Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site
All articles listed in reverse chronological order.
This story is about risk at the enterprise program/project level. It is an example of centering your design around a high-tech solution to a problem when a low risk proven technology would have more than sufficed. Technical expertise ego got in the way of a practical low-cost approach resulting in unplanned schedule and cost growth. [Read more…]
Orifice plate meter flow measurement. An orifice meter is a circular piece of metal plate placed between flanges in a pipe. In it is a square-edged round hole machined 0.5 to 0.8 pipe diameter in size. Pressure tapping points are placed either side of the plate at specified distances. The orifice causes a flow restriction and produces a pressure drop from one side of the hole to the other. The amount of pressure difference is proportional to the flow of fluid through the hole. The flow is calculated from the pressure difference and flow areas using accurate mathematical formulas. [Read more…]
I was recently talking with my colleague Fred Schenkelberg from FMS Reliability (this conversation can be heard here), about a plane that he had never heard of. Most of the world hasn’t heard of it. And there is a reason you probably haven’t either. The plane in question is a case study on how to design something to fail.
How do you know if YOU need robustness? It is a combination of testing and analysis. Can you afford it? How do you decide? This video helps set the stage for this decision. [Read more…]
I recently had a very interesting discussion with a craftsman at a large automotive manufacturer. During this discussion, he outlined a few of the issues he saw in his plant, and why they weren’t able to overcome them.
The craftsman indicated that he had been reading my previous posts and that it all made sense. In fact, he stated, ” it is common sense, but we don’t have that here”.
Using IOT Intelligent Things to Monitor Risk in Real-time
Although in ISO 31000 monitoring risk is another of its key tenets, I again see little monitoring in most risk management systems. Periodic review, dashboards, heat maps, and KRI reports are all Review (a different ISO 31000 tenet) not monitoring. IoT technology can deliver real-time monitoring of risk for more than just physical environmental metrics.
To monitor means to supervise and continually check and critically observe. It means to determine the current status and to assess whether or not the required or expected performance levels are actually being achieved. [Read more…]
This topic is provided by http://www.isixsigma.com/library/
It’s important when resolving a problem that you address the problem and not a symptom of the problem. Determining the real problem is called finding the root cause. There are special techniques for determining the root cause of a problem. One technique is known as “The 5 Whys.” [Read more…]
When it comes to ensuring a task or deliverable is accomplished, we often see the word “owner” used. Perhaps surprisingly, there really is no true ‘owner’ of anything in the context of program or project management.
We can begin explaining this with two adjectives: responsible and accountable.
Something to think about in a day and age when most companies post their Mission, Vision and Goals on the company web page. Do we really stand behind these statements and demonstrate the behaviors that clearly show we are willing to do what it takes to create a safe workplace? [Read more…]
I know what Robust Design is, but do companies really need it? If so, who needs it and why? This video helps address that question. [Read more…]
NOTE: This post will be a little different from my normal posts. Instead of discussing a specific topic, I will be covering my journey in understanding Asset Management and some key takeaways from the journey. [Read more…]
Awareness of risk can lead to unforeseen risk behaviors based on knowledge that is sufficiently convincing to lead to false positives.
“The more you know, the more you know you don’t know.”
― attributed to Aristotle
Roller bearing vibration measurement is one of the major condition monitoring tools in regular use. By measuring the velocity, acceleration and frequencies emitted from a rolling bearing it is possible to tell its condition and the likelihood of imminent failure. The technology is well established and well proven but requires a good understanding of equipment vibration characteristics before a user can draw good interpretations from the results.
Keywords: out of balance, vibration analysis, bearing life [Read more…]
Can you take into account reliability or durability functions in an FMEA? How can this be done? A reader asks this question, and it is discussed and answered in this FMEA Q and A article.
“A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.”
Francis Bacon
When your engineering project struggles, how do you respond? This video provides a sports analogy to the situation. Get back to the fundamentals – and Design of Experiments can be part of that process.
www.PerrysSolutions.com [Read more…]