Linking Customer Needs to Product Requirements and Robust Design

By Rob Allen

April 8, 2025 / 9am Pacific Time

Reliability engineers should have a clear understanding of how customer needs link to product requirements. Product requirements that have the most impact on customer needs should be considered in your design failure modes and effects analysis (DFMEA). This webinar will review the quality function deployment methodology (QFD), which identifies critical-to-quality (CTQ) requirements and supports requirements validation. We will also cover how the relative importance of CTQs can be used to determine DFMEA severity criteria.

What is Weibull Probability Plotting?

By Chris Jackson

April 22, 2025 /8am Pacific Time

Weibull probability plotting is perhaps the most widespread data analysis tool used in reliability and quality engineering. Some of you might have used it. Some of you might know that it ‘magically’ creates straight lines out of failure data, and the slope and location of that straight line … sort of means something. Good reliability engineers know what these straight lines mean, what it means if the lines aren’t straight, can do things like look at these lines to optimize maintenance regimes, work out if we quality control issues (or not), and lots of other things. And the good news is … if you know how to use Weibull probability plotting – you don’t need to use complex equations!

Metal Microstructure

By Michael Pfeifer PhD

April 2, 2025 / 8am Pacific Time

Understanding metal microstructure, the factors that influence it, and how it is observed will help you understand…

• How metals can be engineered
• What to do to when developing manufacturing processes
• What to do when working on quality problems and component failures
• How to assess suppliers

which will help you understand how to …

• Design better, lower-cost metal components
• Develop capable, high-quality fabrication and joining processes
• Quickly solve metal failures and quality problems

New and veteran engineers should attend.

The Future of AI in Maintenance: Where We Are, What’s Next, and How to Prepare

By Amissa Giddens and Bryan Bieschke

April 2, 2025 / 10:30am Pacific Time

AI is rapidly transforming maintenance, but how can organizations harness its full potential? In this webinar, we’ll explore the latest advancements in AI-driven maintenance, the key challenges businesses face, and the critical steps needed to implement AI effectively. Whether you’re just starting to explore AI or looking to refine your current strategy, this session will provide valuable insights into the evolving role of AI in maintenance.

Join us as we discuss:

• The current state of AI in maintenance and emerging trends
• Common challenges in AI adoption and how to overcome them
• Steps organizations can take to successfully integrate AI
• Predictions for the future of AI in maintenance strategies

Component and PCB Moisture Handling Guidelines

By Steven R Martell and Mumtaz Bora

April 2, 2025 / Noon – 1:30pm Pacific Time

Free for members / $30 non-members

Handling of moisture sensitive packages is an ongoing learning process in volume manufacturing. Improperly handled and stored MSDs can impact yields and reliability. The presentation will cover a review of the industry standards for MSDs ( J-STD-020, J-STD 033 and J-STD 075) and their applications in moisture control.

PWBs used for assembly also require controlled storage and handling. Board surface finishes, storage and baking guidelines will be reviewed per the IPC 1601 standard.  Handling of MSDs from receipt to use at reflow will be reviewed, including practical guidelines in labelling, tracking, packing and storage.

5-Why DOs and DON’Ts

By Mark Galley

April 4, 2025 / 8am Pacific Time

A widely known tool that is regularly misused. An accurate 5-Why provides a simple way to start a cause-and-effect analysis. This webinar covers some important DOs and DON’Ts that will explain how the technique is confused and how it should be used. Topics will include 5-Why Basics and Benefits, Drawbacks and Misuse of a 5-Why, Does a 5-Why align with a Cause Map™ diagram?

Costly Controversial ESD Myths

By Ted Dangelmayer

April 8, 2025 / 9am Pacific Time

Free for members / $25 non-members

Stores-Purchasing Practices – Self-Assessment

By Ron Moore

April 8, 2025 / 11am Pacific Time

In this session we’ll be taking participants through a “self-assessment” of their current stores and purchasing practices. What we’ve observed is that there is often a disconnect, even conflict, in objectives between stores (minimize working capital) and maintenance (minimize unavailability of spare parts. Both are admirable, but in conflict, so the key is to balance those competing interests for the greater good of the business.

The assessment consists of ten questions covering the use of supplier alliances and common equipment to minimize the proliferation of spares, the vendor’s use of RCM/FMEA to maximize reliability of equipment and spares, the link between stores and maintenance planning to better manage the timely availability of spares, the use of on-going reviews to minimize spares holding, while simultaneously minimizing stockouts, the use of receipt inspection to verify quality and quantity of parts received, and the use of consignment parts to minimize spares holding. This session will provide a review of where you may need to focus attention in improving plant performance through better stores/purchasing practices.

Preventing Thermal & Vibration Failures in Electronic Equipment Overview

By Steve Carlson

April 9, 2025 / 8:30-11:30am Pacific Time

$300

This webinar is an overview of Steve Carlson’s 2-day seminar and will focus on these three topics:

• To understand how variations in coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) can affect the magnitude of the displacements, forces, and stresses that are developed in electronic assemblies during thermal cycling environments and how these factors affect fatigue life.
• To understand how resonant conditions can affect dynamic displacements, forces and stresses in electronic assemblies during different sine and random vibration environments.
• To understand the concept of “damage accumulation” and how it can be used to determine the approximate fatigue life of various electronic assemblies due to different combinations of fatigue accumulated in thermal cycling and vibration environments.

This course is based upon the popular book Preventing Thermal and Vibration Failures in Electronic Equipment by Prof. Dave Steinberg

Failure Modes in Flip Chip and Wire Bonded Packages

By Mumtaz Bora

April 9, 2025 / 8pm Pacific Time

Both flip chip and wire bonded packages have distinct advantages and failure modes. Flip chip packages typically suffer from issues related to solder joint/ bump fatigue, underfill problems, and mechanical stress. Wire bonded packages, on the other hand, are more prone to problems like wire lift-off, delamination, and corrosion. Understanding these failure modes helps in designing more robust packaging solutions that can withstand the stresses of modern electronic systems, leading to improved reliability and performance.

Motion Amplification

By Cory Burns

April 10, 2025 / 9am Pacific Time

Motion Amplification is the ability to make seemingly imperceivable movement visible by computational amplification. This methodology provides a unique approach to analyzing the operational movement of objects for potential failure modes. Applicable to objects like bridges, vessels, manufacturing equipment, motors, robotics, etc. The approach presents itself as another tool independent of accelerometers, strain gages, vibration sensors, etc. allowing for non-contact analysis from an independent point of view. The algorithms used are proprietary and the RRD has chosen to invite a provider in the commercial space, RDI Technologies, to present their implementation of the technology. The presentation intends to review the technology and demonstrate some examples of implementation based on their experiences. The webinar content is meant to present the technology as a viable tool in the preventive and predictive approach to improving reliability.

Diagnosing AC Induction Squirrel Cage Rotors

By Noah Bethel

April 15, 2025 / 8am Pacific Time

Troubleshooting electric motors can be a complex effort.  Even worse with a squirrel cage rotor in the field because you are without the ability to send test signals onto the rotor.  This webinar will unveil six different methods to make the complex squirrel cage rotor troubleshooting more manageable.

Takeaways:

•  Electrical Fault Zones of an AC Induction Motor
•  Identifying Six Different Methods of Rotor Analysis
•  Test Considerations for Squirrel Cage Rotors
•  Communicating Rotor Faults with Confidence and Credibility

Implementation of Mission-Based Systems Reliability (MBSR)-Software

By C. David Kearsley

April 15, 2025 / 4-6pm Pacific Time

Many organizations outside of aerospace/defense are faced with the challenge of leveraging key elements and aspects of a NASA/DoD-leveraged MBSR model in such a way as to acknowledge, account for, and indeed embrace the fundamental differences in DevOps culture.

Implementation of such an MBSR model, when strategically merged with advanced development operations (DevOps) processes, will transition software/systems development from a current state in which:

1. Few coherent functional/operational mission statements exist for complex product systems.
2. Software performance and reliability metrics are generally expressed in terms of “goals” rather than requirements.
3. Reliability Testing design-of-experiments (DOE) lacks overarching system missions structure.

To a future state in which:

1. There exists clear articulation of mission requirements hierarchies.
2. System functionality is defined in terms of system requirements, mission essential tasks, and baseline system performance criteria and metrics.
3. Improved functionality/maintainability exist across products with common mission(s).
4. Improved scope clarity/direction exist for future releases..

Give Soft Foot the Boot – Discover the Hard Facts

By Brandon Zuppardo

April 16, 2025 / 8am Pacific Time

Join us for an insightful webinar on the critical yet often-overlooked issue of soft foot in industrial equipment. Misalignment caused by soft foot can lead to excessive wear, operational inefficiencies, and costly failures. In this session, you’ll gain a deep understanding of what soft foot is, how to detect it, and the serious risks it poses to equipment health.

Our experts will walk you through proven strategies to prevent and correct soft foot, using the right tools and techniques to enhance machine stability and extend asset lifespan. Whether you’re a seasoned technician or just starting in the field, this webinar will equip you with actionable insights to improve maintenance practices and minimize downtime.

Temperature-Humidity-Bias and Temperature cycling Reliability of Printed Electronics

By Abhijit Dasgupta

April 17, 2025 / 8am Pacific Time

Electronic assemblies are being realized in novel non-planar (curvilinear and 3D) form factors, thanks to additive manufacturing (3D printing) methods. Aerosol jet printing (AJP) is emerging as one of the leading additive manufacturing methods for printed hybrid electronics (PHEs). This new combination of materials, processes and architectures requires new understanding of the associated reliability physics, in order to obtain full advantage of this technology and realize its industrial potential. This presentation focuses specifically on the reliability of AJP PHE circuits under temperature-humidity-bias (THB) conditions and temperature cycling (TC) conditions. The conductive ink used in these studies is sintered nanoparticle-based silver (AgNP).

Five Practical Lessons from Field Work

By Michael J. Titone

April 17, 2025 / 8am Pacific Time

Free for members / $30 non-members

This webinar will expose five lessons arising from real jobs in the field.  The topics are mostly related to balancing, but a short story regarding torsional vibration also makes an appearance.  The stories include the following;

• Do not trust anyone to install the weights.
• Does anybody know which keyphasor is active?
• Electrical tape should not be used for this.
• 1X is not always 1X.
• The tale of the lost weight.

Reliability Physics: How to Field Reliable Products

By Dr. Abhijit Dasgupta

April 22, 2025 / 8:30-12:30 Pacific Time

$400

This 4-hr course offers an introductory understanding of some of the key engineering design principles and accelerated test techniques needed to develop reliable electronic products. Participants are presented with various reliability physics methods to design and test for reliability.

Participants will….

• Learn how/why products really fail and understand key methods to make products sufficiently reliable
• Become acquainted with the degradation modes and mechanisms associated with various electronic devices and assemblies
• Determine the stresses associated with the qualification of reliable electronic equipment and examine techniques to address reliability problems
• Investigate the usage and applicability of reliability standards and handbooks

Design and Capital Projects Practices – Self-Assessment

By Ron Moore

April 22, 2025 / 11am Pacific Time

In this session we’ll be taking participants through a “self-assessment” of their design and capital projects practices with a particular focus on designing for plant reliability. What we’ve observed is that most organizations do not use a life cycle cost approach in their capital projects, but rather lowest installed cost. This results in lower reliability, and generally poorer performance.

The assessment consists of ten questions covering the use of life cycle cost principles, the targeting of a level of reliability, designing for ease of operation and maintenance, the engagement of the shop floor in the design process, the use of RCM/FMEA in the design for assuring reliability, and the provision for post installation support. This session will provide a review of where you may need to focus attention in improving plant performance through better design and capital projects practices.

Unlock the Full Potential of Your Maintenance Strategy: Discover the Road to Reliability Framework

By Erik Hupjé

April 22, 2025 / 7pm Pacific Time

Free for members / 35€ non-members

Across industries, maintenance remains a critical challenge. Many organizations face low uptime, frequent breakdowns, and rising maintenance costs. Despite investments in new technologies and improvement initiatives, achieving consistent performance remains a complex task. As a result, maintenance is often perceived as a cost center rather than a strategic asset.

What will be covered?

• The power of maintenance planning & scheduling
• How to optimize preventive maintenance
• Effective strategies to eliminate recurring failures
• The role of leadership and culture in sustainable maintenance
• Practical steps to implement this approach in your organization

A Balanced Approach to Pharma 4.0: Sustainability & Predictive Maintenance

By Peter Kytka

April 24, 2025 / 6:30am Pacific Time

The pharmaceutical industry is one industry currently focusing on becoming more sustainable and prioritizing new environmental, chemical, and operational sustainability concepts. Operational sustainability initiatives include proper functioning production and assets without jeopardizing environmental and ecological boundaries.

Integrated Predictive Maintenance (iPdM) using vibration condition monitoring as part of sustainability and digitalization initiatives has been shown to be able to deliver improved uptime for assets in pharmaceutical production. Additionally, they have been proven to reduce waste by minimizing the frequency of asset repair, decrease the number of spare parts needed in inventory such as rolling element bearings, lower energy consumption, and helped to ensure regulatory compliance (GMP) by avoiding penalties.

During this webinar, we will explore the ISPE “Pharma 4.0™ operating model” in the context of sustainability, how it relates to iPdM, the utilization of vibration condition monitoring, and what it means for sustainability in pharmaceutical manufacturing.

How to Facilitate Technical Teams

By JD Solomon

April 24, 2025 / 9am Pacific Time

This online seminar will provide valuable approaches and tips to be a better facilitator of technical teams. Root Cause Analysis, Business Cases, FMEA, Fault Tree Analysis, and Monte Carlo Simulations will be covered.

Steps to Help Avoid Backing Vehicle Incidents

By Mark Galley

April 25, 2025 / 8am Pacific Time

This webinar shows an investigation of a truck backing into an overhead door. As with all our investigations, the analysis begins very simply with just a few why questions. It then expands into a more thorough explanation of exactly how the incident occurred. In this case, we’ll review a 5-Why and a 15-Why Cause Map™ diagram. Understanding how to reactively dissect this type of incident reveals specific solutions that help organizations reduce risk in other areas of their operations.

Visual Inspection and Sampling of Transformers

By Aris Pena

April 29, 2025 / 7-10am Pacific Time

$325

This course reviews the proper and safe procedures needed to obtain a representative sample of dielectric fluids. It covers personal protective equipment, special care transformers, visual inspection, gauges, nameplates, sampling containers, proper methods and techniques, packaging, and applying nitrogen.

Dissolved Gas Analysis (DGA) Workshop

By Jason Dennison

April 30, 2025 / 7-10am Pacific Time

$325

This course takes a deep dive into the importance of DGA, what industry standards state, how to use test interpretation tools, and how to apply the test results to increase the reliable life of the transformer.  The instructor and class will work through actual test results, apply the different interpretation tools to the data, then work together to make recommendations for solutions for corrective action(s) on the unit.  Attendees are encouraged to send along DGA test results from the transformers in their facility to use in this workshop.