Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site
Kirk and Fred discussing and reflecting on some of the spooky reliability problems we have seen (or not seen) that sometimes have haunted us on this Halloween 2022 episode of SOR
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Meetings to ADD productivity to our day? Yes!
We need our time to be productive, individually.
We also need input from our team. We can use meetings to add productivity to our day, if done right.
We break it down: hours in a day, limits of humans, and the minimum requirements of a good meeting.
Whether new to reliability or a veteran, you have probably heard about the Weibull distribution. It has almost mythical status amongst those who conduct reliability data analysis … or in other words – turning a jumble of dots (data points) into information that actually means something. So why do we ‘worship’ the Weibull distribution? What is so special about it? Whether you have been doing this for a long time or five minutes, you will get something out of this webinar that looks at one of the most popular tools for reliability analysis.
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It’s been said, on this show, that one key factor to international competitiveness is automation. While labor rates vary widely across the world, automation helps to level the field.
My guest today is Michael McHale, CEO of Production Systems Automation, otherwise known as PSA. Michael graduated from Drexel University with a BS degree in mechanical engineering.
Just to put our upcoming conversation into context, it’s helpful to know that PSA is a privately owned engineering and custom manufacturing firm founded in 1985, with three locations in Pennsylvania. They are experienced as a turnkey systems integrator, providing solutions for capital projects including, but not limited to; flexible robotic solutions, custom automated machinery, drives and controls & custom PLC projects. They also offer a line of standard products developed for industry specific customers.
They are a robotic systems integrator at heart, representing leading global robotic OEM’s. I say all this not to endorse or promote a particular company but rather put my guest’s comments into context. I am pleased to welcome Michael McHale to our show.
Michael’s Contact Info:
Michael McHale
mmchale@psasystems.com
https://www.psasystems.com/
Greg and Fred discussing the importance of decision making in quality, reliability, and work in general.
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Chris and Fred discuss the pointlessness of the MTBF. This comes from a listener who reached out to complain about how lots of industries enforce the MTBF … but why?
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Over the past several years, decades even, we have seen countless exciting advancements in technology across asset-intensive industries. While exciting, these changes have raised questions about how the future will look for maintenance, operations, and reliability teams within these industries. Will we see even bigger sweeps of innovation? Will the jobs of manufacturing professionals change? On this week’s episode of Maintenance Mavericks, UpKeep Founder and CEO Ryan Chan is joined by Sunny Han, Founder and CEO of Fulcrum, to discuss what the next 5 to 30 years might look like for our industries. Tune in and listen today!
We have test results but realize that testing didn’t go as planned.
What can we do to help prevent this scenario?
We talk about ways to partner with test engineers and test technicians and the importance of still maintaining their independence.
Chris and Fred discuss about what happens when we ‘defer’ maintenance … or do it later … or perhaps never. When is it OK to do this?
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Chris and Fred discuss ‘what can go wrong’ in scenarios where it is almost impossible to even comprehend might happen … like when something is really old! ᐅ Play Episode
Today, we’re diving into conformal coating best practices. With the explosion of IOT, the electrification of vehicles, and the miniaturization of circuit assemblies and associated components, many of which are operating in harsh environments, the need for conformal coating has never been greater.
Coating your assemblies? Where does one start? What material should one choose? Should it be applied in-house or through a contract-coating house? What are the best practices in materials selection, application, inspection, and thickness? So many questions!
To answer these and other questions, I invited a conformal coating expert to speak with me and hopefully shed some light on this subject.
My guest today is David Greenman.
David began his career in the conformal coating business working at Concoat, first distributing Humiseal products and eventually manufacturing them under license for Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa. After 25 years of distributing, then manufacturing Humiseal products under license, Chase Corp, which owns Humiseal purchased Concoat where David serves as Director of Humiseal UK, Europe, and India where he is responsible for Corporate Responsibility as well as supporting HumiSeal sales and technical teams.
Earlier in David’s career, he qualified as a Radio, TV/Electronics Engineer and became a member of The Society of Radio and Electronics Technicians that was eventually absorbed into The Institution of Engineering and Technology, of which he is still a member.
I’ve mentioned in previous episodes that it’s best to do FMEA early in the design concept phases of development.
Well, if we do FMEA early, then what can with do with it?
We explore a bit how to study any risk analyses (system risks, FMEA, hazard analysis) to help design-out problems, set-up design inputs, and help us figure out test methods. We also talk a bit about why a team is a necessary part of risk analyses.
In my opinion, as I do not know if this is true or not, every product or system failure has a cause. Causes are not exactly the same as what we call ‘failure mechanisms’, yet they are related in many cases. One more term to consider is ‘failure mode’, which refers to the symptoms or results of a failure. [Read more…]
