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Evaluating Your Risk Management Framework

Evaluating Your Risk Management Framework

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

This article is the sixth of fourteen parts to our risk management series. The series will be taking a look at the risk management guidelines under the ISO 31000 Standard to help you better understand them and how they relate to your own risk management activities. In doing so, we’ll be walking through the core aspects of the Standard and giving you practical guidance on how to implement it.

In previous articles we’ve looked at the core elements of the risk management framework, as well as the role of leadership and commitment, integration, design and implementation more specifically. In this article, we’ll be looking at how to effectively evaluate your organisation’s risk management framework.

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Understanding Remaining Useful Life (RUL) with the P-F Curve

Understanding Remaining Useful Life (RUL) with the P-F Curve

Recently, there has been an influx of Industry 4.0 companies promising their product/application would help predict the Remaining Useful Life (RUL) of a physical asset. Each uses a mix of machine learning algorithms to estimate the RUL based on the data available. This is their value proposition. But what is this ‘life’?

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Future of Project Management Profession

Future of Project Management Profession

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

What does the future of any profession mean? Underdetermined future events (e.eg. COVID-19)? Future proof job? Work /family balance? Health at a later date? Secure retirement?  It is all of the above and that is why you need to choose the right profession for you.

The future of the project management profession is bright and strong for a long time to come.

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Enhancing Component Reliability with Nondestructive Testing Technologies

Enhancing Component Reliability with Nondestructive Testing Technologies

In the world of reliability engineering, ensuring the long-term dependability and safety of components is of paramount importance. Nondestructive Testing (NDT) technologies have emerged as indispensable tools for reliability professionals in various industries, including aerospace, automotive, manufacturing, and power generation. By enabling the inspection and evaluation of materials and components without causing damage, NDT techniques play a crucial role in enhancing short and long-term reliability. 

In this blog post, we will explore several NDT technologies and how they contribute to improving component reliability.

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Maintaining Equipment Reliability Amidst Frequent Employee Turnover

Maintaining Equipment Reliability Amidst Frequent Employee Turnover

The mining industry in Australia has for some time been plagued by high turnover in its skilled maintenance workforce. The tough lifestyle and remote/regional locations are some of the main contributing causes, and have been for years, however other industries of employment offering competitive wages and a better lifestyle have in the recent years pulled the workforce from mining, leaving a void of labor numbers behind that have proved difficult to fill.

The common query, “How do I keep equipment reliability up, even with high turnover?” prompts a standardized response from most maintenance professionals – proceduralize the maintenance system to reduce variability and maintain consistent output. However, while this approach bears truth, it overlooks a substantial aspect…

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1770-1806 The Battle of Trafalgar and the Timber Crisis

1770-1806 The Battle of Trafalgar and the Timber Crisis

Ships Don’t Last Like They Used To

Robert G. Albion was a notable historian of maritime affairs. He taught at Princeton and Harvard, and was one of the US Navy’s chief historians during World War II. In one of his books, Albion examined how timber management in Britain affected naval shipbuilding and maintenance policies.

In the late 1700s, the British Empire was more dependent on the navy for power projection, home defense, and security of maritime trade. In the age of sail, the average ship life was between 10 and 20 years. In the 17th century, British naval ships lasted 25-30 years. Albion found their average service life to be only 13 years in 1771. By 1792, service life fell to 12 years. In the Napoleonic period, the lifespan fell to only 8 years.  

“The ‘life’ or duration of a ship was reckoned from the date of her launching to the time when her condition necessitated repairs as costly as the construction of a new ship.” The British determined service life by a basic level of repair analysis.

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The “Bath Tub” Curve Explained

The “Bath Tub” Curve Explained

Introducing the “Bath Tub” curve concept

In the Reliability and Maintenance world, we often refer to what is known as the “bathtub” curve and ask the question: “What is the bathtub curve for this equipment?” The name “bathtub” comes from the equipment failure rate curve resembling a sanitary bathtub’s longitudinal section. In reality, it is rarely symmetrical and looks more like a distorted “u” or “v” shaped figure. The bathtub curve can be useful in various circumstances and help an operator better manage their assets over time. However, it is important to understand where it comes from and what it means so we can avoid misusing or misinterpreting it.

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Make Business Communication “To” Senior Management for Better Results

Make Business Communication “To” Senior Management for Better Results

How we provide business communication to senior management is different from how we communicate with our peers. Our language reflects the way we see the power related to our relationships. Communicating “with” someone subconsciously reflects a relationship of equals. Avoid this trap for better results – after all, you work for senior management. Make business communication “To” senior management for better results.

Communicating “With”

Communicating “with” is the politically correct way of communicating. “With” reflects more friendly, two-way communication. In fact, most software grammar checkers will recommend changing “to” to “with” to be less aggressive.

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What gets Monitored, gets Measured, gets Improved

What gets Monitored, gets Measured, gets Improved

Proponents of the Continuous Improvement method often quote the dictum ‘what gets Measured, gets Improved’. I’d like to modify it by adding ‘what gets Monitored…’ to its beginning. Here I’m referring to the Monitoring of the physical assets in their usage conditions and being Measured & Improved for their Reliability (Availability %, Cost $, MTBF, etc.) and Safety metrics.

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Everything Sucks and Why That’s Perfect

Everything Sucks and Why That’s Perfect

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

You read that headline right: everything does suck! And in this article, I’m going to give you the solid reasons why this makes me both optimistic and excited about our future!

Think to yourself: On any given day, how many times do you hear someone grumbling about their phone not working well, traffic patterns on their way to work driving them insane, how a business of any kind inconvenienced them by having poor customer service, or a government institution – commonly one like the DMV – putting them in a sour mood?

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