Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site
A listing in reverse chronological order of articles by:
One of the first things taught in a data analysis class, or in first-grade math, is the plot. A graphical representation of the data. Bar charts, pie charts, histograms, box plots, and the x-y scatter plot. These and others simply help us to understand the nature of the data.
The ‘nature’? The data is only a record of an observation. Counts, colors, numbers, or something similar. The ‘nature’ is, to me, the behavior, maybe pattern, or story the data may reveal.
The forums, chats, tweets (#bluelightofdeath), blogs, and mainstream media (CNN & Vancouver Sun) are looking closely at the launch of Sony’s Playstation. There are reports of dead on arrival and ‘blue light of death’ failures. One business blog discusses the need to understand and match customer expectations as a way to avoid bad press.
I find the expectation is pretty simple.
It should be simple
A brand new device, in this case, an expensive new game console, the entire experience of the purchase, transport, unpacking, hookup and first turn on should be a joy. The anticipation for those picking up the device on the first day comes crashing down to despair when the device fails to work. Products are expected to provide value, and you expect the device in front of you to work as expected. It’s simple.
I once explained to my son that not all units from production will work (he was in junior high school). He said he understood and that it is fine if the game console he buys just works. Ship the ones that don’t work to someone else. [Read more…]
Boeing representatives explained the Dreamliner would need an additional 6 months of work to bring the aircraft’s reliability on par with the existing 777 model.
They made the announcement at the start of the Dubai air show. Not a good start to a week of showing off the features of the aircraft. How does a companay respond to early reliability problems in the news?
Generally, even the most general reliability goal of a new product is to be as good or better than the last model. Sure, the Dreamliner has many new features, materials, and upgrades. Yet, it did as much or more design evaluation and testing as any model previously. [Read more…]
Recently I asked for recommendations for books for maintenance reliability engineers. The following list, in no order, are the recommendations. Thanks to all who participated. [Read more…]
At the start of class on reliability and maintenance engineering, one of the students asked,
“What is reliability engineering? What do you do?”
This made me think. What is it we do? How to you explain to someone our role?
I like to say, “We break things” with a big wink and a smile. And to some extent, as we explore what fails and how it fails. We most likely have to test our theories and break something. Or, when working with new product designs we employ tools to discover what will break. So, I suppose part of what we do is break things. Yet, that is not a complete answer. [Read more…]
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. In Maxims for Revolutionists (1903) by George Bernard Shaw
It is those that see the world as it should be that prompts change. I believe it is those resisting change to be unreasonable; I suppose it depends on your point of view. The idea or invention may be an inspiration or take diligent work, yet the real work is in changing the reasonable to a new way of viewing the world. Understanding everyone is not as unreasonable as yourself helps you prepare others for change. Challenging the resistance may label you as unreasonable. Be prepared and drive on, you are in good company. Fred Schenkelberg Reliability Quote of the Day, ISSN 2329-0099 http://www.fmsreliability.com/publishing/category/quotes/ where you can sign up for a daily quote sent to you via email —
I received a request from Quality Progress magazine to provide a quote and 100 words about the selection. The above is my submission. [Read more…]
Value for any business activity is a guiding principle to stay in business.
While not always about money, it is about value. We invest in product design and distribution, plant design and operation, to realize a benefit or return on the investment which makes the investment worth the effort and time. Same with our individual work- we endeavor to make a difference and realize not just a paycheck, (well some do). Increasing value is our responsibility as reliability professionals. [Read more…]
A common issue with solder, other than its ability to compliantly attach electronic packages to circuit boards, is its ability to fail with normal use.
Over time the normal thermal cycling causes the packages to move relative to the circuit board and the solder moves to accommodate. Each cycle the solder accumulates damage. Over time the number of cycles accumulates as does the damage. Eventually, the solder cracks and create an intermittent connection or disrupts the electron flow completely (open).
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
In Maxims for Revolutionists (1903) by George Bernard Shaw
It is those that see the world as it should be that prompts change. I believe it is those resisting change to be unreasonable; I suppose it depends on your point of view. The idea or invention may be an inspiration or take diligent work, yet the real work is in changing the reasonable to a new way of viewing the world.
During a normal day, we unconsciously tie our shoes, brush our teeth and drive to work, mostly by routine and without too much conscious thinking about the tasks. Occasionally we answer the phone and have to think a little about the conversation. Or we design an experiment for the next project, thinking we can save time by using the same test as last time. Then we slip comfortably into a routine. Do we not think anymore?
Reliability engineering is thinking.
… Or, reliable learning. One of the best things about reliability engineering is the never ending opportunity to learn. We work with materials, assembly processes, and people creating and maintaining products, machines, and systems. Other engineering disciplines tend to focus on one aspect of a design or process – mechanical engineers make allowances for the circuit board location and heat transfer requirements, yet do not word on the circuits themselves. Electrical engineers just the opposite, they focus on electronics and power and attempt to fit within the constants imposed by industrial designers. Maybe architects are close to the breadth of reliability engineering as they contribute the aesthetic and functional elements of a design, and consider the maintenance and longevity of the building. Yet, they are not involved with the actual aging and maintenance. [Read more…]
Having been invited to evaluate reliability practices within a company, I conducted a series of interviews with various staff members. When asked any question on the reliability techniques used, members of the engineering, procurement, operations, and quality departments all responded with nearly the same comment: “Oh, the reliability guy does that.” It appeared that the organization had one reliability engineer who did everything related to reliability. His interview was scheduled last that day. I was looking forward to meeting him. [Read more…]
Imagine you are requested to assist a design team in determining how to best improve the reliability of a product. You learn that the organization produces a range of point of sale (POS) devices and they have invited you to a meeting with their staff to discuss the product and ways to improve the field reliability.
To help understand the situation, you may have already started to think of a set of questions whose answers would lead to suitable recommendations: [Read more…]
A life-support-equipment company manager desires to conduct a reliability program assessment. The company is experiencing about a 50% per year failure rate and at least the Director of Quality thought it should do better. One of the findings was related to reliability goal setting and how it was used within the organization.
Nearly everyone knew that the product had a 5,000-h Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF) reliability goal, but [Read more…]
The concept of a maturity model is not new. It provides a means to identify the current state and illuminate the possible improvements to a reliability program. The matrix serves a guide to assist an organization in improving its program.
The matrix has five stages. In general, the higher stages are most cost effective and efficient at achieving higher rates of product reliability performance. These stages—uncertainty, awaking, enlightenment, wisdom, and certainty—are described in today’s post. [Read more…]
