Accendo Weekly Update #457 August 4, 2024

NoMTBF

An article series by Fred Schenkelberg and Guest Authors

A series of articles devoted to the eradication of the misuse of MTBF.

Plus, we explore other commonly misused or misunderstood reliability-related topics and what one should do instead. A little understanding will help you get better results with your efforts.

Note: This is a reposting with editing, updating, etc. of the articles that first appeared at NoMTBF.com.

Read NoMTBF?today

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Announcements & Reminders

If you would like to contribute an article to the NoMTBF series - a case study, a decision led astray, or how you convinced your peers to avoid using MTBF... just send over your idea or article and let's hit publish.

Discover the Asset Performance Conference in Belgium

On November 13-14, 2024, BEMAS, the Belgian Maintenance Association, organizes the Asset Performance Conference in Antwerp, Belgium.

At this conference, you will learn how to achieve higher reliability and cost performance of assets, and how to improve sustainability by digital transformation and people-centric improvements. ?Presentations give insights on Sustainable Asset Performance, Smart Maintenance & Reliability 5.0 and how to apply Generative AI and Digital Solutions in Operations, Maintenance & Asset Management. Find out our full programme on?www.assetperformance.eu

Be part of the future of industrial maintenance and book your ticket at the early bird rate now! The folks at BEMAS are offering Accendo Reliability members (you) a discount. Use code AR2100 for a two-day ticket, and use code AR150 for a one-day?ticket.

Stay safe, stay flexible, and stay resilient.

Cheers,

Fred

[email protected]

PS: if you are one of the many currently on vacation - enjoy (and you should not be reading this while on vacation ;-)

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Reliability.FM

The Reliability Engineering podcast network

Podcasts continue to gain listeners, so thanks for letting others know. Let us know what you'd like to talk about. Now, with over 3,256,460 downloads. Thanks for listening! Tell a friend about the network.

SOR 987 Dealing with Missing Data

Philip and Fred discuss a few challenges and approaches to deal with missing data. [Listen here...]

SOR 988 Difference Between Quality and Reliability Statistics

Philip and Fred discuss some of the basic differences and similarities between these two types of statistical toolsets. [Listen here...]

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QDD 148 Data Visualization Tips to Improve Analysis Skills

Discover why plotting isn’t just a step in data analysis, but a crucial practice that can reveal uniformity, natural variations, and even potential flaws in your test methods. Learn about the importance of recognizing multiple failure modes and how to avoid common pitfalls such as mishandling outliers and making incorrect assumptions. [Listen here...]

RM 148: IPC Apex Special (part 3 of 3)

This episode features three interviews including:? Kimberly Fagan from PVA? Taylor Wagan from CETEC ERP? Neil Hubble from Akrometrix [Listen here...]

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U3 Parameter Weibull Analysis

Recorded 23 July 2024 / Chris Jackson

Some of you might have heard of the Weibull distribution. It is an uncannily accurate way of describing many of the ways components fail. It can model things that wear-in where failure is caused by pre-existing damage and defects in a fraction of products. The Weibull distribution can also model things that wear-out we failure is caused once enough damage has accumulated. And some of you might have heard of the ‘3 Parameter Weibull distribution.’ But what makes this different and (sometimes) helpful? We are always wanting to improve the way we model things, including failure processes. [Listen here...]

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Fundamentals of Pareto Analysis

Recorded 9 July 2024 / Fred Schenkelberg

Pareto Analysis is a simple yet powerful tool that provides a visual way to help focus on the most critical tasks. The idea that 80% of your field failures come from 20% of the failure mechanisms is one way we can focus on the vital few instead of the insignificant many.

Let’s explore the basics of conducting Pareto Analysis, plus a few different ways to create and modify the plots. Of course, we’ll talk about some potential problems and pitfalls to avoid. [Listen here...]

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Reliability?Live Events

Reliability Engineering webinars and master classes

Join the discussion at the next live event

Fundamentals of Professional Development Plan

Scheduled for August 13, 2024, at 9 am?US Pacific time.

Speaker: Fred Schenkelberg

Professional development is not about pursuing a degree or title. It’s about what you can do with your knowledge. Of course, that is my opinion. Some seek credentials that may lead to a new position or opportunities. Some seek knowledge without intending to use it – education for education’s sake.

Whatever the motivation, we should approach learning meaningfully. Set objectives, do the homework, get feedback or coaching, and establish a routine to continue to hone your knowledge. Whether you want to learn something out of curiosity or master a topic to accomplish a task, you can plan to use your time efficiently.

Let’s explore how to improve your ability to learn and continue to learn throughout your career. As reliability engineers, there seems to be a never-ending list of concepts, failure mechanisms, novel materials, etc., that we can and should know about. With so many options for professional development, let’s examine a few principles and tips so you can learn and master what you desire to learn and master.

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Reserve Your Seat Today

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Using Fault Trees to Conduct Root Cause Analysis (RCA)

Scheduled for August 27, 2024, at 8 am?US Pacific time.

Speaker: Chris Jackson

What is a ‘root cause’ of failure? It is something that you did (or didn’t) do that ultimately resulted in failure. It’s not corrosion (that’s a physical process that follows the laws of nature that you can’t change). It’s not a porous seal that allows moisture to enter your product to cause corrosion (that’s a defect or fault that you or your team made happen). Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is the process where we systematically work out what things we did or didn’t do that allowed failure to occur, and Fault Trees are often very helpful in finding this root causes. If you want to learn more about RCA or how fault trees can help RCA, join us for this webinar.

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Reserve Your Seat Today

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Reliability Articles

Reliability Engineering essays and tutorials

Short essays and tutorials for your weekly professional reading. Did you know there are over 3,500 articles published to date? Comment or ask questions thus joining the discussion. If you have an idea for an article or would like to contribute articles, let's talk

Key Teaching Principle # 8: Pace of Teaching

Have you ever been in a class that does not manage time well? Some instructors speak too slowly and bore their students. Some speak too fast and students have trouble keeping up. Some allow endless topics that consume valuable time. The pace of teaching is a key factor in the transfer of knowledge. ? ...[Read more…] ??

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FINESSE Fishbone: The First E Stands For Empathy

Reliability engineers are challenged to effectively communicate their technical information to senior managers and the public. The FINESSE fishbone diagram is a proven, systems-based approach for meeting the communications challenge. The first E in the FINESSE fishbone diagram stands for Empathy. These are four tips to help you improve your empathy and empathetic listening. ? ...[Read more…]

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Essentials Elements of RCA

IS ALL RCA CREATED EQUAL? In this short ‘Getting Back to Basics’ video, Bob Latino attempts to breakdown what the term ‘RCA’ actually means to those who implement it. He will strip away the RCA marketing labels and focus on the elements/functions of an effective approach to analyzing undesirable outcomes. In end, viewers will reflect if their approach is consistent with ‘Root Cause Analysis’ or ‘Shallow Cause Analysis’. ? ?...[Read more…]

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And Now to the Biggest IT Outage … Ever!

?It is no small irony that a software application that is designed to protect IT systems from malicious actors was behind the biggest IT outage in the history of computers. A company called Crowdstrike provides a ‘Falcon Sensor’ product that is intended to scan computers that use Microsoft operating systems for vulnerabilities. And this product is deployed so deeply into its host operating systems... ??[Read more…]

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What is Acceptable Test Duration?

And again there is no one answer for such simple question. Strongly depends on what type of test you need to conduct.

It is also very important to understand at which stage, design of the product. Usually at very early stages of the design there is many unexpected failures, when design is mature enough – failures become predictable, and??there is one last period, called – wear out/aging??stage.? ?...[Read more…]

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Reliability Predictions

If you know me, you know I do not like MTBF. Trying to predict MTBF, which I consider a worthless metric, is folly.

So, why the article on predicting MTBF?

Predicting MTBF or creating an estimate is often requested by your customer or organization. You are being specifically asked for MTBF for a new product. ? ...[Read more…]

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Defect Elimination needs to be Systematic to Stop Failures in Your Company

Focus on failure elimination, otherwise equipment failures never stop because they are forever being introduced and perpetuated by poor procedures and practices, poor quality control and poor business management systems.

Knowing defects cause future equipment failures, production downtime, unnecessary costs and lost profits... ??[Read more…]

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Virtual Decisions: Art and Reality of Indecision

“Any decision is better than No Decision” goes the Law of Decision making.? However, sitting on the fence, humming and hawing, chewing the cud, weighing every option, exploring every avenue and leaving no stone unturned can, and often does, eventually amount to, at the end of the day, and in its cold light, without beating about the bush, or wasting any more time…indecision. ? ?...[Read more…]

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Opportunities for Maintenance and Operations: Rework

In our first two videos we discussed alarms and event rates. Today we will be discussing rework. What is rework? How can we identify rework? George has it covered. Check it out this latest video and if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment! ? ...[Watch here…]

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Lognormal Distribution, Concepts and Applications

?We are happy to release this video on Lognormal Distribution which is a popular distribution to model failures of non-repairable items. In this video, Hemant Urdhwareshe has explained basic concepts of lognormal distribution and its application examples. Hemant also explains its mathematical relationships to calculate MTTF, standard deviation and other parameters.? ?...[Watch here…]

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Strategies and Insights from Diffusion of Innovation

Co-authored by Mike Vella and Ray Harkins

Leaders often initiate change. They are expected to develop a vision for their organization (what we want to become) and create a mission (how we are going to get there). This implies that leaders are dissatisfied with the current state and are motivated to work towards a better future. ? ...[Read more…]

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?If you would like to contribute an article or series of articles on reliability, maintenance, or related topics, let's talk. The intent is to have many voices writing here. If you're interested in publishing your work via Accendo Reliability, let's talk. [email protected]