on Product Reliability

When something is working it is easy to just keep going forward.  But how do you know things will keep chugging along? Is it worth stopping and asking “Why is this going well?”

I like lock picking “Lock Sport.”  Of course I do.  It’s a mechanical puzzle.  It can also make you look like James Bond when someone forget’s their keys.  I continue to challenge myself by getting progressively harder and harder locks.  Throughout the years lock designs have come up with some great features to resist being picked.  But there is still not one out there that is “pick proof”, so there is always a next level.  I would say I am a mid-intermediate in the world of Lock Sport.  So any lock that actually has good picking defenses can give me a good struggle.

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As a reliability guy I love seeing how stuff works.  Was recently given an opportunity to mess around and compare a new product to it’s siblings in a field I love, welding. I recently provided some input on an article release by Superiorglove about types of insulation and heat conduction. Superiorglove is a glove manufacturer that makes about every type of glove you could imagine, many are really impressive industrial applications gloves. I like how much they get into the science of it. In our discussions I used an example of how my TIG welding gloves protect against conductive and radiative types of heat transfer.  They informed me that they had a TIG welding glove line and would love if I would review four of their models.   I happily accepted because I love to weld, check out how things work and …free gloves.

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I had the unbelievable pleasure of piloting a retired 1953 T-34 Air Force plane.  The plane is owned by a friend and it has recently undergone a full restoration.  A few year ago this model was grounded by the FAA due to an unusual issue.  After the investigation the fleet was cleared to fly and the root cause was ruled as “mis-use.”  Something many of use may not consider enough when creating our own products.

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I just returned from a great conference in Stuttgart called “Reliability Days.”  I presented on some new concepts and techniques with regard to assessing and improving reliability culture in the product development process. Enjoy the presentation.

-Adam

I have heard that “Reliability and Quality are kissing cousins” and also that “Reliability is Quality over time.”  Neither of these definitions ring true to me.  To be honest I’m a smidge offended because both of these terms diminish the value of the objective of reliability.  I would state that reliability is “The design of a device or system so that it works as intended consistently over it’s defined use-life.”  To me the key differentiator from my definition and the previous two descriptions of reliability is the word “design.”

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We all would like a clear path to achieve what we need.  But we all know that it’s not the clear sections of the path where we spend most of our time.  In product development many of these events we label as “obstacles” are in fact other individuals.

If these team members are noted as being strong enough to be considered an obstacle that means they have strength.  This is a good quality in a team member.  If we were to get ourselves headed in “generally” the same direction a lot of progress could be made very quickly.

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If you finish the Design Failure Mode Effects Analysis (DFMEA) before the product is out in the field, you have made a horrible mistake. The worst DFMEA that can occur is one that is completed and filed away mid-program. A high value DFMEA is a live tool that has both inputs and directive outputs throughout the program. A tool that is interwoven into the day to day activity of the program.  The DFMEA drives actions and aids decisions both technically and in project management.  It is updated with design changes that change risk and mitigative strategies.

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