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Are you in Control of Your Risk

Are you in Control of Your Risk

Guest Post by Annette Davison Ph.D (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

According to the definition in ISO 31000, risk is the impact of uncertainty on [achieving] your objectives. Of course, this impact can be both negative or positive. ISO 31000 states the following:

“Clause 6.4.2 Risk identification: The organisation should identify risks, whether or not their sources are under its control.

Clause 6.4.3 Risk analysis: The effectiveness of existing controls.”

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The 1.5 Sigma Shift: What It Is and Why It Matters

One of the most persistent points of confusion in quality engineering is the difference between traditional statistical process capability analysis and the Six Sigma approach. Specifically, why does Six Sigma define a “six sigma” process as having 3.4 defective parts per million (DPPM), when a straightforward application of statistical tables suggests that six standard deviations from the mean should correspond to a far lower defect rate—about 2 parts per billion? The answer lies in what Six Sigma practitioners call the 1.5 sigma shift.

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Remember this Memoryless Exponential Distribution!

Remember this Memoryless Exponential Distribution!

Dear friends, I am happy to release our 59th video on Exponential Distribution! Exponential Distribution is an appropriate mathematical model when failure or hazard rate is constant. It is often known as “Memoryless” as reliability in any time interval is same! Exponential Distribution has many applications in Reliability Engineering such as electronic components. Many reliability procedures in MIL Standards assume constant failure rate and Exponential Distribution! Hope you find the video interesting and useful! Your feedback is welcome! Do subscribe to our channel to get updates on our new videos and programs!

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The Execution Gap: Why People Don’t Follow Through on Work

The Execution Gap: Why People Don’t Follow Through on Work

In the world of work, execution is key. It’s not just about having great ideas or making ambitious plans; it’s about turning those ideas into action and seeing plans through to completion. However, despite our best intentions, many of us struggle to execute work effectively. So, why is this? What causes the execution gap? Let’s explore some common reasons why people fail to execute work and how we can overcome these challenges. 

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What is the P-F Interval? A Quick Guide to Condition Based Maintenance

What is the P-F Interval? A Quick Guide to Condition Based Maintenance

In this short video, I explain the concept of the P-F Interval and its crucial role in Condition Based Maintenance (CBM). Understanding the P-F Interval is essential for determining how often to perform CBM tasks (and Predictive Maintenance task intervals) to catch Potential Failures before they become full-blown failures. Learn how the time between detecting a Potential Failure Condition and the point of failure — known as the P-F Interval — guides your inspection intervals and helps ensure reliability.

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Three Solutions for Reliability Professionals Making Big Presentations

Three Solutions for Reliability Professionals Making Big Presentations

Communicating effectively is essential when big decisions are at hand, especially for reliability professionals presenting to senior management or boards. However, most of us do not receive formal training or have tailored strategies for big, high-stakes presentations. This guide offers three practical solutions to enhance your presentation skills.

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Leveraging Bayesian Statistics for Reliability Predictions with Limited Sample Data

Leveraging Bayesian Statistics for Reliability Predictions with Limited Sample Data

Example from BDC Motor Reliability Assessment

Reliability analysis is essential for ensuring long-term performance of hardware components. However, predicting failures with small sample sizes is a challenge. Traditional statistical methods often require large datasets, whereas Bayesian statistics can incorporate prior knowledge to improve predictions by updating beliefs as new data becomes available.

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Graphical Representations in Reliability Analytics

Graphical Representations in Reliability Analytics

Introduction

Reliability Engineering analytics come with graphs and visual representations providing the analyst with various types of key information. Some graphs are more popular than others. This article highlights the 4 main graphs used in Reliability Engineering Analysis.

They are Reliability, Probability of Failure, Probability Density and Failure Rate. Less common types are not covered here. Such as Contour Plots. The basis of the graphs in this article is the Weibull Distribution. In other words, all the graphs derive from this very popular distribution. The same concepts applies to other distributions.

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The Worst Reliability Requirement

The Worst Reliability Requirement

by Mark Powell

Most of us have seen reliability specified using a requirement like the following:

The Zeus 5000 SUV shall have an MTBF of 144,269.5 miles with a 90% confidence.

Some readers may not have seen reliability requirements specified in any other way.  What they have always seen has read something like:  The widget shall have an MTBF of X with a Y% confidence.  This reliability requirement structure is rather ubiquitousin military and aerospace specifications, which along with Mil-HDBK-217, have been major influences in reliability specification practices for decades in many industries.

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Type of Contract You Bid on Effects Your Risk

Type of Contract You Bid on Effects Your Risk

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

There are two basic types of contracts applied to development projects. They are Firm Fixed Price (FFP) and Cost-Plus (CP). Each type has a number of different variations shown in Table 1. FFP contracts are for projects with mature technology, less uncertainty, and more predictability. CP contracts are for projects with new technology, a lot of uncertainty, and less predicability. There are other types of contracts but are out of scope for this paper.

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Controlling the Human Factor 

Controlling the Human Factor 

How to conquer the last frontier in equipment reliability, maintenance, and industrial engineering asset management: Our machines and materials of construction do not cause our equipment problems and failures. The real problem for industry is the ‘human factor’ in stopping people making mistakes. You gain control over the ‘human factor’ by providing clear and comprehensive work procedures that explain exactly how to deliver the performance required and that give users the means to check and improve their performance. The Accuracy Controlled Enterprise 3T procedure layout and content lets you provide your people with the details of how to do their work with exceptional quality, and the means to correct and improve their efforts until they are that good.

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Accelerated Life Testing (ALT) Part-4 Determination of Activation Energy for Arrhenius Model

Accelerated Life Testing (ALT) Part-4 Determination of Activation Energy for Arrhenius Model

Dear All, This is our fourth video on Accelerated Life Testing (ALT). Some of the viewers had requested for procedure to determine the Activation Energy used in Arrhenius Model. This video explains experimental procedure to determine Activation Energy. Hope you find this useful! If you like the video, click on the “Thumbs-up icon” and subscribe to our channel for more videos on Quality and Reliability!

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How Reliability Professionals Can Overcome the 3 Barriers to Effective Communication

How Reliability Professionals Can Overcome the 3 Barriers to Effective Communication

As reliability professionals, we’ve all had moments where our message falls flat, a misunderstanding occurs, or a simple conversation gets bogged down. It’s usually due to one of the big three barriers to effective communication: language, accessibility, and generational differences. The seven cause-and-effect factors (the “bones” of FINESSE) are designed to overcome all three barriers. However, it’s important to understand the context of each of the three barriers. Here’s a quick look at each one.

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