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Using RAM models for Criticality Analysis – Advantages and Limitations

Using RAM models for Criticality Analysis – Advantages and Limitations

Introduction to RAM Models and Criticality Analysis

Building a Reliability, Availability and Maintainability (RAM) model can provide numerous benefits to an Asset Management program. This includes conducting a Criticality Analysis. Criticality Analysis involves ranking assets based on their potential risk to the organization. It considers risk categories such as Production Impact, Safety, Environment, and Reputation, amongst others. The category list can vary and is a reflection of the organization’s structure. Organizations generally have a finite financial pool allocated to preserving asset function. A Criticality Analysis helps optimize the allocation of resources to each asset according to its importance in the system network. Ultimately this helps maximize revenue, minimize spend and maintain the organization’s license to operate.

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First Impressions

First Impressions

Note: This first article in the NoMTBF campaign was published on April 1st, 2009. Thus, we’ve been at this and making progress for a long time and come a long was since starting the NoMTBF campaign. I am looking forward to your comments, contributions, and suggestions.

Fred

At first, MTBF seems like a commonly used and valuable measure of reliability. Trained as a statistician and understanding the use of the expected value that MTBF represented, I thought, ‘Cool, this is useful.’

Then, the discussions with engineers, technical sales folks, and other professionals about reliability using MTBF started. And the awareness that not everyone, and at times it seems very few, truly understood MTBF and how to properly use the measure.

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SAE JA1011 Standard

SAE JA1011 Standard

Article first posted at Conscious Reliability by James Reyes-Picknell, Jesus Sifonte, and team.

Evaluation Criteria for Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) Processes

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, one of the accepted definitions for standard is: “something established by authority, custom, or general consent as a model, for example.” In our case, a standard comprises a document or sets of documents providing requirements, specifications, guidelines, or characteristics that can be used consistently to ensure that materials, products, processes, and services fit their purpose. There exist international standards on quality (ISO 9,000), risk (ISO 31,000), environment (ISO 14,000), energy (ISO 50,000), management and many other fields providing information and guidance on the practices, methods, and processes designed by groups of highly qualified international experts. Most technical field professionals utilize international standards to base their practice on trusted mathematically and/or scientifically proven methods. Trial and error are no longer acceptable out of the laboratory anymore today. But, lessons learned from its practice in conjunction with regretful real-life incidents and accidents provide knowledge on their risks, mitigation, and prevention. Most asset and maintenance management best practices and techniques are standard-driven, meaning they have been carefully defined and established. The SAE JA1011 Standard on Evaluation Criteria for Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) Process has an exciting background, including disappointing and successful stories before its principles were conceived and eventually incorporated into an international engineering standard.

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Is ERM the Solution to Climate Change?

Is ERM the Solution to Climate Change?

Guest Post by James Kline (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

The 2022 Global Risk Report is the 17th risk assessment report. The preface to the report notes: “The 17th edition of the Global Risk Report identifies tensions that will results from diverging trajectories and approaches within and between countries and then examines the risk that could arise from such tensions.” (1)

The results of the survey have substantive implications as the above notes. These implications go beyond diverging trajectories and approaches, to something more fundamental. That is whether the survey has any probative value.  This piece discusses the results of the survey. It also examines its probative value.

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Time Series vs. Actuarial Forecasts?

Time Series vs. Actuarial Forecasts?

Time series forecasts are easy to make and data are available. They’re like driving while looking in the rear-view mirror. A survey listed 31 forecasting software programs: none actuarial [Yurkewicz]. Actuarial failure forecasts are less biased and are more precise than time series failure forecasts, because actuarial failure forecasts use age-specific failure rates. How much better? 

The example in this article shows the 5% to 95% time series confidence interval width is 44.78 vs. the nonparametric actuarial Kaplan-Meier actuarial forecast width of 12.63, from grouped failure data, and actuarial forecast width of 15.45, from ships and returns counts.

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Life Data Analysis of Complete Data Using Minitab

Life Data Analysis of Complete Data Using Minitab

In this video, Hemant Urdhwareshe discusses how to analyse complete data of failures to identify distribution, identify distribution parameters, estimate reliability at a specified time using Minitab (version 19) software. The file used in the video can be downloaded here: Reliability Data.xls.zip.

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The #1 Thing That Changes Your Life and Propels Your Career

The #1 Thing That Changes Your Life and Propels Your Career

Effective communication is the one thing that makes your life better, more fulfilling, and more rewarding. That is equally true in life and your career. Give the soft skills and communication, in particular, the same emphasis that you give your hard skills. Soft skills are the difference makers.

My Religion is the Most Important

I agree with technical professionals who counter with this observation. We then agree that one of the first things they teach you in any church is how to pray.

My Family is the Most Important

Again, I agree with technical professionals who cite this one. Then we agree that every family has a fair number of poor relationships that could be improved if we all communicated more effectively.

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Top 3 CMMS Blunders to Avoid – A Reliability Engineering Perspective

Top 3 CMMS Blunders to Avoid – A Reliability Engineering Perspective

CMMS overview

A proper Computer Maintenance Management System (CMMS) setup can make a world of difference in an organization’s asset management journey. Conversely, a substandard setup can be a living hell for Reliability Engineers like myself and other analysts. This article highlights some practices to avoid in order to gain the most out of your CMMS in the long run. The examples given are based on my own experience in industry. There could be many more learnings out there. Reader comments and suggestions are most welcome as this will benefit the entire Maintenance and Reliability community.

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Confidence is a Measure of You, Not Your Product

Confidence is a Measure of You, Not Your Product

We like to think we make decisions based on information. We don’t. We make decisions based on emotions. And the most important emotion we rely upon for decision-making is confidence. We can be provided all the information in the world, but if we can’t understand it, trust it or believe it, we look for confidence in other ways. Often to disastrous outcomes. 

The number of ‘well-funded’ production efforts full of ‘very smart people’ that routinely generate expensive but unreliable products is sadly, very high. And it all comes down to the wrong types of confidence that well-paid decision-makers chase. 

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Deadlines a Project Necessity

Deadlines a Project Necessity

Guest Post by Malcolm Peart (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

The term “deadline” hasn’t been around that long, about 160 years in fact.  The first written mentions were in 1863 during the American Civil War.  The “dead-line”, as then, was defined as “a line drawn within or around a prison that a prisoner passes at the risk of being shot” and shot dead at that.  Prison conditions could be so deplorable that some men crossed the line on purpose, some survivors wrote that they had wished they’d crossed it to end their misery.  Deadlines in those days were lessons in ultimate liability.

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