
Key Characteristics Revisited
Abstract
Carl and Fred having a new conversation about the age-old topic of key characteristics, and how they are used to improve products and processes.
Key Points
Join Carl and Fred as they discuss what is meant by key characteristics, and the application of key characteristics in achieving high reliability.
Topics include:
- Specific examples of product characteristics
- Which product or process characteristics are most important (key characteristics)?
- How to prioritize characteristics
- Key characteristics must be measurable, part of product requirements, impact safety or performance
- CTQ vs key characteristics
- Linkage between key product characteristics and key process characteristics
- Examples of using key characteristics in testing
- Examples of using key characteristics in process control plans
- Is everything the same importance?
- Use of FMEA severity and occurrence to aid in identifying key characteristics
- How to derive key characteristics from FMEA
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.

SOR 724 Key Characteristics RevisitedCarl Carlson
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Show Notes
how can planner prepare a work without knowing enough information about the task detail.
for example we need to rebuild a pump that is still running but I can’t tell which parts need to be ordered before we dismantle the pump.
Hello Mohamed. Thank you for your question. One of the ways that I prepare for maintenance activity is using Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM). There are many excellent articles on RCM on the AccendoReliability.com website (search on RCM). In the case of which replacement parts will be needed for the pump, RCM will guide the decision. Basically, you conduct a maintenance FMEA on the pump equipment, and use the RCM procedure to guide the optimum maintenance tasks. Regarding specific pump parts, you should be able to identify the pump component parts by examining the pump specifications (sometimes called the bill of material) from the manufacturer. Please let me know if this answers your question, or if you have any follow-up questions. Carl