In What Department Should the Reliability Group Be Located?
Abstract
Carl and Fred discussing the organization of the reliability activity and the benefits and shortcomings of locating reliability in different departments.
Key Points
Join Carl and Fred as they discuss which department reliability should be in.
Topics include:
- Being in an organization that supports reliability
- Fixing problems vs. preventing problems
- What happens if reliability is located in the group that fixes urgent problems
- Importance of a reliability champion in management
- Advantages and disadvantages of locating reliability in different departments
- Support to work on longer-term projects
- Soft skills and hard skills
- Integrating reliability activities into engineering day-to-day activities
- Making prevention activities more visible, including solutions
Enjoy an episode of Speaking of Reliability. Where you can join friends as they discuss reliability topics. Join us as we discuss topics ranging from design for reliability techniques, to field data analysis approaches.
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Show Notes
Here is a draft excerpt from chapter 4 of the new book being written by Fred Schenkelberg and Carl Carlson
“A reliability maturity matrix (RMM) is a tool for determining a company’s approach to achieving product reliability performance. It is based on responses to a standardized set of questions that are organized by predetermined categories. RMM provides a useful way to tailor the tasks of a reliability plan to the capability of the company, and help ensure application success.”
RMM provides insight into how a company can organize to achieve reliability.
You can read the entire draft of this chapter at this link:
https://accendoreliability.com/reliability-engineering-management-book/chapter-4-reliability-maturity-matrix/
Great question on location of Reliability Group. But also should be augmented by ‘and what level does the groups Leadership sit at?’. The problem is whatever department the team is in, its sucess will be determined by the appetite and influence of the Management Team. If there is no ‘Reliability Leader’ in the Management Team then you can place the team anywhere, they still will have little influence on how business is conducted and therefore irrespective of the quality and work ethic of the team members little will be achieved. Worse it could result in the team being de-motivated and ineffective as they see their work either ignored or placed at a low priority. So for me the key is team influence not team placement.
Well said David – whether a reliability manager or a senior leadership champion the main point is reliability topics and information has to inform and guide business decisions at all levels. cheers, Fred