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SRE vs. Reliability Engineer

SRE vs. Reliability Engineer

Site Reliability Engineering vs Hardware Reliability Engineering: Distinct Disciplines with Shared Goals

In the world of engineering, reliability is a crucial aspect that spans various domains. Two fields that often get confused due to their similar names are Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) and Hardware Reliability Engineering. While both aim to ensure the dependability of systems, they focus on vastly different areas and employ distinct methodologies. Let’s explore the key differences between these two disciplines and delve into the history behind the SRE naming convention.

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Statistical Robustness

Statistical Robustness

Why “Good Enough” Assumptions Often Are

Co-authored with Mike Vella

If you’ve spent any time working with real manufacturing, reliability, or field data, you already know an uncomfortable truth:

Most statistical models assume ideal conditions that rarely exist in practice.

Textbooks often begin with assumptions like perfectly normal distributions, clean random samples, and well-behaved processes. Meanwhile, engineers are dealing with skewed cycle times, mixed populations, censored failure data, process shifts, and the occasional mystery outlier that refuses to explain itself.

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Insights from Data Mining and Data Analysis of Your CMMS Data Bases

Insights from Data Mining and Data Analysis of Your CMMS Data Bases

Guest post by David Mosaddar

 Data Mining Techniques to Increase Productivity in Maintenance Management Systems 

Let a Plant Wellness Way EAM System-of-Reliability End Your Business Risks Forever 

Today, the use of a Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS) and user-friendly software packages have made the job of the maintenance crew relatively easier. The entire maintenance system seems to be at your fingertips, with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in flashy dashboards on a computer screen. But is that the absolute best use of your maintenance information? 

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Mastering Loss Management: Unlocking Equipment Efficiency

Mastering Loss Management: Unlocking Equipment Efficiency

Loss management is a critical yet often overlooked component of operational excellence. Understanding and addressing the various types of losses—minor stops, speed losses, setup and adjustment losses, process failures, and quality losses—are essential to maximizing equipment effectiveness and productivity. By identifying these losses and taking proactive steps to mitigate them, organizations can transform their operations, reduce waste, and enhance profitability.

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Who Owns RCM? The Truth About Reliability Centered Maintenance

Who Owns RCM? The Truth About Reliability Centered Maintenance

True or False? Is Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) a Proprietary Process?

In this video, I explore a common question: Is Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) proprietary? The answer is False! While the foundational book on RCM was written by Stanley Nowlan and Howard Heap of United Airlines, it was funded by the U.S. government, making RCM a public domain process. Although you’ll find various proprietary training materials, the core principles of RCM are accessible for any organization to apply.

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Can Understanding Risk Appetite Help a Reliability Engineer’s Career?

Can Understanding Risk Appetite Help a Reliability Engineer’s Career?

Reliability engineers often struggle with the concept of risk appetite and how it impacts decision making. The long answer is that risk appetite is real and has been recognized by decision analysis academics and gurus over the past fifty years. The shorter, more practical answer is that risk appetite exists in every organization, but it is more implicit than explicit. Context (timing and position) significantly affects risk appetite.

My appetite is often driven by what I ate recently, who else is sharing the meal, and who is doing the cooking. But then, some days I want chicken and some days I want steak.

Risk Defined

Colloquially and according to most dictionaries, risk is defined as “the possibility of loss or injury; peril” (Merriam-Webster).

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Wear Out Prediction Model

Wear Out Prediction Model

In the realm of mechanical engineering, the reliability and longevity of pumps are critical for numerous industrial applications. Predicting wear-out of pumps can significantly enhance maintenance strategies, reduce downtime, and optimize operational efficiency. One effective approach to predicting wear-out is by monitoring the revolutions per minute (RPM) of pumps over a large population and extended time periods. This article delves into the methodology of creating a wear-out prediction model based on RPM measurements.

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Bought a House Due to Pokemon Go

Bought a House Due to Pokemon Go

[Note: I wrote and published this article in August 2016, almost 10 years ago. The overall house hasn’t failed yet some windows leak when it’s raining (replaced), the water heater and furnace have both failed (replaced, repaired), and we are enjoying the house as our home. And, while I do get out for walks, I do not play Pokémon Go anymore.]

Seriously, while out walking, listening to a podcast, and playing Pokémon Go, I found an open house to view. A week later our offer was accepted, and next week we close.

I  would not have been out walking that Sunday afternoon if not out playing Pokémon Go.

Glad there are no dangerous cliffs nearby. [Read more…]

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Hardware Product Realization in the Age of AI

Hardware Product Realization in the Age of AI

Chapter 3: Understanding your Markets

In the previous chapter, the Product Realization will be defined at a high level as well as the ideas behind a New Product Development Introduction (sometimes written as NPDI) framework.

In this chapter the effects of the market on your product are discussed, what you think is the best version of your idea may be influenced by many factors in the markets you believe you can sell it to.

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Equipment Maintenance Strategy 101: Match Strategy to Equipment Risk

Equipment Maintenance Strategy 101: Match Strategy to Equipment Risk

Maintenance Strategy 101: Correct Equipment Maintenance Management Strategy Selection makes All the Difference

You select and apply maintenance strategy with the purpose of controlling failure. Your maintenance management starts on the project drawing board. If you only select your maintenance management strategies when the equipment is installed, you will always be fighting a losing battle!

Maintenance is a risk management practice used to maximise production and minimise loss and waste.  Selecting a successful maintenance strategy requires a good knowledge of equipment failure behaviour and maintenance management practices.  Once you appreciate why equipment fails, how equipment fails and when equipment fails you can select the right mix of maintenance strategies to extend and maximise its service and performance.This article takes you through the factors which affect equipment performance and service life.  It also introduces you to the maintenance strategies available to you today and how they work.  You will also discover within the article many maintenance management benefits that each maintenance strategy will bring you.

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Constructive Behaviors Enable Effective Risk Management

Constructive Behaviors Enable Effective Risk Management

Guest Post by Patrick Ow (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

Organisational cultures can either enable or inhibit effective risk management through either constructive or defensivebehavioural norms respectively.

When there is constructive organisational culture, people want to, rather than have to, manage risks and do good risk management. And when there is a defensive organisational culture, people avoid doing good risk management and only do risk management when they have to or are being forced, either by management or regulators, merely as a tick-the-box compliance exercise.

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Reliability Prediction with Monte Carlo Simulation with Free Software

Reliability Prediction with Monte Carlo Simulation with Free Software

Dear friends, we are happy to release this 104th technical video. In this video, Hemant Urdhwareshe explains and illustrates use of Monte Carlo Simulation to predict reliability using an open-source free software Argo. Hemant Urdhwareshe is a Fellow of ASQ and is certified by ASQ as CRE, Six Sigma Master Black Belt, CQE and CMQ/OE.

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