out that while failure data is useful, data on critical failures—which we aim to prevent—is often missing or minimal. So, how do we manage RCM effectively without it?

In this video, I explain how a facilitated working group approach to RCM fills in these data gaps by leveraging the knowledge and experience of equipment experts. Join me, Nancy Regan, as we explore this unique aspect of RCM!

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