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Speaking Of Reliability: Friends Discussing Reliability Engineering Topics | Warranty | Plant Maintenance
Speaking Of Reliability: Friends Discussing Reliability Engineering Topics | Warranty | Plant Maintenance episodes
- Customer Satisfaction and Reliability PerceptionCustomer Satisfaction and Reliability PerceptionAbstract
Adam and Fred discussing how customer satisfaction with a product affects their perception about reliability performance.
Key PointsJoin Adam and Fred as they discuss how customer satisfaction with a product affects their perception about reliability performance.
Topics include:- Is it a sound strategy to focus on creating features that impress customers even if it is at the cost of not optimal reliability?
- Does high reliability early in life combined with great features create customers who are willing to excuse early product wear-out?
- Why won’t Adam stop talking about cars?
Enjoy an episode of Speaking of Reliability. Where you can join friends as they discuss reliability topics. Join us as we discuss topics ranging from design for reliability techniques to field data analysis approaches.
Download Audio RSSShow NotesThe post SOR 588 Customer Satisfaction and Reliability Perception appeared first on Accendo Reliability.
0 min - Use Case 7 and HALTUse Case 7 and HALTAbstract
Adam and Fred discussing how the philosophy of HALT and Use Case 7 share some common ground.
Key PointsJoin Adam and Fred as they discuss how the philosophy of HALT and Use Case 7 (UC7) share some common ground.
HALT can not make correlations between field failures and test failures. HALT permits you to see where the least robust features are. This is beneficial to designers looking for features to improve, but not helpful when attempting to predict field performance. Use Case 7 applies extreme stress similar to HALT, but there is a difference. UC7 maintains a correlation between real use cases and high stress conditions. The question to be answered is “Does UC7 and HALT overlap enough that we can get the benefit of both in on test?
Enjoy an episode of Speaking of Reliability. Where you can join friends as they discuss reliability topics. Join us as we discuss topics ranging from design for reliability techniques to field data analysis approaches.
Download Audio RSSShow NotesThe post SOR 587 Use Case 7 and HALT appeared first on Accendo Reliability.
0 min - Understand Perception IssuesUnderstand Perception IssuesAbstract
Philip and Fred discussing the need to understand our perception or frame of reference bias.
Key PointsJoin Philip and Fred as they discuss how we prepare and see the world around us.
Topics include:
- The issues around conformational bias.
- The issues concerning being prepared to be surprised.
- Only looking for evidence to support the desired solution.
Enjoy an episode of Speaking of Reliability. Where you can join friends as they discuss reliability topics. Join us as we discuss topics ranging from design for reliability techniques to field data analysis approaches.
Download Audio RSSShow NotesThe post SOR 586 Understand Perception Issues appeared first on Accendo Reliability.
0 min - You Gotta ThinkYou Gotta Think – Part 1 of 2Abstract
Philip and Fred discussing why we need to think when we work with reliability in a light hearted discussion that topics like the speed of light, way back when in physics class, spinning hands, Ben Franklin, Super conducting submarine engines, keyboard jockey’s blind bliss, plug-n-chug – Spec & Dump, Universities role in teaching thinking, Today’s reliability software, using the right tool for the right job,balancing today’s dynamic work load, water foutain statistical process control, the value of a great mentor and social invisibility.
Key PointsJoin Philip and Fred as they discuss a range of topics related to the central point that we need to think when we work with reliability and cannot blindly accept a software result.
Topics include:
- 10 Hazards and Traps for the keyboard jockey to fall into
- Social Invisibility and Problem solving
- The sustaining value of a great work place mentor
Enjoy an episode of Speaking of Reliability. Where you can join friends as they discuss reliability topics. Join us as we discuss topics ranging from design for reliability techniques to field data analysis approaches.
Download Audio RSSShow NotesThe post SOR 585 You Gotta Think appeared first on Accendo Reliability.
0 min - SOR 584 Influence As a Small BuyerInfluence As a Small BuyerAbstract
Chris and Fred discuss the age-old problem of ‘influence’ or lack thereof when you are a small buyer. Influence to get reliable components. Influence to have that supplier remedy your issues. Because you feel too small and insignificant. Sound familiar? Then listen to this podcast.
Key PointsJoin Chris and Fred as they discuss engineers who feel that are trapped in a contract, a ‘market reality’ or anything else that makes us feel like we can’t do anything. Maybe you feel ‘low volume.’ Maybe you feel like the contract is so overbearing or dominant – you can’t do anything about it. But there is influence you can find if you look hard enough for it.
Topics include:
- We all know that size does matter. Fred talked about how during his time at Hewlett Packard, he never had any issue getting the suppliers to listen to what he wanted to say. Why? Because at one stage, Hewlett Packard was using one-third of the world’s capacitors (for example).
- Small sizes can mean more profit. Big companies like Hewlett Packard will drive suppliers down on prices … because they can. So there is only a small margin there for suppliers working with ‘big’ customers. So if you are a smaller organization, then you may mean a bigger profit margin for your suppliers. Use this!
- You represent information. Suppliers sometimes really struggle to get meaningful feedback from their customers. So if you are willing to volunteer that information, you become valuable to the supplier. Suppliers typically want to improve their products and market share. So let them know if you are using Design of Experiments (DoEs) to learn about the failure characteristics of their product. Becoming a partner means you become influential.
- Don’t forget the human side. Engineers are humans. Humans need purpose. So even if you feel locked into a relationship, try introducing the pilot, the patient, the doctor, the miner or the person who is going to use the product system or service that a third party is designing on your behalf to make that human connection. Understand that a contract is a cold, emotionless document. Not just for you. But for them as well. So if you provide them that sense of worth that the contract doesn’t, then again, you become influential.
- But we can’t have every person walking the production line or speaking to each engineer – we will have too many competing ideas! Rubbish. If your organization is genuinely concerned about having their own people interact with suppliers, then train them. Take the time to describe what the vision, value and goals are for your organization. Because if you have this concern in the first place, then your team is not aligned. Whose fault is that?
- Think about a professional sports team. Each athlete is a contractor. They have signed a contract to ‘do their best’ at that particular sport. But does the coach only interact with the player’s agent because they drafted the contract? NO! The same applies to any other ‘joint’ endeavor. Barriers hamper everything. And often we think that there are barriers when there aren’t. There are some cultural issues that get in the way as well. But understand … barriers inherently retard influence. So get rid of as many as you can.
- But this can be your fault too … if you make your contract do the ‘thinking’ instead of the supplier. Some contracts include a requirement to do a FMEA, on a Tuesday, with this many people, in this template, with this amount of (… insert thousands of other clauses here). This is a cultural problem where you are setting yourself up to remove your scope to influence in a positive way. So back off in the over-bearing requirements, and instead focus on keeping a good relationship with your suppliers.
- Just try!
Enjoy an episode of Speaking of Reliability. Where you can join friends as they discuss reliability topics. Join us as we discuss topics ranging from design for reliability techniques to field data analysis approaches.
Download Audio RSSShow NotesThe post SOR 584 Influence As a Small Buyer appeared first on Accendo Reliability.
0 min - Time Discussing ReliabilityTime Discussing ReliabilityAbstract
Chris and Fred discuss the idea of timing how long you spend talking about ‘reliability engineering.’ And by this, we mean conversation where you (1) proactively talking about preventing failures before they occur, and (2) in a way where something gets done about it (improving something)? Let’s say someone timed how much time your organization spent on this sort of conversation – would you be proud of the number you get?
Key PointsChris wants to create a ‘character’ or ‘person’ in some of his training courses. This character has a stopwatch that they start when someone talks about reliability engineering – where you proactively talk about preventing failures and then going and doing something about it. How much percentage of total talking time would this character work out you were spending on actually talking about reliability. And this spurred the following podcast.
Topics include:
- Reliability is our #1 priority. So our directors get involved when our customers have a major problem. Really? This is not reliability engineering where you prevent failures from occurring. This is crisis management. The reality is that our directors (as in, most important decision-makers) prioritize everything else over reliability before customers force them to get involved.
- And talking about solving yesterday’s problems doesn’t count. Spending time fixing things that have already been fixed is not reliable engineering. Neither is creating 46 tests to make sure that previous field problems no longer occur. Neither is working out how to blame the vendor, the schools, the government, the customer, the weather and so on.
- Neither is effort without outcomes. If you do hundreds of HALT tests, but don’t use the results to improve design (for example) – then this is not reliability engineering. This is reliability effort without any outcomes.
- But some really mature companies don’t spend a lot of time ‘talking’ about reliability. Why? Because reliability is embedded in every design decision. There is no way to separate out specific reliability discussions because it is part of every discussion. So our stopwatch only really matters for organizations who are working to improve reliability. You need to spend more time talking about reliability in a measurable way until you can’t measure it because it is the agenda. Or perhaps the stopwatch never stops.
- And we called the keeper of the stop-watch ‘Marvin.’ Not ‘Stan.’
Enjoy an episode of Speaking of Reliability. Where you can join friends as they discuss reliability topics. Join us as we discuss topics ranging from design for reliability techniques to field data analysis approaches.
Download Audio RSSShow NotesThe post SOR 583 Time Discussing Reliability appeared first on Accendo Reliability.
0 min - ALT Planning QuestionsALT Planning QuestionsAbstract
Chris and Fred talk about accelerated life testing or ALT. Well before we start, we need to work out what the decision we are informing is. Want to learn more? Listen to this podcast.
Key PointsJoin Chris and Fred as they discuss accelerated life testing or ALT. ALT is like the name sounds – testing done in an accelerated timeline. What questions do you need to ask? Which questions do you need to answer?
Topics include:
- Where do you start with modeling? We typically think about two things when it comes to ALT. The first thing is the ‘characteristic life model.’ The model which shows how things like temperature or stress will accelerate the failure of the thing you are testing. The second thing is the ‘time to failure probability distribution.’ This is the model that characterizes the natural variation in how quickly your thing fails when you are not increasing things like stress and temperature. Which is what we will talk about now.
- Part #1 – the characteristic life model. There are popular models like the Arhennius model that describes how much faster chemical reactions occur as temperature increases. The idea is that if you increase temperature, you can make things like corrosion or dendritic growth occur faster. Which means you can reduce a 10-year process into a 2-day process – which is great for testing. The model allows us to work out how 2 days at a higher temperature relates to time at a normal operating temperature. So even though we know our thing is failing faster, we know how to ‘convert’ it back to normal use.
- Part #2 – the time to failure probability distribution (model). Even when we test different but seemingly identical things in a particular test environment, they will fail at different times. Why? Because there are material imperfections, variability in manufacturing and lots of other sources of uncertainty. So failure is random. But it doesn’t mean that it is unpredictable.
- … and on part #2 – we are dealing with wear-out failure mechanisms (according to Chris). When we ‘accelerate’ things, we are making things accumulate damage faster. Which implies wear-out. This being the case, the time to failure probability distributions need to have an increasing hazard rate. Think normal, lognormal and Weibull distributions. The shape parameter for the Weibull distribution in this context needs to be greater than 1.
- … and on part #2 – we look for different failure mechanisms beyond wear-out failure (according to Fred). When we ‘accelerate’ things, we increase stress. Which means that we can see where stress exceed strength without accumulating damage.
- What do you think?
- But the most important thing is starting with the decision you are trying to inform. We often forget about this. Because with ALT, we need to know the failure mechanism we are accelerating. For example, if you are trying to find which material you should use, then you might only need to focus on part #1 – the characteristic life model. So – what decision are you trying to help?
Enjoy an episode of Speaking of Reliability. Where you can join friends as they discuss reliability topics. Join us as we discuss topics ranging from design for reliability techniques to field data analysis approaches.
Download Audio RSSShow NotesThe post SOR 582 ALT Planning Questions appeared first on Accendo Reliability.
0 min - Testing Without Knowing MechanismsTesting Without Knowing MechanismsAbstract
Kirk and Fred discussing how to test a new product without knowing the specific mechanisms that will be a possible weakness, and reliability issue in the field
Key PointsJoin Kirk and Fred as they discuss accelerated testing of mechanical systems and accelerated testing
Topics include:- Care must be used in accelerating the testing by increasing the number of use cycles, as it may result in changing the physics of wear, as with a kitchen blender not letting the unit cool down between power cycling events.
- Those new to HALT methods should always keep the testing simple with one stress applied at a time making the failure analysis easier to understand
- Sometimes the test setup is not a valid simulation, such as the USB insertion testing failure that was using a simple mechanical plunger that did not simulate how a human hand would have a felt the mechanical resistance that would prevent the severe mechanical damage seen.
Enjoy an episode of Speaking of Reliability. Where you can join friends as they discuss reliability topics. Join us as we discuss topics ranging from design for reliability techniques to field data analysis approaches.
Download Audio RSSShow NotesFor more information on the newest discovery testing methodology here is a link to the book “Next Generation HALT and HASS: Robust design of Electronics and Systems” written by Kirk Gray and John Paschkewitz.
The post SOR 581 Testing Without Knowing Mechanisms appeared first on Accendo Reliability.
0 min - Understanding Use ProfilesUnderstanding Use ProfilesAbstract
Kirk and Fred discussing the planning of the user profiles and use conditions that engineers must make during the design process
Key PointsJoin Kirk and Fred as they discuss the estimating of life cycle stresses and unique stresses a product may be subjected to in its use.
Topics include:- How do those manufacturers determine a new smoke detector that is promised to operate 10 years without replacing the battery.
- Persons with specific knowledge and experience with the product can provide a good estimate, but many engineers hope that most will use products with care, and may result in more conservative estimates
- The pressure measurements of a hand held game controller being tested and the concerns they had for the persons sitting down on it and safety.
Enjoy an episode of Speaking of Reliability. Where you can join friends as they discuss reliability topics. Join us as we discuss topics ranging from design for reliability techniques to field data analysis approaches.
Download Audio RSSShow NotesFor more information on the newest discovery testing methodology here is a link to the book “Next Generation HALT and HASS: Robust design of Electronics and Systems” written by Kirk Gray and John Paschkewitz.
The post SOR 580 Understanding Use Profiles appeared first on Accendo Reliability.
0 min - Introduction to Facilitation SkillsIntroduction to Facilitation SkillsAbstract
Carl and Fred discussing the broad set of skills that are needed to be an effective team leader.
Key PointsJoin Carl and Fred as they discuss the finer points of team leadership, including running meetings, leading reliability projects, and facilitating FMEAs.
Topics include:
- What are key facilitation skills?
- Which facilitation skills transfer to remote environment
- How can you enhance your team leadership skills?
- Start simple: how to run a good meeting
- Organizing for good meetings
- Meetings need to be safe for ideas to germinate and grow
- Meeting norms
- High-level personnel at a meeting can stifle creativity
- Teams need clear objectives
- Observable and measurable criteria to rate meeting effectiveness
- Attendees want to achieve good results at meetings
- How to create space for people who tend to be quiet
- Most common skill people have trouble with is Controlling Discussion
- How to handle someone who dominates meetings
- Extroverts vs introverts, and how to balance their contributions
- Limit meeting size
- Meeting “norms” of behavior
- Set expectations for contributions from all participants
- Use of “Parking Lot” to keep meeting on track
- Use Chat window in virtual meetings
Enjoy an episode of Speaking of Reliability. Where you can join friends as they discuss reliability topics. Join us as we discuss topics ranging from design for reliability techniques to field data analysis approaches.
Download Audio RSSShow NotesPrimary FMEA Facilitation Skills(from Chapter 10 of Effective FMEAs )
- Brainstorming
- Asking Probing Questions
- Encouraging Participation from all attendees
- Balancing contribution from extroverts and introverts
- Active Listening
- Controlling Discussion
- Making Decisions
- Conflict Management
- Facilitator Interventions
- Managing Time
- Unleashing Team Creativity
- Common Facilitation Problems
The post SOR 579 Introduction to Facilitation Skills appeared first on Accendo Reliability.
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