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Communication Failure: What to do?

Communication Failure: What to do?

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

“Communication failure” is an often cited reason for project failure or cancellation.  All too often it is only recognised after the fact even though ‘poor communication’ will almost inevitably have been included on the risk register.

Communication is the transfer (and receipt) of the right data, information and knowledge to the right party(s), at the right time, in the right place, and in the right medium.  Information provides the power to make the decisions that are needed to make a project successful and resolve and overcome difficulties.

Effective and efficient communication allows the right decisions to be made and the correct action to be taken.  However, the conscious or unconscious spreading of misinformation is miscommunication and has the opposite effect. [Read more…]

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Why DMAIC Endures as a Robust Thought Process

Why DMAIC Endures as a Robust Thought Process

From time-to-time, there are new ways of thinking or shortcuts to solving problems.  However, the tried-and-true Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (DMAIC) thought process endures as a fundamentally robust problem-solving thought process.

DMAIC must be properly applied to be effective, however.  In this article we’ll consider some important objectives within each DMAIC sub-process.

First, let’s consider each sub-process as an opportunity to perform collaborative problem solving.  In the “Define” phase (for example) the stakeholders and team members mutually agree on the problem statement, goals & objectives, process under study, process start/stop points, team members, business impact, etc.

[Read more…]

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5 Common Questions on the IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things)

5 Common Questions on the IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things)

In continuing this year’s theme regarding common questions on relevant topics, today I have the 5 most common questions people have been asking me about the Industrial Internet of Things. Like every other article or Blog I have posted in the past I encourage you to all to jump into the conversation by asking questions or providing comments to my questions and answers. [Read more…]

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US Climate Change Assessment

US Climate Change Assessment

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

In November 2018, the U.S. Global Change Research Program issued Volume II of the Fourth National Climate Assessment Report.  Volume I was issued in 2017.  It deals with the science behind global change.  Volume II deals with the impact of global warming on natural environment, agriculture, energy production, human welfare, and societal impact.  This article discusses the assessments made in Volume II. [Read more…]

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Conductivity Meter Operation & Use

Conductivity Meter Operation & Use

The electrical conductivity (and its opposite, resistivity) of water based solutions indicate its electrical current carrying ability. High conductivity occurs when many charged atoms and ions are in the water. This typically means the presence of dissolved metals, salts, acidic or alkali chemicals. Conductivity probes are used to measure the total level of charged particles present. This article explains how conductivity probes work and their application in boiler water treatment and management. [Read more…]

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SPC Assumptions

SPC Assumptions

Introduction

Statistical Process Controls (SPC) is a suite of methods that can be employed to control a manufacturing or assembly process. It has a wide range of potential applications ranging from consumer products to defense. It can be employed at the lowest element of component manufacturing or an assembly operation.

This article discusses the assumptions necessary to understand SPC.

Fundamental Assumptions

  • The process is stable and in control.
  • The data are independent of each other.
  • The data of each subgroup are identically distributed.
  • Real valued data are approximately normally distributed and counting data may be approximated by the normal distribution.
  • A measurement can occur in only one subgroup, i.e., sampling without replacement.

[Read more…]

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Is a Task a Deliverable?

Is a Task a Deliverable?

Tasks (or action items) are a fundamental building block of an ongoing work-effort or project schedule.  While we tend to think of completed actions as deliverables, a project schedule can also be considered a project deliverable….and the value of well-written task (within the schedule or otherwise) is often overlooked.

Generally, a task begins with a verb (some action to be performed) to achieve a milestone or outcome to some desired level of completion.  (Recall a previous related article where we discussed the “definition of done”.)

[Read more…]

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Was BP’s Catastrophe in the Gulf a Defining Moment for the Oil Industry?

Was BP’s Catastrophe in the Gulf a Defining Moment for the Oil Industry?

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

1. Introduction

The BP Deepwater Horizon catastrophe cast a shadow on the oil industry and its senior executives.  Has the industry learned its lessons or will it be forced to repeat the same mistakes over and over again? Oil company executives and board members should have seen the Deepwater Horizon event is as a wake-up call for the industry. [Read more…]

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Pump Life Extension — The Impeller

Pump Life Extension — The Impeller

A spinning pump impeller provides the means to draw incoming product through the pump, energise it, and then force it out under pressure. The impeller coverts the electrical energy from the motor into hydraulic energy of the liquid. It does this by taking the liquid into the center of the impeller and flinging it outward at high speed. To efficiently continue to do this the impeller must remain in the same condition as it was when first installed. If the impeller deteriorates the conversion from electrical to hydraulic energy becomes inefficient. Power is wasted, flow and pressure fall and the pump cannot do its designed duty. [Read more…]

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Your organization sucks at reliability if (#2) … it loves firefighters so much it forgets to hate fires.

Before you go on, please have a look at British comedian John Oliver’s video on infrastructure – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpzvaqypav8.

OK, if you are reading this and still haven’t watched the video … please go back and try again. You can do it.

If you haven’t watched the video by now, then I concede defeat. In short, the video is a humorous take on the state of US infrastructure. Particularly bridges. Bridges have been collapsing with alarming frequency in recent years. And after much political wrangling there is still no plan to pay for fixing crumbling columns, spans and struts. It is not as if the federal and state governments don’t know how bad things are (again … watch the video).

Oliver proposes a perhaps novel reason for all of this. [Read more…]