There are many internal & external pressures on our operations. Many we don’t even think about, or are even aware of. These pressures greatly influence our ability to be profitable, and therefore sustainable. Being aware of these pressures & barriers will allow us to head them off and ensure our profitability. Continue reading
If you buy more than one of an item used in your product, you will have to deal with variability. In general, the variability from part to part is minimal and expected. Occasionally, the variability is large and causes reliability problems.
According to O’Connor and Kleyner, “The main cause of production-induced unreliability, as well as rework and scrap, is the variability inherent in production processes.” O’Connor, Patrick D. T. and Andre Kleyner. 2012. Practical Reliability Engineering. Chicester: John Wiley and Sons. Web. Continue reading
Warranty is a part of doing business. Warranty management is not just the terms listed on the box.
Understanding the entire warranty process, along with your options, permits you to manage your warranty, rather than the other way around.
This is a short overview. Pieces of a warranty program occur well before the first product ships and may affect the company bottom line for years after you ship your last product. Brand promise, marketing, finance, customer service are not common areas for a reliability engineer. Yet, the impact of product failures tends to dominant warranty expenses. Therefore understanding the many elements around warranty management is essential for any reliability engineer. Continue reading
Let’s say you run across a lightweight, inexpensive, easy-to-manufacture metal that you are considering for a new bike frame. Beyond the functional considerations of strength, size, and finish options what else do you consider?
Is it durable? If it fails, how does it fail (e.g., a shattering of a bicycle frame would not be good). You may also consider how the bicycle will be used and stored. What stress will the frame experience over its lifetime? Continue reading
A project-specific reliability plan is a guide or roadmap for intended action. It is also a collection of specific tasks and milestones, enhanced with rationale to allow the entire team to fully understand its role in accomplishing the reliability objectives.
The plan is a way to achieve the desired business objectives. This means that the product must be reliable enough to meet customer expectations, minimize warranty expenses, and garner market acceptance. The plan is just a plan. It is the accomplishment of the tasks, the decision that improve the design, the signals monitored that stabilize the supply chain and assembly process that all make the difference. Continue reading