Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site
Chris and Dianna discuss the relationship between reliability engineering and sustainability (or anything else that is environmentally friendly). Is there some link between the two?
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It looks like 2023 will be the hottest year on record. Along with all the cyclones, hurricanes, floods and bushfires we have already had. Those who study and take climate change seriously unanimously agree that man-made changes to the environment are causing the climate to change so fast that mother nature will struggle to keep up.
And for the minority (yes, it is a minority as has been confirmed by many surveys and studies across the world), their arguments against climate change go something like this …
It might not be because of us …
… so it’s definitely not because of us.
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Chris and Carl discuss where reliability engineering training is going … noting that Chris and Carl do a lot of it.
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Climate change is universally accepted. And when I say ‘universally,’ I mean that the only people who think it is not a thing are fringe elements of society who are predisposed to specific interpretations of religion or commercial greed that would be harmed by any attack on fossil fuels and the energy we derive from them.
The good thing about this is that organizations who are serious about being successful and profitable can’t do so by sharing the ideology of a small minority. More and more people (including younger humans who will be the decision makers of tomorrow) are demanding more and more from the organizations they buy services and products from – especially when it comes to environmental concerns.
So to be successful, you need to take this stuff seriously.
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Ever heard of Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA)? It is a wonderful activity that can do amazing things for … what? It depends on what you might have heard, or what you are used to. Why? Because there are a number of different FMEAs that do different things for … different things. A Design FMEA can help us prevent really basic, simple flaws in a new product. A Process FMEA can help us prevent really basic, simple flaws in a new process. What process? Any process … but typically manufacturing. Many people who have heard of FMEAs usually associate them with either design or processes. And then there are System and Software FMEAs. Want to get an overview of which FMEAs do what and when you would use one instead of the other? Join us for this webinar.
Chris and Fred discuss how to become a reliability engineering consultant. Is this something you are interested in?
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Chris and Fred discuss the role of regulations … good, bad and ugly.
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Chris and Fred discuss the naked mole rat … an animal that doesn’t appear to age at all! Ever! And they are ugly …
Want to know why we are talking about these animals and what that has to do reliability? Listen to this podcast!
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Chris and Fred discuss one of the challenges of allocating reliability … in response to a question from one of our listeners. Might you be able to learn something as well!
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First thing … the MTBF is not a reliability metric (there are other webinars that explain why!) But there are many times when (for reasons good and bad) we need to test something to see how often it fails. This can help us work out how many spare parts we need, how many maintainers and technicians we need to employ, and lots of other really useful (typically logistic) considerations. We sometimes also need to be able to work out if a product meets an MTBF requirement. But when we do … we need to take into all sorts of statistical considerations like producer’s risk, consumer’s risk, and discrimination ratio. Shouldn’t the requirement be the requirement? If you want to learn more about MTBF testing and how it might (or might not) work … then join us for this webinar.
Chris and Fred discuss if it is possible to change any organization? Which is a topical issue for reliability engineers who feel that no one takes it seriously.
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Chris and Fred discuss how much a reliability engineer (potentially like you) … is worth. Want to know?
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Chris and Fred discuss the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) … A US Department of Defense vehicle that can perhaps teach us a lot about reliability (especially in the field of military and defense).
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Chris and Fred discuss what should a reliability engineer ‘do’? Isn’t this obvious? … is it?
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Everyone ‘knows’ why we do reliability engineering … right? Customer experience. Organization reputation. Reduced warranty claims 10 years from now. But these are boring reasons that really don’t motivate me to take reliability seriously now. Why should I invest so much time into an activity where that benefits the ‘company’ or the ‘customer’ in the future but won’t make an immediate difference where my boss will give me a ‘gold star’ on my next performance appraisal? Besides, no one person is responsible for reliability, so any effort I invest in reliability will be ‘lost in the noise’ anyway. And of course, reliability will increase budget and schedule today. Right? [Read more…]