Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site
Find all articles across all article series listed in reverse chronological order.
I am often asked for my opinion about the FMEA Handbook that was jointly published by AIAG and VDA in 2019. Here is a summary of my candid views on this handbook, excerpted from a presentation I gave at the 2019 Guangbin Yang Reliability Symposium.
Employers don’t hire people – or assign them a project or task – in the hopes they will fail. And employees don’t take on a job, project, or task in the hopes they will fail. On the contraire, the expectations all around are that the outcome will be successful.
Certainly, sometimes the outcomes are not successful. But these unsuccessful outcomes are generally more tolerated – even expected – in companies that are in their early stages or have a company culture that is more entrepreneurial and not so risk adverse. And when an unsuccessful outcome in such companies occurs, it’s usually a disappointment (and you certainly don’t want to make being unsuccessful a habit), but it’s not usually a negative mark on the employee.
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Reinforcing bar is forged steel used in concrete to give the otherwise weak concrete structural tension strength. Reinforcing bar manufacturing is done in a factory using computerised machines to straighten, cut and bend the steel. It is a highly automated process once the bar is loaded onto the manufacturing machinery. These machines are computer controlled and form the bar to the shape and dimensions instructed. The bar specification and dimensions are identified from the engineering drawings by the Scheduler who enters the details into a scheduling software program. The program converts the reo-bar size requirements into computer controlled manufacturing instructions for the machines and a delivery schedule for the production shop.
Our assignment was to identify opportunities to improve the business and streamline the operation from production through to delivery.
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In this episode, we talk about what preventative maintenance is and what two criteria determine if a preventive maintenance task should be assigned. The biggest pitfall that organizations often fall into when defining intervals for preventative maintenance tasks is revealed.
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ANSI-IES TM-21 standard method may predict negative L70 LED lives. (L70 is the age at which LED lumens output has deteriorated to less than 70% of initial lumens.) Philips-Lumileds deserves credit for publishing the data that inspired an alternative L70 reliability estimation method based on geometric Brownian motion of stock prices in the Black-Scholes-Merton options price model. This gives the inverse Gauss distribution of L70 for LEDs.
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A process is described as inherently safer if it reduces or eliminates one or more process hazards and this reduction or elimination is accomplished through changes that are permanent and inseparable.Below are strategies for achieving inherent safety:
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Based on over 30 years’ experience with project risk management, the best way I found to monitor risk mitigation plans is to incorporate them into the Integrated Master Schedule (IMS). The reason is each month (or week) when the IMS is reviewed the risk mitigation plan is also reviewed. Since the IMS is linked, a slip in a mitigation plan step can readily be seen as well as the potential impact it may have on the project.
The question is How is the risk mitigation plan integrated into the IMS? This paper will explain how it tis done. [Read more…]
As a teenager in the 1980s, I was an avid reader of Omni, a now defunct magazine dedicated to the future—a far-off world filled with super humans, artificial biospheres and frequent encounters with extraterrestrial beings. Omni catered to armchair futurists like me with science and science fiction stories by A-level writers like Bernard Dixon and William Burroughs.
Future-oriented mass media such as Omni and “Star Wars” gives its consumers a plausible vision of everyday life for future generations. What these sources don’t typically deliver, though, is the path of change to get there.
[Read more…]In rare cases, lithium batteries can catch fire.
Lithium battery fires have resulted in recalls in the recent past – a few notable ones are indicated in the table below.
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A failure reporting, analysis, and corrective action system (FRACAS) is an important part of a reliability program. It is used to solve reliability and maintenance issues throughout a plant’s lifecycle. It uses a strict closed-end loop and iterative root causes analysis process. Properly executed, it can add considerable value to a business. However, there are some implementation traps to avoid and best practice tips that optimize results; here are six common issues to consider. [Read more…]
Robots are developed to address a problem. For example, automating a production line. To achieve this goal, a multidiscipline engineering team is required.
The question is which engineering discipline should I study? I suggest you get a degree in System Engineering. This paper will explain why.
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Example ACE 3T (Target-Tolerance-Test) Procedure with Reliability Standards: Machine performance is totally dependent on human beings. To address the problem of human error causing equipment failure, an Accuracy Controlled Enterprise sets best practice quality standards and uses 3T Target-Tolerance-Test work task quality control that assures high quality workmanship for high reliability results. Their work procedures are standardised so everyone follows the same methods to produce the same results, their training teaches people how to do craftsmanship work that creates outstandingly reliable plant and machinery. They create the reliability they want and as a result achieve operational excellence.
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In this episode, we talk about what a Failure Mode is and why Failure Modes are so important to equipment Reliability. As responsible custodians, it’s up to us to identify the plausible Failure Modes that could occur so that we can figure out if and how we should manage each one. If we don’t, it can end up in disaster.
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We have been burning wood since days of the caveman. But did you know that wood can also explode?
Logs of wood will not explode but fine dust can lead to a fire and explosion. Let us see why.
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