Search Results for: Change Management

Effective Concurrent Engineering Reduces Producibility Risk

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

Most companies have policies and procedures for concurrent engineering but many are ineffective for various reasons resulting in poor implementation of improved producibilty in their products. I have made this observation based on working for a variety of companies in different industries. Three examples of different approaches I encountered are presented below for your consideration. Two of the examples were used by defense companies, one of which I consider excellent and the other poor. One method was used by a commercial company is one I consider to be very good. [Read more…]

by James Reyes-Picknell Leave a Comment

Developing A Strategy To Achieve Excellence In Maintenance

Welcome to my latest 10-part series of blogs called “Uptime Insights”, where we explore a journey of excellence in maintenance. To stay on top, managers must implement strategies that keep operations performing at high levels. In these articles I will show you how to achieve excellence in maintenance – a critical business process in any capital intensive industry. [Read more…]

by Greg Hutchins Leave a Comment

Risk Based Decision Making

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

Risk-based decision making is employed to implement risk management.

But how is this implemented? In this article, we will look at the process of making “risk-based” decisions.

Risk management is a process that involves several activities: [Read more…]

by Fred Schenkelberg Leave a Comment

Data Q&A with Fred and James

A Question & Answer Period with Fred Schenkelberg and James Kovacevic on the what can be done with your data and analysis.

Data and the analyses that use the data can be tricky to manage at best, let along extremely difficult.

In this last post of the series on using the maintenance data you have, Fred and James will answer many of the common questions asked about data and the analyses. [Read more…]

by James Reyes-Picknell Leave a Comment

The Excellence Path – Part Two – The Path to Success with RCM

We know that there are no “quick fixes” or “silver bullet solutions” when it comes to improvements in maintenance management.

In my last article, I pointed out that many separate conditions and events must come together properly to achieve “schedule success” – i.e.: the high level of compliance to a schedule of planned work as produced by your planners.

That list of includes: [Read more…]

by Fred Schenkelberg Leave a Comment

Environmental and Use Factors

The definition of reliability includes four elements.

One of them is the intended environment where the device or system will experience a range of stresses.

The knowledge of where and how an item will operate enables:

The proper design to meet customer expectations
The essential durability during transportation, storage, and use
The complete accounting of applied stresses and their variations
The effective application of stress mitigation or reduction techniques
The efficient installation and monitoring of stress tracking

[Read more…]

by James Kovacevic Leave a Comment

The Next Step in Your Failure Data

Improve your failure data to improve the speed and accuracy of your failure & reliability analysis.

Part 5 of 7

A few years into your reliability journey, you start to struggle to make the improvements you were able to when you first started.

Why is this? You were able to systematically eliminate all of the low hanging fruit using the existing data in your CMMS. But now you have to dig deeper to realize the improvements and that requires better data. [Read more…]

by Fred Schenkelberg Leave a Comment

Additional Reliability Specification for Your Supplier

Beyond the part reliability specification, you may also add conditions or requests to your reliability specification for your supplier.

The communication with your supplier should include sufficient information that they fully understand your reliability performance expectations. When buying or contracting with a supplier, you are the customer.

Be clear about your reliability requirements including constraints and conditions. [Read more…]

by James Reyes-Picknell Leave a Comment

Rapid Proactive Maintenance Program – PM Program – Part 3

In the first installment of this series, we described the basics behind proactive maintenance and some of the considerations users need to make.

The second installment described RCM programs – the “gold standard” if you like for program development. This third installment describes what you can do if you realize you need a program but have nothing. It would also work if you’ve got a PM program but you are unhappy with the results you are getting. Chances are that something is missing or not being done often enough.

We’ve often encountered maintenance programs that are lacking. They need a stronger proactive component and they need it quickly to get things under control.

This guideline is intended to help to get things under control. [Read more…]

by Fred Schenkelberg Leave a Comment

First Step in Analyzing Repairable Systems Data

Using the right plot enables your team to know what is working or need improvement.

Part 4 of 7

Your facility has data and maybe too much data. Using simple plotting may be the key to unlocking how well your maintenance program is performing.

Building on the concept of reliability growth modeling James Kovacevic described a convenient way to quickly visualize your repairable system failure data is with a mean cumulative function (MCF) plot. [Read more…]

by James Reyes-Picknell Leave a Comment

If You Want a Proactive Maintenance Program That Really Works, Then Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) Is The Way

This article is Part Two in my three part series about “PM” programs.

Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) is the world’s leading method for identifying maintenance and other activities required to sustain reliable performance of physical assets. If you want a proactive maintenance program that really works, then Reliability Centered Maintenance is the most thorough approach you can take to get there. [Read more…]

by James Kovacevic 4 Comments

Quantify the Improvements (or Gaps) In Your Reliability

Using a Crow-AMSAA [Reliability Growth Analysis (RGA)] to Quantify Your Reliability Improvements (or Losses)

Part 3 of 7

Imagine being able to predict the next time a failure will occur for a piece of equipment without a huge amount of work. Wouldn’t it be nice to know the approximate point in time that a failure will occur on a critical piece of equipment? It is possible, but I am not talking about using MTBF, as it is not a good measure (if you need to understand why, please visit http://www.NoMTBF.com). What I am talking about is a Crow-AMSAA analysis. [Read more…]

by Fred Schenkelberg 1 Comment

Identifying Parts Obsolescence Early

One aspect of creating a new product or system is the sourcing of parts, components, and materials.

Gone are the days of your organization providing every element of the final product. Henry Ford’s supply chain for early Ford automobiles includes their own forests, rubber plantations, and iron ore mines. [Gelderman, 1981]

We increasingly rely on the supply chain to create the necessary parts for the design’s functionality. Then to continue to supply those same parts for decades, in some cases. [Read more…]

by James Kovacevic Leave a Comment

Using the Maintenance Data You Already Have

Leverage the existing data in your CMMS to make sustainable improvements to your maintenance program

Part 1 of 7

Let’s face it, your technicians have been entering data into the CMMS for years, but you haven’t been able to use it to make improvements. Is it because the data isn’t codified or it doesn’t have the right data points? Generally, this is how most maintenance managers will view their data, but it is incorrect. The CMMS does have data that you can use almost immediately. [Read more…]

by Greg Hutchins Leave a Comment

In a World of “Black Swans”, How Do You Know Which One to Worry About

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

Introduction

There’s always a story that explains why an event is a “Black Swan” – after the fact. Where are the “Black Swan” prognosticators before events occur? I see “after the fact” articles and statements, such as, “we knew that was coming” or “we predicted this” – all after the fact. Generally projections and predictions seem never to hold sway until after the fact. Predictions and projections never seem to occur when the prognosticator specifies — is it just that the timing never seems to work out – until after the fact. From Nostradamus to the “Bible Code” we are enamored with predictions – after the fact. Does there seem to be a theme developing here? [Read more…]