Speaking Of Reliability: Friends Discussing Reliability Engineering Topics | Warranty | Plant Maintenance

The Point of Your Role Abstract Greg and Fred discussing the professional role of a quality and reliability engineer within an organization. Key Points Join Greg and Fred as they discuss the role of quality and reliability engineering when everyone is responsible for the quality of their efforts. Topics include: What are quality and reliability engineers really expected to do. How can quality and reliability engineers support good to great decision making. What is the future of quality and reliability engineering. Why is solving the right problem important to all engineering. Enjoy an episode of Speaking of Reliability. Where you can join friends as they discuss reliability topics. Join us as we discuss topics ranging from design for reliability techniques to field data analysis approaches. Download Audio RSS Related Topics The Reliability Engineering Role(Opens article in a new browser tab) The post SOR 795 The Point of Your Role appeared first on Accendo Reliability.

The Term Risk Management Abstract Greg and Fred discuss the concepts and words surrounding reliability management, risk management and enterprise risk management. Key Points Join Greg and Fred as they discuss the idea that ‘words matter’. Topics include: Why do professional words matter. Why ‘risk management’ may become ‘certainty management’ Why culture is all important in establishing reliability and risk management. How are companies and people going to manage uncertainty. Enjoy an episode of Speaking of Reliability. Where you can join friends as they discuss reliability topics. Join us as we discuss topics ranging from design for reliability techniques to field data analysis approaches. Download Audio RSS Related Topics How to Manage Known Risks(Opens article in a new browser tab) The post SOR 794 The Term Risk Management appeared first on Accendo Reliability.

Putting Reliability Plans Together Abstract Chris and Fred discuss how we create a ‘reliability plan.’ It is not simply a list of tools … Key Points Join Chris and Fred as they discuss how you go about (at least philosophically) creating a reliability plan. People often start by looking at tools … which is where things get tricky. Topics include: What are you trying to build? Think of a woodworker. Before they start looking for tools, they work out what they are building. Is it a cabinet? … a kitchen bench? … a roof? … a deck? All involve wood – but they are very different things. And they require very different tools. Reliability engineering is like woodworking. What are you trying to build? … and sometimes what are you trying to find? Do you need a rough guess or a detailed estimate of reliability? Depending on the answer to this question, you will use different tools. So for lower-level discussions like this, work out the DECISION that your reliability engineering effort is going to inform. Then work out what you need to do. And your favorite tool should never become ‘the plan.’ Is your organization really good (or at least comfortable) with FMEAs? … HALT? … fault trees? Sometimes we then try and use our favorite tool all the time. This is also not a plan. Plans need communication. Otherwise everything is effort without outcomes. You can’t just say ‘do HALT.’ You need to train and communicate why HALT is good. You can’t just go and ‘do HALT.’ You need to work out what the test results mean and communicate this to the designers and manufacturers who matter. You can’t just say ‘do HALT’ to these people and not take the results seriously. Enjoy an episode of Speaking of Reliability. Where you can join friends as they discuss reliability topics. Join us as we discuss topics ranging from design for reliability techniques to field data analysis approaches. Download Audio RSS Related Topics SOR 162 Do we have to follow the HALT test plan?(Opens podcast in a new browser tab) The post SOR 793 Putting Reliability Plans Together appeared first on Accendo Reliability.

Overcoming Resistance Abstract Chris and Fred discuss how we overcome cultural resistance to ‘good’ things – like better reliability engineering. Is it possible? Key Points Join Chris and Fred as they discuss how we can go about how we can make things ‘happen’ in spite of cultural issues that get in the way. Topics include: Working groups are (usually) not the answer. Working groups are often the administrative panacea for many leaders who don’t really want to do reliability engineering but want to be able to say that they are doing reliability engineering. Working groups are often filled with people who aren’t particularly influential or senior, but spend every second Tuesday coming up with new processes that will be imposed on an unaware workforce without much fanfare. I wonder why this doesn’t work? Performance appraisal often doesn’t gel with good reliability engineering. If you need your maintenance team to fill in additional root cause analysis (RCA) forms after failures in order to help us design the root causes out of the system … but the maintenance team’s performance is based on how quickly they do maintenance … then there is no chance of these forms being filled out. There needs to be leadership direction … otherwise you confuse effort with outcomes. If you don’t define how reliability engineering will have meaningful outcomes for the organization, then reliability engineers will quickly end up ‘doing stuff’ that doesn’t influence decisions. Fred’s 3 questions. Fred talked about how he coached leaders in his organizations about how to best convey to the workforce that they take reliability seriously. Where’s the data? … this shows that you are interested in being convinced What’s the confidence? … this shows that you are weighing up the amount of information in whatever is being suggested How does that impact reliability/organizational value? … this shows that there is a common reliability goal for the organization that we can work towards Chris’s leadership tip. Chris pointed out that no matter how good the speeches (or questions) are, leaders can’t just put the microphone down and walk away. They need to invest their own time into talking with the engineers, manufacturers, technicians, designers and so on, listening to their feedback, implementing their (usually good) ideas, and otherwise demonstrating investment in both reliability but the workforce who comes up with good reliability engineering outcomes. The only way to overcome cultural issues … is to resolve the cultural issues. If the leaders aren’t interested in reliability engineering, then (unfortunately) you are not going to enjoy being a reliability engineer! Enjoy an episode of Speaking of Reliability. Where you can join friends as they discuss reliability topics. Join us as we discuss topics ranging from design for reliability techniques to field data analysis approaches. Download Audio RSS Related Topics SOR 575 Cultural Avoidance of Engineering(Opens podcast in a new browser tab) The post SOR 792 Overcoming Resistance appeared first on Accendo Reliability.

Approaches to Systemic Change Abstract Dianna and Fred discussing a listener question about approaches to systemic change. How can we make systemic changes into the way people go about their work? They talk about change management and work culture. Key Points Join Dianna and Fred as they discuss a listener question about change management and work culture: How can we make systemic changes into the way people go about their work? Topics include: benefits, challenges, and pitfalls of the top-down approach and of the bottom-up approach how to use a combination of top-down and bottom-up with an “invisible hand” approach what to look for as evidence of a culture change that is self-sustaining Enjoy an episode of Speaking of Reliability. Where you can join friends as they discuss reliability topics. Join us as we discuss topics ranging from design for reliability techniques to field data analysis approaches. Download Audio RSS Show Notes Some best practices for systemic changes: Make the value apparent to everyone, in a way that matters to those doing it. “This is good for us” becomes a culture change. Look for collaboration opportunities and be the “invisible hand”. Help move others into understanding the change and out of the mysterious black-box phase. Be prepared to be patient, persistent, and repetitive. It takes time. Our listener was prompted to ask his question after listening to SOR episode 77: SOR 077 Transition of Reliability Culture If you have comments or questions, please contact us! Related Topics SOR 734 Can Organizations Change(Opens podcast in a new browser tab) The post SOR 791 Approaches to Systemic Change appeared first on Accendo Reliability.

Necessity of Collaboration Abstract Dianna and Fred discussing the many forms that collaboration can take and ways to approach collaboration as a way to successfully work with others to solve a problem. Key Points Join Dianna and Fred as they discuss the necessity of collaboration with others. Topics include: why reliability engineers need to be collaborative by nature of their work the many forms of collaboration the importance of defining the objectives of collaboration ways to approach collaboration as a way to successfully work with others to solve a problem Enjoy an episode of Speaking of Reliability. Where you can join friends as they discuss reliability topics. Join us as we discuss topics ranging from design for reliability techniques to field data analysis approaches. Download Audio RSS Show Notes Reliability engineers need to be collaborative because of the nature of their work. Collaborating with others can lead to solutions that are simpler, getting a faster resolution, and can be more fun. There are many possible roles of a reliability engineer for collaboration. facilitate pulling together the right people with the right expertise provide a bridge for communication to try things help define the problem contribute to the solution: spark ideas to develop something useful Accendo Reliability is a place of collaboration! If you have questions about how to break into collaboration at your work, send us a message! Or share with others what works for you when you collaborate with others. Related Topics RRP 091 Asset Management & Collaboration Panel Podcast(Opens podcast in a new browser tab) The post SOR 790 Necessity of Collaboration appeared first on Accendo Reliability.

Reliability of Produce Abstract Kirk and Fred discussing about a subject that is quite different from electronics and systems, that is the degradation of fruit and vegetables and prevention of aging or preservation of fruit. Key Points Join Kirk and Fred as they discuss the approach we might use to determination of how and the mechanisms of aging can be delayed or stopped altogether. Topics include: Just like there are many different physics of failure for electronics, agricultural products have different chemical and biological mechanisms that cause degradation and those must be understood to stop or slow down. The current capability to use gene modifications in agricultural products has given botanist the ability to create fruits that have longer shelf life, but like in engineering there are tradeoffs that have to be made for taste, size, color and other characteristics. Many preservation methods, such as making cheese, or salting fish to make them last for long periods have been known for centuries, but just like making well built robust electronics the farmers must first grow the best quality plants in order to want to keep them. No one wants to preserve a bad crop. Enjoy an episode of Speaking of Reliability. Where you can join friends as they discuss reliability topics. Join us as we discuss topics ranging from design for reliability techniques to field data analysis approaches. Download Audio RSS Show Notes Please click on this link to access a relatively new analysis of traditional reliability prediction methods article from the US ARMY and CALCE titled  “Reliability Prediction – Continued Reliance on a Misleading Approach” For more information on the newest discovery testing methodology here is a link to the book “Next Generation HALT and HASS: Robust design of Electronics and Systems” written by Kirk Gray and John Paschkewitz. The post SOR 789 Reliability of Produce appeared first on Accendo Reliability.

Prework for HALT Abstract Kirk and Fred discussing a question from a listener, that is pretty fundamental to HALT programs, what to do before starting to do HALT. Key Points Join Kirk and Fred as they discuss what needs to happen in a company before trying to do HALT in an organization that has not used HALT in the past. Topics include: Education of Management and the design team is critical. Getting a design engineer to change anything in their design because it failed during step stress well beyond the environmental use specifications is extremely difficult without providing evidence and data supporting the high ROI that can be gained in reliability improvements with HALT. It is absolutely necessary to investigate or understand what the limiting component is, why it is limiting, and then show that a change of component can increase the stress operation margin. A good way to show the benefit of stress beyond specification is to take field returns that seem to work fine on the bench and put them in a thermal chamber and run the design validation test programs at the temperature extremes or vibration (near operational limits) and some percentage (around 30% in Kirks experience) will show failure modes reported by the customer. Reviewing field failures may show latent failure mechanisms that would be stimulated to detection by step stress methods. Examples are components touching and shorting, loose connectors, loose fasteners, and cold solder joints. Enjoy an episode of Speaking of Reliability. Where you can join friends as they discuss reliability topics. Join us as we discuss topics ranging from design for reliability techniques to field data analysis approaches. Download Audio RSS Show Notes Please click on this link to access a relatively new analysis of traditional reliability prediction methods article from the US ARMY and CALCE titled  “Reliability Prediction – Continued Reliance on a Misleading Approach” For more information on the newest discovery testing methodology here is a link to the book “Next Generation HALT and HASS: Robust design of Electronics and Systems” written by Kirk Gray and John Paschkewitz. Related Topics SOR 010 Should We Design for HALT(Opens podcast in a new browser tab) The post SOR 788 Prework for HALT appeared first on Accendo Reliability.

Working with a Lab Abstract Chris and Fred discuss how you go about finding a lab to help you come up with some meaningful reliability information. Does that laboratory exist? Key Points Join Chris and Fred try to answer a question a listener asked about finding a laboratory to help them work out how long their product will age? … or last? Topics include: Can you hand this problem over to a lab to work this out for you? NO. Why? Because to accelerate ageing and life, you need to focus on a small number (typically one) failure mechanism. If this failure mechanism has nothing to do with the dominant way your system fails … then you won’t get any meaningful numbers. You might still get a number … it might be misleading. Surely there are some laboratories that can do this though? Technically yes. But these laboratories are the more ‘university’ level laboratories that might take several years to be able to fully understand the way your system might fail. But you know who already has a lot of information on this? You and your design team! After all, how can any laboratory know what environment your system will be used in. So we can’t get outside lab help for testing? OF COURSE YOU CAN! It’s just that you need to have a conversation with them. You need to come with an idea of what sort of failure modes are going to ‘keep you up at night.’ The ‘vital few’ weak points of your system that will be the parts that drive the failure of your system. As long as you don’t outsource critical thinking. Many labs are really good at the testing bit. You need to be good at the understanding bit. Enjoy an episode of Speaking of Reliability. Where you can join friends as they discuss reliability topics. Join us as we discuss topics ranging from design for reliability techniques to field data analysis approaches. Download Audio RSS Related Topics SOR 079 When is it Time to Buy a Chamber(Opens podcast in a new browser tab) The post SOR 787 Working with a Lab appeared first on Accendo Reliability.

Strength-Stress with Limited Information Abstract Chris and Fred discuss this thing called ‘stress-strength’ we hear a lot about in the world of reliability … especially when we need to use it to work out ‘reliability stuff.’ Key Points Join Chris and Fred try to answer a question from one of our listeners regarding a ‘stress-strength’ problem where he was given a ‘maximum stress’ for a particular application and a ‘minimum strength’ for a particular component. So how do we work out its reliability? Topics include: Why not go to a lab? Not just a physical lab … but a simulated lab using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) or Finite Element Modelling (FEM)? There might be a chance you can go to a lab that someone else has gone to (i.e. … review articles that might cover this topic). Go get measurements. Why not use information you have? Like expert judgment? You can extract information if you ask in a really clever way. Why not ask the vendor? If they give you a number … it has to come from somewhere. It might come from a rigorous testing and analysis phase of development (their answer will let you know if this is the case pretty quickly). It might come from an unsubstantiated guess (again … this will become obvious from their answer). You might be surprised! Can you work out if it is NOT close? Perhaps the conservative estimate of ‘maximum stress’ is a LONG way below the conservative estimate of ‘minimum stress.’ If this is the case – then you don’t really need to do excruciatingly detailed data analysis. Your device will almost certainly work! Conversely, you might be able to quickly work out that your device will almost certainly fail. But what if it IS close? As in … the strength and stress are relatively close. You need to characterize the random nature of each. The normal distribution (bell curve) is usually pretty good at modelling both. You might be able to use some conservative assumptions to model each, and see what you get! If you have enough information to answer the question … great! If not … then you need more information. Enjoy an episode of Speaking of Reliability. Where you can join friends as they discuss reliability topics. Join us as we discuss topics ranging from design for reliability techniques to field data analysis approaches. Download Audio RSS Related Topics The Stress-Strength Concept in Practice(Opens article in a new browser tab) The post SOR 786 Strength-Stress with Limited Information appeared first on Accendo Reliability.