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Find all articles across all article series listed in reverse chronological order.
The third step in the RCM process is to identiy failure modes. When a failure mode occurs it leads to a functional failure.
Identifying failure modes correctly and clearly is vital to the RCM process because we manage physical assets at the failure mode level.
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Natural gas pipelines have caused incidents leading to fatalities, injuries, and property damages.
To be precise, there have been an average of 50 serious gas pipeline incidents every year in the U.S. between 1990-2009 (Source: http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/reports/safety/SerPSI.html?nocache=4823) resulting in more than 300 fatalities. Majority of the reported gas incidents have occurred on the gas distribution lines – i.e. gas pipeline systems that are found in thousands of communities from coast to coast and distribute natural gas to our homes and businesses.
Asset management in the mining industry is an intricate dance of financial and operational factors. It demands a firm understanding of complex financial concepts to make strategic decisions effectively, one of which is the discount rate. This number, far from being just an abstract figure, can fundamentally shape a business’s strategic path, particularly concerning asset replacement.
The discount rate is essentially the interest rate used to calculate the present value of future cash flows. The concept comes into play when considering an asset replacement. This decision involves weighing costs and benefits over a time horizon that often spans several years. The discount rate serves as the conduit that translates these future values into present terms, enabling apples-to-apples comparisons. Most of use use this in NPV calculations where we evaluate business improvement initiatives, and compare the viability and return of various projects.
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How well should a maintenance job be planned ? All maintenance work needs a plan that lets the maintainer do the work correctly, safely, in the least possible time and for the least cost. Selecting the information and details that go into the maintenance job plan is vital to its success. Leave out necessary specifics and facts and you put the job at increased risk of failure, loss and waste. Exactly what details are necessary to allow maintenance work to flow wonderfully well at minimal cost and time are important for a maintenance planner and their managers to know.
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This article is the second 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 this particular article, we’ll be highlighting the role and importance of leadership and commitment to supporting robust risk management practices. We’ll also be looking at the benefits of such support together with some practical tips for doing so.
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What is the difference between FMEA and FMECA? Are they the same or different? The answer may surprise you. Let’s explore this topic.
Jack-Knife Diagrams, also known as Log-Scatter Plots, serve as an invaluable visual tool in the realm of Reliability Engineering for prioritizing areas of downtime that require improvement. While many engineers rely on Pareto Charts, we will explore the shortcomings of this approach and how the Jack-Knife Diagram overcomes them.
Now, let’s delve into the distinction between the two methods.
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Risk is a perception.
Our perception of risks is mainly affected by two factors:
(a) whether we are voluntarily accepting the risk.
A good example is a refinery worker considers the risks at workplace lower than his cousin who has only read about chemical plants; and
(b) potential consequences of event or act or decision.
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Today we look at how to draw simple flowcharts in R.
I think I am not far off when I say that flowcharts are an essential tool in the engineering toolbox. They provide a visual way to describe a set of activities, or a a process if you will. This can range from listing sequential steps in a manufacturing process to laying out a project plan to describing a decision making process (think decision trees).
“If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.”
– W. Edwards Deming
It comes as no surprise that engineers love to use flowcharts to describe or document stuff. If you’re like me, you’ve probably used various Microsoft Office applications to draw flowcharts. I, for example, have mastered creating flowcharts in PowerPoint over the years. Some prefer Visio or maybe some other application (Figma, Miro and the like).
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Reliability is designed into a product. Poor reliability is long term, difficult and expensive to rectify because it is woven into the fabric of the product. That is why high reliability products require complete and accurate analyses, simulations, and models to be successful. High reliable components are essential as well. Single point failures are taboo but, in some cases, there is no way to avoid them.
This paper presents two examples of how to design single point failures for high reliability.
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Understanding ISO 55001 clauses is vital for building a compliant ISO 55001 Asset Management System. Understanding ISO 55001 clauses is easy with a logical flowchart.
The meaning of the contents in the ISO 55001 asset management standard must be correctly interpreted and properly addressed in your asset management system
To fully understand the implications of an ISO 55001 clause, it is necessary to strip each sentence, phrase, and sub-point down into its logical elements
Learn how to turn the text in an ISO 55001 clause into a logical flowchart that lets you fully appreciate the implications and build the correct application in your asset management system.
[Read more…]Equipment experts are the untapped gold in any organization.
They know where the vulnerabilities lay, and they know what to do about them. Don’t waste this vital resource.
RCM memorializes the expertise and experience of equipment experts.
[Read more…]Do you want easy demand forecasts or do you want to learn and use the reliabilities of service parts and make demand forecasts and distribution estimates, without sample uncertainty? Would you like to do something about service parts’ reliability? Would you like demand forecast distributions so you could set inventory policies to meet fill rate or service level requirements? Without sample uncertainty? Without life data? Don’t believe people who write that it can’t be done!
The focus on attention to detail is one of the most critical portions of self-ownership. Everyone can walk by trash, but when the leader does it, it’s sending a message. The focus on attention to detail, especially in contracts, is best illustrated by the famous rock group, Van Halen.
Rock stars are able to put seemingly insane requests into what they need from the venues they perform at, and Van Halen was no different. After all, they’re the reason venues can charge hundreds of dollars per seat, they can choose to be picky.
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LNG spilled onto water sometime undergoes a rapid phase transition (RPT) or physical explosion creating localized overpressures.
Such physical explosions are also observed when water contacts molten metal or hot lava (steam explosions)
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