Accendo Weekly Update #333
A new article series by Sanjeev Saraf
A practitioner’s view on operational risks – impact of operation on environment, safety, and finance.
Articles explore lessons learned from past incidents, using the tools we have effectively, plant safety planning, and more related to the chemical industry.
Announcements & Reminders
Announcing a new free ebook by Charles J. Latino, The Pioneering of Reliability into the 21st Century. A keynote speech in which Charles recounts his adventures/learning over a 50-year career along with the changes and advances in reliability.
Remember to check out the History of Maintenance Management article series by Karl Burnett
Remember to check out the Communicating with FINESSE article series by JD Solomon.
Stay safe, stay flexible, stay resilient.
Cheers,
Fred
PS: Happy Equinox – a bit of balance for the day…
The reliability engineering podcast network
Now with 9 active podcasts and two new ones in the works, plus monthly Accendo Reliability Webinar Series recordings, plus occasional Dare to Know interviews. Let us know what you’d like to talk about.
PS: Now with over 1,942,165 downloads. Thanks for listening! Tell a friend about the network.
Carl and Fred discuss a listener question about the crossover knowledge between asset reliability and product reliability.
Carl and Fred discuss how to build rapport with colleagues, as one of the steps in shaping and influencing product designs and manufacturing processes.
Tom and James discuss a recent survey to quantify the prevailing attitudes towards people’s jobs.
Steve talks with Ronan O’Sullivan on his management of plant and process change and outlines his steps to ensure a successful project.
Operational excellence allows for businesses and its leadership to improve all areas of performance. It covers guidelines and best practices to ensure infrastructure is continually running at the top of its game.
SIPOC diagrams can be used at the beginning of improvement projects, to help teams gauge the scope of a change or to help the team get on the same page.
Ed Stanek is the COO of Asset Analytix
Sean Mullen Global Plant Engineering and Operation Effectiveness Leader at 3M.
Gabor and Keith discuss training in organizations. How do conventional training methods compare to active learning?
Mike has conversations with four guests: Jesper Lykke, Greg Papandrew, Kevin Huo and Michelle Ogihara.
Recorded 22 February 2022 / Chris Jackson
You may have heard of Statistical Process Control (SPC), 6-sigma, Shewhart, the Japanese Economic Miracle, X̅ – R Charts … or perhaps none of them. So if you have heard of these things (and are confused by them) or if you are involved in ‘processes’ (especially manufacturing) then this webinar might help you out.
Recommended by LinkedIn
Recorded 8 March 2022 / Fred Schenkelberg
Some of my best friends are quality people. This is despite the notion that reliability is just one of many factors of quality, while I suggest reliability is all of quality and over time. There are a lot of similarities and common objectives with quality and reliability efforts. Plus, a few differences.
Reliability Engineering webinars and master classes
Join the discussion at the next live event
Scheduled for March 22, 2022, at 8 am US Pacific time.
Speaker: Chris Jackson
A ‘capable’ process is a really weak term for what we are dealing with here. In short, a process is considered ‘capable’ if it creates products that in spite of all the unavoidable natural variation in production still fall within the boundaries of what ‘good’ looks like. Perhaps instead of ‘capable’ we should say ‘amazing’! A ‘capable’ process will essentially create products that have a very, very small chance of being defective. So how do we get here? SPC can help. But how do we measure how ‘capable’ our process is? And can we use this measurement to (for example) work out how many Parts Per Million (PPM) defects you are likely to get? This webinar introduces you to the concept of process capability including well known indices like CPK along with what this means for your process.
Scheduled for April 12, 2022, at 9 am US Pacific time.
Speaker: Fred Schenkelberg
Is a reliable product safer? Are the safety elements of a product or system independent from its reliability performance? These and other questions speak to the complex relationship between reliability and safety.
Let’s explore the overlap and differences between a safe and a reliable product or system. Concepts like fail-safe and severity indicate part of the overlap. If a safety feature of a system fails, is that a safety or a reliability problem?
It appears I have plenty of questions related to the safety and reliability relationship, yet suspect that if the goal is to meet customer and business objectives, then creating a safe and reliable system is a complementary endeavor.
Reliability Engineering essays and tutorials
Short essays and tutorials for your weekly professional reading. Did you know there are over 2,500 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.
Process and portable building siting has attracted further interest following the BP Texas city incident. Because of the proximity of office buildings to chemical processes, it is likely that people inside of a building be subjected to higher risks from process hazards than outdoor personnel. …[Read more…]
Author: Mark Latino Oftentimes, Production may not know the value of using Reliability tools such as Opportunity Analysis (OA) and Root Cause Analysis (RCA) to gain more consistent predictable production runs. Most production leadership has never spent time in Maintenance and/or Reliability roles… [Read more…]
This article discusses five ways to facilitate root cause analysis (RCA) more effectively through conducting pre-session exchanges, asking powerful questions, using exercises that engage, anticipating disruption, and controlling the tempo. Root cause analysis requires systems thinking because most failures involve a is a collection of interrelated or interacting parts… [Read more…]
Another conspiracy theory debunked. Your business has various insurance coverages including business continuity. You pay quite a hefty premium for that coverage so you believe you are covered. But are you really?
Insurance will cover you for unforeseen risks provided you are doing what the insurer deems to be the minimum to minimize those risks. …[Read more…]
Studies show that the majority of companies today outsource up to 60-70% of their work scope to subcontractors to stay competitive. As a result, subcontractors are a major source of risk to a project.
How to minimize the subcontractor risk on a project is addressed in this paper. …[Read more…]
When calculating the replacement asset value fo items brought overseas, factor the effect of the difference in exchange rate into the calculation. …[Read more…]
How to allocate subsystems’ MTBF requirements with testing? Name-withheld-to-protect-the- guilty proposed “Top-Down” reduction in subsystem MTBF requirements; the more subsystems (in series) that you test, the lower the subsystem required MTBF! “The correct formula is: 1/MTBF(subsystem requirement) = 1/MTBF(system requirement) – ((# of subsystems in series – # of subsystems tested)/MTBF(subsystem).” …[Read more…]
Coauthored with Mark Fiedeldey
The binomial distribution is a discrete distribution useful for estimating the probability of success or failure when these are the only two possible outcomes. Thus, the prefix, “Bi”. Understanding the binomial distribution — how it’s used and under what conditions – is therefore a valuable analytical tool for reliability engineers. …[Read more…]
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. fms@accendoreliability.com