Accendo Reliability Webinar Series

Creating Effective Reliability Graphics podcast episode When you ‘pass’ a standard-based test, what does that mean? How can you use test results meaningfully besides just noting the product ‘passed’? Understanding the failure mechanisms at play, along with the statistics, is key. Military standards, GEIA, IEEE, ANSI, etc, provide detailed test procedures for a wide variety […]

Fundamentals of the Cost of Unreliability podcast episode When a product or system fails, there is a consequence. Often, there is a loss of value. Each warranty replacement costs money. Downtime may result in lost revenue. Do you know the full extent of the costs involved when something fails? Remember your customer is using your […]

Creating Effective Reliability Graphics podcast episode Graphics, when used well, can convey easy-to-understand information. Reliability graphics may focus on trends in failure rates or the verification of improvement work. Often, reliability graphics convey time-to-failure patterns. Pareto Diagrams, dot plots, and measles charts help you and others grasp what the data has to say. Cumulative distr...

What You Need to Know About MTBF podcast episode with speaker Chris Jackson MTBF stands for ‘mean time between failure.’ This sounds intuitively easy to understand. But … if you haven’t taken the time to understand MTBF, and your organization relies on the reliability of its products, you are almost certainly in trouble. For example, […]

Fundamentals of Measurement System Analysis podcast episode When we make a measurement, we make a decision based on the data provided. It’s important to have data close enough to the actual measurement. What is the measurement error if something is supposed to be 2 cm long and we measure it at 2.1 cm? Every measurement […]

Fundamentals of Field Data Analysis podcast episode Once a product is launched, it’s time to understand its performance. The design is done, and the assembly process is working. Now we can focus on answering the question: is the product hitting reliability targets or not? Thus, we do field data analysis. The basic process is to […]

Fundamentals of Tolerance Analysis podcast episode There are three approaches to setting tolerance limits for design elements. Each has ramifications for the eventual manufacturability and reliability performance—design for manufacturability and reliability hinges on correctly setting design tolerances. If you want to create a reliable product, the work starts well before the first prototype arriv...

Fundamentals of Monte Carlo Analysis podcast episode The survival of an individual item is difficult to determine. Use and environmental conditions, along with material and assembly differences, count. Let’s explore how to model and use the naturally occurring variability to improve reliability performance. The Monte Carlo method is a relatively simple process that permits you […]

Using Available Weather Data podcast episode The local weather affects your products and systems. Knowing the weather helps you plan your wardrobe for the day. Likewise, knowing the weather helps you design a product or system that can thrive in the weather conditions it will experience. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tracks, […]

Improve Your Reliability Teaching Skills podcast episode As a reliability professional, you will be asked to teach. You are part teacher, coach, mentor, and expert. Being effective enhances the understanding of reliability objectives and methods to achieve them.  Let’s explore becoming an amazing teacher. Teaching is not limited to a formal classroom setting. You may […]

Fundamentals of Physics of Failure podcast episode A good physics of failure (PoF) model helps you understand the impact of stresses on the time-to-failure distribution for a specific failure mechanism. Let’s discuss PoF models, including how to create and use them effectively. The development of PoF models got off to a slow start in the […]

Fundamentals of Reliability-Related Standards podcast episode Standards provide guidance, a common language, and a bit of confusion. Using the right standard and using it well can help your reliability program. Using standards poorly will harm your ability to create reliable products. Let’s consider the good, the bad, and the total fails of industry standards. Some […]

Fundamentals of Reliability Testing podcast episode Testing is expensive. Reliability testing is often complex. Let’s break down the basics of planning and conducting reliability testing that provides meaningful results cost-effectively and timely. Let’s do testing right. Reliability testing includes a broad category of product testing. Generally, it includes evaluations determining if an item fun...

Fundamentals of Human Factors podcast episode People use your product and assemble, move, and store it. If someone cannot interact with your product, with or without the manual, they may consider your product a failure. Designing in the ability for an individual to use your product properly is the art of considering human factors. Human […]

Fundamentals of Stress-Strength Analysis podcast episode If your product is stronger than the applied stress, it should work. The stress/strength relationship concept is well known, but did you know stress and strength change over time? Let’s use the best information and tools for this analysis. The key idea of stress/strength or derating for electrical engineers […]

10 Keys for Maximizing the Benefits of Your SPC Program podcast episode by Steven Wachs Statistical Process Control charts have been called the Voice of the Process. Progressive manufacturers utilize control charts to “listen” to their processes so that potentially harmful changes will be quickly detected and rectified. However, not all SPC programs deliver to […]

Process Capability, Tolerance, and Reliability podcast episode Product failures may occur due to material or component variability. The steel in a bracket is more brittle than optimal, or the capacitance is on the low side of an acceptable range. Designing a product with variation in mind enables the creation of a reliable product. If there […]

Stress screening does have a valuable purpose in specific circumstances. Let’s talk about when and why you may conduct stress screening.

Fundamentals of Environmental and Use Conditions podcast episode A complete reliability goal statement element involves a product’s environment and use conditions. The ability to define these clearly during the design process is not always easy, yet a valuable addition to your reliability program. The environment is the weather around your product, yet what about the […]

Fundamentals of Sample Size Determination podcast episode A common question about reliability testing is, “What is the sample size?” It is also a difficult question to answer well. The right sample size balances cost, accuracy, and variability. In some cases, we also consider the time to results. When planning reliability testing, an important task is […]

The Weibull distribution is a versatile tool to analyze time to failure data. Like any tool, it could be wielded well or not so well.

Fundamentals of Hazard Analysis podcast episode Some products and systems are just dangerous, inherently. Understanding inherent safety-related risks permits a team to design out or mitigate those risks. Hazard analysis is the systematic process of identifying and controlling safety risks. Let’s discuss hazard analysis’s basic definition(s), including the range of industries and standards in...

Fundamentals of Cost of Poor Reliability podcast episode I define a reliability failure as something that costs your organization money. It might be a warranty expense or a lost customer. A failure may also create customer expenses, too. Let’s talk about the range of un-reliability costs and their impacts. Consider the impact of a product […]

Fundamentals of Root Cause Analysis podcast episode The ability to determine the root cause of a failure is a skill. It requires agility, leadership, inquisitiveness, diligence, and technical skill. Successful RCA taps into your creativity and technical prowess. Using a structured approach helps. There are many challenges when determining the root cause of a failure—the […]

Fundamentals of Reliability Performance Monitoring Monitoring reliability performance requires both measurement and reporting skills. Focusing on making decisions, we can tailor our metrics to improve our reliability program today. The right measures allow your team to spot problems and solve them. Your customers measure the reliability of your products every time they use your product. […]