Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site
One approach for reliability improvement is to find the weaknesses or faults, then fix them.
This is best done before shipping to the customer.
You may hear this called the Test, Analyze, and Fix Method (TAAF). Or, you may have heard of it called a Reliability Growth Test program (RGT). Either way, the essence is evaluating prototypes to find specific faults. [Read more…]
Maria Popova recently wrote about the work of James T. Mangan and his book You Can Do Anything!
, published in 1936. In particular she focused on one section titled 14 Ways to Acquire Knowledge
The article is about learning anything, which had me thinking about how to learn reliability engineering. So, without apology let’s explore 14 ways to learn about reliability engineering. [Read more…]
Over the past week or two (originally published in December 2013), I’ve received requests and comments that have given me pause. Why is it that I have time to answer questions and share information? Why do I spend the time to do so in the first place?
I have found that responding to questions or requests for assistance is rewarding.
Today I received a request for help in a job search. Last week it was an employer looking for a perfect candidate. I’ve received questions about graduate school in the US from a Chinese undergraduate. A question on accelerated life testing approaches. Another on maintenance practices and data analysis.
For each, I try to provide an answer or direct to find an answer.
When a product or asset works as it’s expected for as long or longer than expected, we often consider it reliable.
Consumers around the world look for reliable products and services. Some will pay a premium with the desire to obtain failure free value from the purchase. When designing a product or service we often want to create the most reliable item within the constraints of time, resources, and cost. Designers and engineers may add margin or safety factors into calculations and decisions to avoid failures.
Many of us have heard that fixing a design is orders of magnitude less expensive early the product lifecycle. Product recalled or major failures can damage profits and brand image.
Here are three ways you can invest in improving product reliability. [Read more…]
When this posts I should be home from Nepal and mostly recovered. So, back to more details going forward. Take a look, work the problem, solve it, then show your work. Comment with why you chose your response and why you didn’t select one of the others. [Read more…]
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. In Maxims for Revolutionists (1903) by George Bernard Shaw
It is those that see the world as it should be that prompts change. I believe it is those resisting change to be unreasonable; I suppose it depends on your point of view. The idea or invention may be an inspiration or take diligent work, yet the real work is in changing the reasonable to a new way of viewing the world. Understanding everyone is not as unreasonable as yourself helps you prepare others for change. Challenging the resistance may label you as unreasonable. Be prepared and drive on, you are in good company. Fred Schenkelberg Reliability Quote of the Day, ISSN 2329-0099 http://www.fmsreliability.com/publishing/category/quotes/ where you can sign up for a daily quote sent to you via email —
I received a request from Quality Progress magazine to provide a quote and 100 words about the selection. The above is my submission. [Read more…]
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
In Maxims for Revolutionists (1903) by George Bernard Shaw
It is those that see the world as it should be that prompts change. I believe it is those resisting change to be unreasonable; I suppose it depends on your point of view. The idea or invention may be an inspiration or take diligent work, yet the real work is in changing the reasonable to a new way of viewing the world.
During a normal day, we unconsciously tie our shoes, brush our teeth and drive to work, mostly by routine and without too much conscious thinking about the tasks. Occasionally we answer the phone and have to think a little about the conversation. Or we design an experiment for the next project, thinking we can save time by using the same test as last time. Then we slip comfortably into a routine. Do we not think anymore?
Reliability engineering is thinking.
If you have other ways to sort out these questions, please comment and let us learn and compare approaches. [Read more…]
A life-support-equipment company manager desires to conduct a reliability program assessment. The company is experiencing about a 50% per year failure rate and at least the Director of Quality thought it should do better. One of the findings was related to reliability goal setting and how it was used within the organization.
Nearly everyone knew that the product had a 5,000-h Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF) reliability goal, but [Read more…]
You are welcome to contribute a guest post once or regularly. This platform is to help clear up misunderstandings concerning reliability terms, techniques, and tools. You may have a story or experience or knowledge that will help others understand and avoid mistakes.
These guidelines are for you and hopefully provide useful information as you prepare you material.
I look forward to your writing as do the readers of the NoMTBF blog. You have the experiences and stories, please share them. You have the knowledge, tell us about it such that we all can benefit. Help us make a difference in the reliability engineering community.
The target, objective, mission or goal is the statement that provides a design team with focus and direction. A well-stated goal will establish the business connection to the technical decisions, related to product durability expectations. A well-stated goal provides clarity across the organization and permits a common language for discussing design, supply chain, and manufacturing decisions.
Let’s explore the definition of a ‘well-stated reliability goal.’ First, is it not simple MTBF, “as good as or better than…” or ‘a 5-year product’. These are common ‘goals’ found across many industries, yet none permit a clear technical understanding of the durability expectations for the product.
The common definition for reliability is [Read more…]
This is a two part series where I outline the basic elements of creating and supporting a reliability program.
For Reliability Engineers to converse with one another and with non-technical people in an organization, it is necessary for the language of reliability to be widely understood. These terms form the backbone of a working vocabulary and should be well understood by Certified Reliability Engineers.
Availability: Fraction of time that a system is usable. Steady state Availability = MTBF/(MTBF+MTTR) [Read more…]
If only we had a crystal ball or another device to predict the future. From the general wondering about the enemies next move, to the soldier hoping their equipment will work. In the corporate boardroom estimating the competitions next move, to the maintenance manager ordering spare parts, we have many uses for knowing the future.
We often look to past performance to provide an indication of the future. Has this mutual fund regularly provided adequate returns? If so, we predict it will going forward. And anyone that has reviewed mutual fund performance also has read or heard the admonishment to not use past performance to estimate future returns. Mutual funds, markets, business and battlefields all change and respond in sometimes unforeseen ways. [Read more…]
