Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site
A listing in reverse chronological order of articles by:
To be innovative, you need to resolve competing requirements. How does someone do that through testing? Over 20 years ago, we created a process that has worked for us and countless others when applying Design of Experiments. These tidbits may help you accomplish more in your new product development.
Recognizing the heartbeat of product development will allow organizations to make the most of their resources. Using the right tools, at the right time, will lead to improved designs. This video talks in detail about what the heartbeat is made up of.
How is a manufacturing process determined to be capable of producing parts that meet engineering requirements? Some, like the finish of a gear tooth are critical, while the roughness of a non-contact surface isn’t critical. The critical characteristics need to be identified and checked to determine if the process is capable.
This article defines the analysis concepts and indices.
Process capability assessments (PCA) start during the product development process and continue into series production. Prototype parts are created by a variety of methods, ranging from hand-crafted parts to short term manufacturing in a production intent process under factory conditions. The methods that are closest to series production are the most realistic.
There are several reasons why DOE could be used. This video will provide those reasons and provide the support behind it. The reasons are beyond the traditional ideas. [Read more…]
We have resolved many manufacturing issues. Why do I need DOE to do this? How can we better get to root cause? Each section below contains a 2-minute video to expand on the topic provided.
Design of Experiments is the best tool for resolving problems when our science and experience fails us. Even if we are right, we also need to prove our approach works to others. Today that includes proof with statistical confidence. We need to be efficient to reduce excessive prototypes, scrap and downtime.
Some FMEA teams associate occurrence ranking with Failure Mode; others associate it with Effect. Still others connect associate it with Cause? Which is correct? This article discusses occurrence risk, including examples, and answers this question.
“Reality is not always probable, or likely.”
Jorge Luis Borges
Many companies talk about their desire for Innovation. Can Design of Experiments (DOE) help in that process? Each section below contains a 2-minute video to expand on the topic provided.
How often do we hear a design or process development team express optimism – “We are almost there!” And how long does that same response continue without progress? The key is to decide when we have tried long enough using informal methods. Predictability and confidence are important to achieve project success.
Many companies experience challenges during product development. Can Design of Experiments (DOE) help in that complicated set of activities? Each section below contains a 2-minute video to expand on the topic provided. [Read more…]
As of the date of this note, the Inside FMEA series of articles has completed the “Introduction to FMEA Series,” and is nearly complete with the “FMEA Fundamentals Series.”
This year, Inside FMEA articles will continue on a monthly basis. Each article will be posted for readers on the 1st day of the month.
As soon as the “FMEA Fundamentals Series” is completed, articles will continue with the “FMEA Preparation Series,” followed by the “FMEA Facilitation Series” and the “FMEA Special Topics Series.”
Readers of my book, Effective FMEAs, will continue to find the content of the Inside FMEA articles consistent with the concepts in the book.
It is my sincere desire that each and every person who reads Inside FMEA articles will discover the articles enjoyable to read and experience improved success in FMEA applications. As I say to readers of my book, “best wishes for effective FMEAs.”
Carl S. Carlson
The analysis of telematics data with two or more parameters is a complex process. The analysis of multiple parameters using contour plots is a powerful tool since a lot of information is captured in the graphics.
The best results come from a team effort. For engineering data, the team may consist of the design/development engineers, a programmer, and a reliability engineer or a statistician. The following is an analysis of engine speed, engine torque, and the transmission gear state to describe the process.
We have executed and coached many projects. What benefit did they provide? Where can we help within the lifecycle of a project? Each section below contains a 2-minute video to expand on the case study topic provided. [Read more…]
What if an FMEA recommended action is redundant with the Design Controls? A reader makes this observation about an earlier article, and asks the question about the value of redundancy in FMEA.
“It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.”
Eugene Ionesco
There are many approaches to managing projects. What are the keys? How can we ensure our critical project is going to meet schedule and customer needs? Each section below contains a 2-minute video to expand on the topic provided.
Is action always required on high-severity issues? What if severity is high (9 or 10 on a severity scale of 1 to 10), and the occurrence and detection rankings are both low? Is action still required? This problem, as well as a challenging problem involving fail-safe strategies, are the subject of this problem-solution article.
We do not want tools that waste our time. How do we know which tool can create benefit for us? Here are a few tools worth using on most projects. Each section below contains a 2-minute video to expand on the topic provided.