Today’s New Reliability Challenge
Abstract
Mojan and Fred discuss the range of new challenges facing reliability engineering work.
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SOR 1129 Today’s New Reliability Challenge
CR130: Effective CMMS Adoption using Strategies Visuals and Starting Small with Cameron Wight on CMMSradio
Effective CMMS Adoption using Strategies Visuals and Starting Small with Cameron Wight on CMMSradio
Cameron Wight, a reliability engineer, discusses the practicalities of CMMS implementation on CMMSradio, stressing the need for simplicity, effective organization, and procedural approaches to reduce anxiety and improve work quality. He emphasizes that CMMS is a tool whose success hinges on strong people and processes. Key strategies include starting small, using visuals like pictures and videos for better communication, and balancing work order details to avoid both under and overloading. Wight also discusses challenges in adoption, strategies for vendor selection, and the importance of training and clear assessment during the onboarding process.
- Importance of simplicity and starting small
- The role of visuals (photos, videos)
- Balancing work order detail
- Strategies for improving CMMS adoption
- Best practices for vendor selection
SOR 1128 Reliability ≠ Testing
Reliability ≠ Testing
Abstract
Mojan and Fred discuss the idea that a product’s reliability is not the same as doing reliability testing.
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CR129: Explore the Trades is Bridging the Gap to Skilled Trades Careers for our Youth
Explore the Trades is Bridging the Gap to Skilled Trades Careers for our Youth
Explore the Trades, a non-profit organization founded in 2005, addresses the skilled trades workforce shortage by connecting students to careers in plumbing, HVAC, and electrical work. Kate Cinnamo, the executive director since 2017, discusses the organization’s efforts to engage students, educators, and families. Through tools like poster programs and skills labs, Explore the Trades promotes trades education, offering free resources to schools and providing hands-on equipment and curriculum. The initiative highlights the high earning potential and fulfilling nature of skilled trades careers, while emphasizing the need for continued outreach to shift perceptions and support future workforce development.
- Explore the Trades’ mission to connect students with plumbing, HVAC, and electrical careers
- Free poster program for schools, including a Spanish version, promoting career paths and apprenticeship opportunities
- Skills lab program in partnership with Ferguson, providing schools with plumbing and HVAC equipment
- Collaboration with SkillCat to enhance trades education with technical training curriculum
- Efforts to change perceptions of trades work and emphasize its economic importance and work-life balance
Visit Explore The Trades and Support: https://explorethetrades.org/
CR128: Building Trust and Excellence in Commercial Food Equipment Services with Rich Malachy
Building Trust and Excellence in Commercial Food Equipment Services with Rich Malachy
Rich Malachy, CEO of Malachy Cares, discusses leadership in the commercial food equipment service industry. He emphasizes the importance of maintenance, transparency, and employee well-being, while highlighting the use of technology like XOi software to build trust. Malachy also shares his journey from fieldwork to CEO, the impact of content creation on business, and the growing interest in skilled trades.
Key Topics:
- Importance of maintenance and a culture of excellence
- Use of XOi software to enhance transparency and trust
- Emphasis on employee well-being and work-life balance
- Malachy’s career journey and leadership evolution
- Rising interest in skilled trades and technician training
Visit Malachy Cares: https://malachycares.com/
CR127: Scaling Success in CMMS How John Sterling Mastered Market Entry Team Building and Sales Excellence
Scaling Success in CMMS How John Sterling Mastered Market Entry Team Building and Sales Excellence
In this podcast episode, John Sterling, a seasoned entrepreneur in the CMMS and technology industries, shares his entrepreneurial journey starting with his beginnings in small business as a high schooler, his early career in Silicon Valley, and his acquisition of Data Stream, a small software company (that became a $100M company). He emphasizes the importance of gaining market entry, even at a low price, which helped him secure significant clients later. We explore the challenges of transitioning from small to large businesses, managing different budget sizes, and the complexity of scaling a company.
Main Topics:
- Entrepreneurship Journey: From small businesses to large-scale companies.
- Strategic Pricing and Market Entry: Using low pricing to gain entry and attract large clients.
- Challenges in Scaling Businesses: Managing transitions from small to large companies.
- Bold Strategies for Success: Taking risks like pursuing IPOs and international acquisitions.
- Building and Managing Teams: Recruiting, nurturing sales talent, and maintaining company culture.
RM 181: What Every OEM Should Know About Working with Contract Manufacturers – With Raymond Novara
What Every OEM Should Know About Working with Contract Manufacturers – With Raymond Novara
The next two episodes will be all about contract manufacturing, an area that can make or break the reliability and success of a product.
My guest on this episode is Raymond Novara, founder and owner of East End Assemblies, a U.S.-based contract manufacturer recognized for its focus on quality, customer service, and compliance with AS9100 and IPC standards.
During our conversation, I’ll be asking Raymond some key questions that every OEM should be considering:
- What are the best practices for selecting a contract manufacturer?
- What common mistakes do companies make when working with a CM—especially in communication and hand-offs?
- How can design-for-manufacturability feedback prevent problems down the road?
- What should customers know about transitioning from prototypes to volume production?
- And how can contract manufacturers help ensure long-term product reliability, not just passing initial tests?
If you’re an OEM evaluating partners, an engineer preparing to hand off a design, or someone interested in how contract manufacturers contribute to product reliability, this episode is packed with insights.
Raymond Novara’s Company:
East End Assemblies
https://eastendassemblies.com
QDD 183: Confidence Is A Dial: Turn It With Evidence, Not Guesswork
Confidence Is A Dial: Turn It With Evidence, Not Guesswork
We turn late-stage design surprises into a strategic plan by assigning explicit confidence levels, stacking evidence, and using the three-dial model of time, cost, and confidence boost. We show how to work backward from a system test to cheaper steps that drive faster, clearer decisions.
• applying the three dials of time, cost, confidence
• sequencing with the work-backwards strategy
• avoiding overtesting, undertesting, wrong testing
• turning confidence into a team communication tool
• practical next steps to build the confidence muscle
Fundamentals of Safety Margins
Fundamentals of Safety Margins
podcast episode with speaker Fred Schenkelberg
One way to create a robust product or system is to consider all the stresses and design to withstand those stresses. We often do not know all the stresses, magnitudes, and ranges of variation. We know that many materials degrade with time, yet we do not know precisely how much or how fast. We also do not know what new stresses may arise or how stresses will change over time.
Reliability of a ‘K out of N’ System
Reliability of a ‘K out of N’ System
podcast episode with speaker Chris Jackson
We often use the term ‘system reliability modelling’ to describe any scenario where we need to somehow convert what we know about component reliability into system reliability in order to make a decision. Some of us might have heard of ‘series systems’ that have no redundant components, meaning that the system fails when any component fails. Then there are ‘parallel systems’ where the system fails when the last component fails. But then there are ‘K out of N’ systems that need ‘K’ components out of a total of ‘N’ components to work for the system to work. Do you know when ‘K out of N’ system reliability looks like series system reliability? … or parallel system reliability? … or perhaps you don’t know what series or parallel system reliability looks like? Then this webinar is for you.
[Read more…]
Fundamentals of Lessons Learned
Fundamentals of Lessons Learned
podcast episode with speaker Fred Schenkelberg
Within an organization or a team, we collectively know a lot. We, again collectively, have a wealth of information. And, if you follow my Mom’s advice, we learn something new every day. We also forget a lot every day. When we forget something that we learned by making a mistake or error (learning the hard way), we are prone to repeat that mistake or error. [Read more…]
Risk 101: Future of Quality
Risk 101: Future of Quality
podcast episode with speaker Greg Hutchins
We’ve evangelized for more than 20 years that the future of quality and its related disciplines, including reliability, will be risk-focused. Why? We’re living in a time of uncertainty and risk. Understanding and managing risk is important for quality and reliability professionals solving tough problems and making hard decisions. [Read more…]
What is WeiBayes Analysis?
What is WeiBayes Analysis?
podcast episode with speaker Chris Jackson
Some of us might have heard of the Weibull distribution. Some of us might have heard about Weibull analysis. Weibull analysis uses the Weibull distribution to help us visualize failure data in a really useful way. We can ‘see’ if our product is wearing out. We can see if our product is wearing in. We can estimate how many things will have failed by certain times. We can do all manners of other wonderful ‘reliability engineering’ things through Weibull Analysis. But then there is ‘WeiBayes Analysis.’ It combines Weibull and Bayesian analysis (… I know that doesn’t mean much to most people). It can be really useful if we know ‘how’ something we are testing fails. Because if we do, then we can essentially feed a certain parameter into the analysis to help it on its way. This means that we don’t need as much data (always a good thing in reliability engineering). But there are quite a few catches. Interested in learning about Weibayes analysis? Join us for this webinar.
[Read more…]
Dealing with Small Sample Sizes
Dealing with Small Sample Sizes
podcast episode with speaker Fred Schenkelberg
It’s rare to have sufficient samples for all the desired reliability work. It’s common to have very few samples. So, how does one manage to learn what is necessary to learn from the few samples? How can you maximize the value of reliability work in the scant sample situation? [Read more…]
Risk Based Auditing
Risk-Based Auditing: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started
podcast episode with speaker Greg Hutchins
Risk-based auditing (RBA) is all about risk management. Risk-based auditing is simply risk transfer from the auditee to the auditor.
In today’s uncertain world, the lens for most, if not all, problem-solving and decision-making is risk. Risk-based auditing is a must-have tool for all quality and reliability professionals. ALL ISO management systems require RBA, whether 1st, 2nd, or 3rd party audits. [Read more…]
