on Product Reliability

In February I did a hit and run trip to Fairbanks Alaska with my daughter, age 11, to try and see the Northern Lights.  It was a long shot but I’ve done nuttier expeditions and she was game.  It was actually her idea, and she knew who the right person was to ask for such a trip.  She turned 11 in January.  I asked her what she wanted for her birthday.  I was ready for the “this or that electronic” request.  Instead she said “I want to see the Northern Lights.”  First thought was “Geez that’s a bit extravagant”  but then my second thought was she’s 11 and this could have a great impact on her and what an interesting/cool thing to ask for.  It might energize an interest in physics or natural photography, or cold weather clothing design. I also thought about how in a few years she may not want to do anything with me because I’ll be an “idiot who doesn’t get it.”

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In the past five weeks I have been to Miami, Orlando, Cleveland, Chicago, Fairbanks Alaska, Fortuna Costa Rica.  For one stint of that I went Fairbanks to Boston to Costa Rica in a 24 hr period.  I walked into my home dropped the Alaska suitcase, grabbed the prepacked Cost Rica suitcase, slept for 6 hours ,and was back on a plane 13 hrs later.  I think that qualifies as a HALT test considering the lowest temperature I experienced in Fairbanks (Arctic circle edge) was -30F on top of a mountain and then 85F in Costa Rica in the Rainforest.

So why did I do all of this?  Because it’s me and it seemed fun.

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Anyone who knows me knows I love modifying things.  I always feel there is a better design.  This is the goal of a reliability engineer at heart.  I enjoy sports and I enjoy running.  I do believe that we were born to run.  If you look at the human body that is clearly what it was built for.  Our big toe faces forward, which makes them no longer good for gripping things like branches.  But it does make them great for landing a foot in forward motion.  We have extremely long legs in proportion to our bodies compared to all other primates.  We are slender which provide a great ratio of surface area to mass for cooling. The ability to sweat without hair is a great temperature control method as well.  We are also the only mammal that can uncouple our breathing to our running pace because we are bipeds.  This let’s us optimize our breathing for long distance.

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The Mars Rover is an incredible reliability story.  And as you may know they have decided to permanently shut it off. A friend recently sent me this email when he saw an article on it.

Hey Adam,

The Opportunity rover was supposed to last 90 days, and instead lasted 15 years.

Is that due to remarkable engineering, or was the machine really supposed to last that long and the scientists blew their calculations as to its “lifespan”?

Mark,

My response:

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I introduced my new program tool “Program Risk Effects Analysis” (PREA) at the RAMS Conference in Orlando this week.  It’s a great tool to assist in accessing if program schedule or resource should accommodate found design risk from testing or analysis.

-Adam

A very personal Use Case 7

(Have you been introduced to Use Case 7? )

“Use Case 7” is a concept I am rolling out.  Use Case 7 is the way a customer may use your product in a manner that is way beyond anything you expect.

Examples:

1. Me using a power drill as a hammer. “I’m not walking all the way back in the house to get a hammer just to put a nail in!”
2. My Dad when he used to load 300lbs of firewood into the back of his Nissan Sentra. Then make us kids lay on top of it since the seats had to be folded down.  But I think that last part is more of a child services situation.
3. That wire shirt coat hanger with the leather motorcycle jacket on it, and three pairs of wet ski glove clipped to it…and you hold onto it when you bend down to pick up your shoes.
4. You when you were sixteen and had your parents car in a full drift in the mall parking lot on Saturday night (I’m projecting here), or when you owned that same car and didn’t change the oil…ever (sorry Dad)

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Happy New Year! And thank you for letting us break your stuff to improve your design in 2018. This is a story of when I was NOT invited to break things but did anyway.