Accendo Reliability

Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site

Home » Articles » on Tools & Techniques » Page 5

on Tools & Techniques

A listing in reverse chronological order of articles by:


by Leave a Comment

Back to the Basics: Brainstorming for Continuous Improvement

Back to the Basics: Brainstorming for Continuous Improvement

Brainstorming may sound like a casual conversation technique, but when applied properly, it becomes a critical tool for continuous improvement across a range of creative and technical disciplines.
In a structured environment, brainstorming enables organizations to capture a wide range of ideas, perspectives, and solutions — ideas that might never surface in a traditional problem-solving meeting.

Let’s take a step back and revisit the basics of effective brainstorming, especially its role in driving meaningful change.

[Read more…]

by Leave a Comment

Quality Objective 4: Lessons Learned

Every failure is a lesson learned about your strategy. Thomas Edison

In this article, I will discuss how to evaluate an FMEA against the FMEA Quality Objective for Lessons Learned.

By definition, a “lesson” means “something learned by study or experience,” and “learn” means “to gain knowledge or understanding of by study, instruction or experience.”

What are Lessons Learned?

Lessons Learned are specific data from the field (or from manufacturing plant history in the case of Process FMEAs) that documents relevant information about failures, from which knowledge can be gained and used in support of future product programs. [Read more…]

by Leave a Comment

How to Get from Idea to Scale

How to Get from Idea to Scale

By Mike Freier

Mike Freier, a PRG Partner, authored a series of blogs about how hardware products transition from an idea, through development, manufacturing and volume sales to their eventual end of life. Join us on this journey and learn how to avoid the pitfalls and risks that companies encounter on their way to a successful product launch.

[Read more…]

by Leave a Comment

RSM Part-2 Central Composite Design with Illustrated Application Example

RSM Part-2 Central Composite Design with Illustrated Application Example

Dear Friends, We are happy to share this second video on Response Surface Design. In this video, Hemant Urdhwareshe, Fellow of ASQ and Six Sigma Master Black Belt explains the structure of Response Surface Design with focus on Central Composite Design (CCD). Hemant has taken lot of efforts to illustrate this little complex concept with lot of graphics and animations so that viewers can understand it clearly and quickly. Hemant has also illustrated how to create, analyse and interpret results of Central Composite Design on Minitab with a virtual catapult.

We recommend that viewers should watch our previous videos:

(1) RSM Part-1

(2) Fractional Factorial Designs and Resolution Code

[Read more…]

by Leave a Comment

Back to the Basics: Understanding the Deming Cycle (PDCA)

Back to the Basics: Understanding the Deming Cycle (PDCA)

In the world of quality, reliability, product design, and manufacturing, improvement is a necessity, not a luxury. Few models have provided a stronger foundation for improvement than the Deming Cycle, commonly referred to as PDCA: Plan-Do-Check-Act.

Although simple in structure, PDCA represents a deep and disciplined approach to learning, problem-solving, and continuous improvement. Whether you are optimizing a production process, refining a laboratory method, or developing a new product, understanding PDCA is essential.

[Read more…]

by Leave a Comment

Response Surface Designs: Part-1 Addition of Centerpoint

Response Surface Designs: Part-1 Addition of Centerpoint

Dear friends, I am posting a video after some gap! This is our first video in our series on Response Surface Designs. Response Surface Designs become necessary when we want to model a second order response in an experiment. In this first video, Hemant Urdhwareshe explains addition of centerpoint to a factorial design to assess presence of non-linearity in the response. The concept is explained with a virtual catapult with a two-factor two-level design.

Links to the related videos:

(1) DOE-1: Introduction to Design of Experiments

(2) DOE-8: Linearity and Orthogonality in Experimental Design

(3) DOE-6: Case Study in Creating Full Factorial Design in Minitab

(4) DOE-7: Analyse Factorial Design with Minitab

[Read more…]

by Leave a Comment

SPC-2: Proportion Defective and Number Defective charts (p and np charts)

SPC-2: Proportion Defective and Number Defective charts (p and np charts)

Dear friends, we are happy to release this second video on statistical process control charts. In this video, Hemant Urdhwareshe illustrates how to use attributes charts, specifically p-charts for proportion defective and np charts for number defective! Watch our video SPC-1 for Introduction and Selection of Control Charts, and X-bar and R charts.

[Read more…]

by Leave a Comment

Back to the Basics: Benchmarking for Improvement

Back to the Basics: Benchmarking for Improvement

Continuous improvement doesn’t happen in a vacuum. To raise the quality, reliability, and performance of their products and processes, organizations must look beyond their own four walls.
Benchmarking — the practice of studying others to improve your own performance — is a foundational tool for competitive advantage.

Whether comparing products, processes, or management systems, effective benchmarking helps organizations discover new ideas, set realistic goals, and accelerate improvement.

Let’s take a step back and explore the basics of benchmarking: what it is, how it works, and why it matters.

[Read more…]

by Leave a Comment

Theory of Constraints

Theory of Constraints

A Tool for Project Selection and Continuous Improvement

Across industries and disciplines, one challenge remains constant: how to prioritize the right improvement projects to drive meaningful, measurable progress. Whether you work in continuous improvement, reliability, quality, or manufacturing engineering, you have more ideas and opportunities than time or resources to pursue them. This is where the Theory of Constraints (TOC) shines. Developed by Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt, TOC offers a focused methodology for identifying the best opportunities for improvement, allocating resources wisely, and sustaining continuous advancement.

[Read more…]

by Leave a Comment

SPC-1: Statistical Process Control Chart Selection, and Application Example on Excel

SPC-1: Statistical Process Control Chart Selection, and Application Example on Excel

Dear friends, Institute of Quality and Reliability (IQR) is happy to release this first video in our series on statistical process control charts. In the video, Hemant Urdhwareshe, Director of IQR and Fellow of ASQ explains criteria for selection of control charts, and has illustrated how to plot X-bar and Range chart using Microsoft Excel with an application example. Hemant has also explained briefly the interpretation rules to detect special causes. The video is little long but request viewers to watch it till end for best viewing experience.

[Read more…]

by 1 Comment

Reliability Estimation Efficiency? Without Lifetime Data?

Reliability Estimation Efficiency? Without Lifetime Data?

What is the efficiency of your reliability estimators and failure forecasts? Compare naïve forecasts: guess, AFR, MTBF, or times series extrapolations such as ARIMA, GMDH, and AI, vs. forecasts based on reliability estimators. With grouped lifetime data, the Kaplan-Meier estimator is statistically efficient, under a condition often ignored! With lifetime data you could use maximum likelihood estimators like Weibull or Kaplan-Meier from (a sample of?) grouped lifetimes. Without lifetime data you could estimate reliability from population ships and returns counts from data required by GAAP! This article compares efficiency and cost of forecasts based on alternative data and estimators.

[Read more…]