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Unreasonable

Unreasonable

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…]

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Unreasonable

Unreasonable

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.

[Read more…]

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Do we not think

Do we not think

as reliability professionals anymore?

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.

[Read more…]

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Reliability Goal Story

Reliability Goal Story

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…]

Guidelines

Guest Post Guidelines for the NoMTBF blog

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.

  1. Original content only. This helps us stay clear of any copyright issues. Plus, it provides a consistent platform of original material for our readers. I don’t reprint articles from directories or other bloggers, or from other sources.
  2. Authentic voice. This is a blog and you may write in first person. Tell us about your experience and convey you knowledge as if talking to me directly. You have to be engaged (and engage your reader) with the content to come across as authentic.
  3. On topic. We explore the full range of reliability and maintenance engineering specifically the misunderstandings and errors that are common.
  4. Relevant back link. Yes, I will check the links in the article. Linking back your website or company is fine. Keep it on topic though. Links to blatant advertising will not get posted.
  5. Only two back links. Write a good article and show your reader how you think and communicate, and they will want more. The article is not a way to setup 10 links to your blog or site. Only 2 self serving back links and they should be in you bio. Links to resources that amplify the article are great.
  6. Answer comments. We have active readers that will post comments and ask questions. Do them and yourself the favor of providing replies.
  7. Appropriate length. No worries here, long enough to convey your thoughts and not so long as to lose your reader’s interest. I try to be between 500 and 1000 words. A little long for some, yet for technical topics maybe a little short.
  8. Resources. If relevant provide your reader references and additional resources for further study.
  9. Format. Plain text please as I’m working in the html editor of the WordPress site. Provide full URL of any links and if you comfortable with formatting in html, please include them.
  10. Break it up. Make the writing visually interesting rather than a solid block of text, use bullets, lists, tables, graphics, images and paragraphs.

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.

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Reliability Goals

Reliability Goals

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…]

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Reliability Management Terminology

Reliability Management Terminology

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…]

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Reliability Predictions

Reliability Predictions

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…]

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Musings on Reliability and Maintenance Topics

Musings on Reliability and Maintenance Topics

I write quite a bit about reliability and have plans to write quite a bit more. I have looked to prolific authors in our field with admiration and respect: Wayne Nelson, Patrick O’Connor or Terrence O’Hanlon, they all share so much knowledge. They make the subjects and material clear and accessible. They have in large part helped me all throughout my career by enabling my ability to solve problems and create value.

Of course, there are many others that have contributed to my career and my approach to engineering. My colleagues, managers, and mentors have each helped to educate and develop my skills and approach. Every single client has also contributed. As many of you have heard from me, I learn from every encounter and feel very fortunate to have a career that enables such wonderful exploration and learning as part of my day-to-day work. [Read more…]

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Common Formulas

Common Formulas

Running through a couple of practice CRE exams recently (yeah, I know I should get out more…) found a few formulas kept coming up in the questions. While it is not a complete list of equation you’ll need for the exam, the following five will help in many of the questions. They seem popular maybe because the relate to key concepts in the body of knowledge, or they are easy to use in question creation. I do not know why. [Read more…]

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Exponential Reliability

Exponential Reliability

Down to the last week of preparation for the exam on March 2nd. Good luck to all those signed up for that exam date. Time to focus on preparing your notes, organizing your references and doing a final run through of practice exams. [Read more…]

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Websites for Reliability

note: if you know of a great online resource that isn’t on this list, please add a comments and we’ll add it to the list for all to share.

Shon Isenhour recently posted on Linkedin a question about online resources helpful for reliability engineers. I added my list and hadn’t seen any other links added. There must be more than the few I know about – what can you add to this list? [Read more…]