Accendo Reliability

Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site

  • Home
  • About
    • Contributors
    • About Us
    • Colophon
    • Survey
  • Reliability.fm
  • Articles
    • CRE Preparation Notes
    • NoMTBF
    • on Leadership & Career
      • Advanced Engineering Culture
      • ASQR&R
      • Engineering Leadership
      • Managing in the 2000s
      • Product Development and Process Improvement
    • on Maintenance Reliability
      • Aasan Asset Management
      • AI & Predictive Maintenance
      • Asset Management in the Mining Industry
      • CMMS and Maintenance Management
      • CMMS and Reliability
      • Conscious Asset
      • EAM & CMMS
      • Everyday RCM
      • History of Maintenance Management
      • Life Cycle Asset Management
      • Maintenance and Reliability
      • Maintenance Management
      • Plant Maintenance
      • Process Plant Reliability Engineering
      • RCM Blitz®
      • ReliabilityXperience
      • Rob’s Reliability Project
      • The Intelligent Transformer Blog
      • The People Side of Maintenance
      • The Reliability Mindset
    • on Product Reliability
      • Accelerated Reliability
      • Achieving the Benefits of Reliability
      • Apex Ridge
      • Field Reliability Data Analysis
      • Metals Engineering and Product Reliability
      • Musings on Reliability and Maintenance Topics
      • Product Validation
      • Reliability by Design
      • Reliability Competence
      • Reliability Engineering Insights
      • Reliability in Emerging Technology
      • Reliability Knowledge
    • on Risk & Safety
      • CERM® Risk Insights
      • Equipment Risk and Reliability in Downhole Applications
      • Operational Risk Process Safety
    • on Systems Thinking
      • Communicating with FINESSE
      • The RCA
    • on Tools & Techniques
      • Big Data & Analytics
      • Experimental Design for NPD
      • Innovative Thinking in Reliability and Durability
      • Inside and Beyond HALT
      • Inside FMEA
      • Institute of Quality & Reliability
      • Integral Concepts
      • Learning from Failures
      • Progress in Field Reliability?
      • R for Engineering
      • Reliability Engineering Using Python
      • Reliability Reflections
      • Statistical Methods for Failure-Time Data
      • Testing 1 2 3
      • The Manufacturing Academy
  • eBooks
  • Resources
    • Accendo Authors
    • FMEA Resources
    • Glossary
    • Feed Forward Publications
    • Openings
    • Books
    • Webinar Sources
    • Podcasts
  • Courses
    • Your Courses
    • Live Courses
      • Introduction to Reliability Engineering & Accelerated Testings Course Landing Page
      • Advanced Accelerated Testing Course Landing Page
    • Integral Concepts Courses
      • Reliability Analysis Methods Course Landing Page
      • Applied Reliability Analysis Course Landing Page
      • Statistics, Hypothesis Testing, & Regression Modeling Course Landing Page
      • Measurement System Assessment Course Landing Page
      • SPC & Process Capability Course Landing Page
      • Design of Experiments Course Landing Page
    • The Manufacturing Academy Courses
      • An Introduction to Reliability Engineering
      • Reliability Engineering Statistics
      • An Introduction to Quality Engineering
      • Quality Engineering Statistics
      • FMEA in Practice
      • Process Capability Analysis course
      • Root Cause Analysis and the 8D Corrective Action Process course
      • Return on Investment online course
    • Industrial Metallurgist Courses
    • FMEA courses Powered by The Luminous Group
    • Foundations of RCM online course
    • Reliability Engineering for Heavy Industry
    • How to be an Online Student
    • Quondam Courses
  • Calendar
    • Call for Papers Listing
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Webinar Calendar
  • Login
    • Member Home
  • Barringer Process Reliability Introduction Course Landing Page
  • Upcoming Live Events
You are here: Home / Archives for Articles

Articles

Find all articles across all article series listed in reverse chronological order.

by Fred Schenkelberg 1 Comment

Identifying Parts Obsolescence Early

Identifying Parts Obsolescence Early

One aspect of creating a new product or system is the sourcing of parts, components, and materials.

Gone are the days of your organization providing every element of the final product. Henry Ford’s supply chain for early Ford automobiles includes their own forests, rubber plantations, and iron ore mines. [Gelderman, 1981]

We increasingly rely on the supply chain to create the necessary parts for the design’s functionality. Then to continue to supply those same parts for decades, in some cases. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, CRE Preparation Notes, Reliability in Design and Development Tagged With: Parts obsolescence management

by Fred Schenkelberg 2 Comments

How Do You Select Reliability Tasks to Accomplish?

How Do You Select Reliability Tasks to Accomplish?

As reliability engineers, we have a large number of tools available.

From project planning, system modeling, data analysis, test planning, to risk identification and defect discovery, we have techniques, procedures, algorithms to help us identify and solve reliability problems.

We also may ways to apply an individual reliability task.

We could do an exploratory drop test to see what happens if anything. Or, we could conduct a full characterization study of the force signature of drops onto different surfaces and faces from a range of heights. Or something in-between.

We have options and thus need to make choices. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Musings on Reliability and Maintenance Topics, on Product Reliability

by Mike Sondalini Leave a Comment

Ultrasonic Level Detectors

Ultrasonic Level Detectors

Consider these Experiences when making a Selection

What you will learn from this article:

  • How ultrasonic level detectors work.
  • Issues to consider when reviewing their suitability for use. Issues to consider when selecting their location.
  • The importance of process and chemical compatibility.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, on Maintenance Reliability, Plant Maintenance

by Greg Hutchins Leave a Comment

Risk Treatment Strategies

Risk Treatment Strategies

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

When evaluating risk response strategies, executive management along with process owners must align risk responses with the organization’s risk appetite, business objectives, costs/benefits, and overall risk strategy/tactics. Risk response strategies and tactics may involve: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, CERM® Risk Insights, on Risk & Safety

by James Kovacevic Leave a Comment

Using the Maintenance Data You Already Have

Using the Maintenance Data You Already Have

Leverage the existing data in your CMMS to make sustainable improvements to your maintenance program

Part 1 of 7

Let’s face it, your technicians have been entering data into the CMMS for years, but you haven’t been able to use it to make improvements.  Is it because the data isn’t codified or it doesn’t have the right data points?  Generally, this is how most maintenance managers will view their data, but it is incorrect.  The CMMS does have data that you can use almost immediately. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Maintenance and Reliability, on Maintenance Reliability

by Fred Schenkelberg Leave a Comment

Software Reuse Considerations

Software Reuse Considerations

Software elements of a product or system take time to create. Thus re-using blocks of code developed for previous applications may save on development time. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, CRE Preparation Notes, Reliability in Design and Development

by Fred Schenkelberg Leave a Comment

Basic Description of a Fault Tree Analysis

Basic Description of a Fault Tree Analysis

A fault tree analysis (FTA) is a logical, graphical diagram that starts with an unwanted, undesirable, or anomalous state of a system.

The diagram then lays out the many possible faults and combination of faults within the subsystems, components, assemblies, software, and parts comprising the system which may lead to the top level unwanted fault condition. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, CRE Preparation Notes, Reliability in Design and Development Tagged With: Fault/Success Tree Analysis (FTA/STA)

by Greg Hutchins Leave a Comment

In a World of “Black Swans”, How Do You Know Which One to Worry About

In a World of “Black Swans”, How Do You Know Which One to Worry About

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

Introduction

There’s always a story that explains why an event is a “Black Swan” – after the fact. Where are the “Black Swan” prognosticators before events occur? I see “after the fact” articles and statements, such as, “we knew that was coming” or “we predicted this” – all after the fact. Generally projections and predictions seem never to hold sway until after the fact. Predictions and projections never seem to occur when the prognosticator specifies — is it just that the timing never seems to work out – until after the fact. From Nostradamus to the “Bible Code” we are enamored with predictions – after the fact. Does there seem to be a theme developing here? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, CERM® Risk Insights, on Risk & Safety

by Mike Sondalini 2 Comments

The Cost of Maintenance Destroys Your Capital Investment Returns

The Cost of Maintenance Destroys Your Capital Investment Returns

The cost of maintenance destroys your capital investment returns.

When equipment is first selected the buyer has the choice to buy for quality and long trouble-free operating life or to buy based on least cost. The least cost choice will result in high maintenance and operating expense for the life of the equipment.

When net present value cost of maintenance for cheap equipment is calculated in today’s dollars investors will discover that a large part of their capital will never earn them income but will be spent on maintenance and repair.

Keywords: replacement asset value, internal rate of return, opportunity cost  [Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, on Maintenance Reliability, Plant Maintenance

by Fred Schenkelberg Leave a Comment

Material Selection and Reliability

Material Selection and Reliability

Physical products are made up of materials.

The materials including metals, polymers, adhesives, and many others experience loads and stresses during assembly, transport, storage, and use.

Selecting the right materials such that they both meet the needs of the customer and are sufficiently reliable relies on understanding how the material will respond to the applied stresses over time.

As with parts selection, one way to determine if a material is suitable for your application and end use is to monitor the material’s performance over time in your products. The trouble is it also transfers the risk of failure (the unknown risk of failure) to the customer.

In many cases this is unacceptable. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, CRE Preparation Notes, Reliability in Design and Development

by Fred Schenkelberg 7 Comments

Field Data Analysis First Look

Field Data Analysis First Look

Field data analysis starts with the collection of data.

In a previous article, we used a Nevada chart to gather the counts per month of field failure data. The chart also provides the necessary data to account for how many units have not failed as of yet.

The Nevada chart on its own is just a table of numbers and does not reveal patterns of the changing nature of failure rates over time. Are we experiencing early life failures or wear-out related failures?

We need to conduct some data analysis to learn what message the data contains. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Musings on Reliability and Maintenance Topics, on Product Reliability Tagged With: Field data analysis

by Greg Hutchins Leave a Comment

Exposure Reduction and Mitigation

Exposure Reduction and Mitigation

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

Exposure to threats, hazards, and risks leads to vulnerabilities that an organization must deal with.

Commonly these are addressed via a mitigation process. Once mitigation is accomplished, often times the organization feels that the risk, threat, hazard does not need to be revisited. However, as a result of the mitigation efforts on the part of the organization, the risks, threats, hazards reconfigure and re-emerge in a different form.

In order for mitigation to be successful, it has to be a constant and ongoing process that produces a resilience to the negative effects of risks, threats, and hazards that are realized. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, CERM® Risk Insights, on Risk & Safety

by Mike Sondalini 4 Comments

Flange Bolting-up Practices

Flange Bolting-up Practices

What readers will learn in this article:

  • Bolts and studs behave like springs when loads are applied.
  • Gaskets behave like springs when loads are applied
  • Introduced to the use of force diagrams to explain and analyze bolt and gasket behavior.
  • Bolt torque-up issues and considerations.
  • The effects of thread surface finish on friction.
  • Proper bolting practices, sequence, and methods.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, on Maintenance Reliability, Plant Maintenance

by Fred Schenkelberg 1 Comment

Part Selection Process and Reliability

Part Selection Process and Reliability

A product or system may fail for many different reasons.

One cause is a faulty part. A component is susceptible to failure when either improperly used in the design or is a damaged or flawed component. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, CRE Preparation Notes, Reliability in Design and Development

by Fred Schenkelberg Leave a Comment

Reliability Management & Risk

Reliability Management & Risk

What is reliability management? Reliability Engineering? Would a product design or an organization benefit with a focus on reliability management and engineering? What is the value of a focus on reliability?

Any organization, that develops and produces products, has resource limits. It may be talent, capabilities, time, funding, or some combination of these.

Yet, the goal to create a product that meets customer expectations includes the concept of product reliability. The product should provide the expected functions over time, without failure. This expected product reliability occurs, even if the design requirements and advertising do not explicitly mention product reliability. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Musings on Reliability and Maintenance Topics, on Product Reliability

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 221
  • 222
  • 223
  • 224
  • 225
  • …
  • 251
  • Next Page »

Join Accendo

Receive information and updates about articles and many other resources offered by Accendo Reliability by becoming a member.

It’s free and only takes a minute.

Join Today

Recent Articles

  • Leadership Values in Maintenance and Operations
  • Today’s Gremlin – It’ll never work here
  • How a Mission Statement Drives Behavioral Change in Organizations
  • Gremlins today
  • The Power of Vision in Leadership and Organizational Success

© 2025 FMS Reliability · Privacy Policy · Terms of Service · Cookies Policy