RELI

ABI
LITY
I
. I
NTRODUCTI
ON

Reli
abil
it
yisdef inedast hepr obabilit
ythatacomponent( oranent i
re
syst
em)wi llperformi tsf unct i
onforaspeci f
iedperiodoft ime, when
operat
inginitsdesi gnenv ironment .Theelement snecessar yf orthe
defi
nit
ionofr el
iabilityare, therefore,anunambi guouscr it
er i
onf orjudgi
ng
whethersomet hingi swor kingornotandt heexactdef i
nitionof
envi
ronment alcondi t
ionsandusage.Then, reli
abili
tycanbedef inedasthe
ti
medependentpr obabi lityofcor r
ectoper ati
oni fweassumet hata
componenti susedf oritsi ntendedf uncti
oni nitsdesignenv ir
onmentand
i
fwecl earl
ydef inewhatwemeanwi th"fai
lure"
.Fort hisdef ini
tion,any
di
scussionont her eliabili
tybasi csstartswiththecov erageoft hekey
conceptsofpr obabi lity
.

Abr oaderdef i
nit
ionofr eli
abili
tyist hat"reli
abi
li
tyi sthesciencet opredict
,
analyze,preventandmi tigatef ai
l
ur esov ertime."Itisasci ence,withits
theoreti
calbasisandpr inciples.Italsohassub- discipli
nes,al
l r
elated-in
someway-t othest udyandknowl edgeoff ault
s.Rel iabil
i
tyisclosely
rel
atedtomat hemat ics, andespeci allytostati
stics,phy si
cs,chemi str
y,
mechani csandel ectroni cs.I
nt heend, gi
v enthatt hehumanel ementis
almostal wayspar toft hesy stems, itoftenhast odowi t
hpsy chologyand
psychiatr
y .

Inaddit
iontothepredicti
onofsy stem durabi
li
ty,rel
iabil
i
t yalsotr
iestogive
answerstootherquest i
ons.Indeed,wecant rytoder i
vef rom rel
i
abili
tyal
so
theavail
abi
li
typerformanceofasy stem.Infact,
av ail
abili
tydependsont he
ti
mebet weentwoconsecut i
vefail
uresandonhowl ongi ttakestorestor
e
thesystem.Reli
abil
itystudycanbeal sousedt ounder standhowf aul
tscan
beavoided.Youcant rytopreventpot ent
ialf
ail
ures,actingont hedesign,
materi
alsandmai ntenance.

Reli
abil
it
yinvolv
esal mostall
aspect
srelat
edtothepossessi
onofa
propert
y:costmanagement ,cust
omersati
sfact
ion,
theproper
managementofr esour
ces,passi
ngthr
oughtheabil
it
ytosellpr
oduct
sor
servi
ces,safet
yandqual i
tyofthepr
oduct.
Ther
earef
ourgener
alcl
assesofrel
i
abil
it
yesti
mat
es,
eachofwhi
ch
est
imat
esrel
i
abil
i
tyi
nadiffer
entway.Theyar
e:

I nter-Rat
erorInter
-Obser verRel
iabi
li
ty
Usedt oassessthedegr eet owhichdiff
erentrates/
obser
versgi
ve
consistentest
imatesoft hesamephenomenon.
 Test -Ret
estReli
abil
ity
Usedt oassesstheconsi stencyofameasur ef r
om oneti
met oanot
her
.
 Par all
el-
For
msRel iabil
it
y
Usedt oassesstheconsi stencyoftheresult
soft wotest
sconstr
uct
ed
i
nt hesamewayf rom thesamecont entdomain.
I nternalConsi
stencyRel i
abili
ty
Usedt oassesstheconsi stencyofresult
sacrossi t
emswithi
natest
.

I
I. 12El
ement
sofEf
fect
iveRel
i
abi
l
ityManagement
1.St
rongleader
shipfocusandbusi
ness-
ali
gnedpl
antr
eli
abi
l
itymi
ssi
on,
vi
sionandstr
ategi
cplan
Yourleaders,bot
hatt hecorporateandplantlevel
s, mustkeenly
understandtheimpactreli
abil
ityhasont hebottom- l
i
neperformance
oftheor gani
zati
on,i
ncludi
ngt hesharepr i
ce.Thev al
uati
onofan
equipmentasset-dependentorganizat
ionissignif
icantl
yaffect
edby
theeffecti
venesswithwhichthatequipmenti smanaged.
Yourleader
shipmustunderstandthatr
eli
abil
itymanagementi snot
j
ustdoingmai nt
enancebett
er.Wit
houtknowl edgeableandtrul
y
engagedseniorl
eaderswhoar ewill
i
ngtomakepl antrel
i
abil
i
t y
managementamat t
erofcorporat
epoli
cy,it
’snotl i
kel
ythatyou’l
l
gai
nt r
acti
onandachievelast
ingimprovement .

2.Ef
fect
ivei
nterf
unct
ional
andi
nter
plantcommuni
cat
ions
Unfortunat
ely
, whenthingsgowr ong,
thetypi
calmodusoper andii
n
mostpl ant
sist obegi
nt heprocessofassi
gningblame.Operati
ons
bl
amesmai ntenance,maintenancebl
amesoper ati
onsandthedesign
engineeri
nggr oup,
everybodyblamessuppli
ers,andsoon.
 Rarelydoesthisprocessy ieldproducti
veresults.Poor
communi cati
onbet weenco- dependentfuncti
onal gr
oupsalmost
guaranteespoorreli
abil
ityper for
mance.Al so,organi
zati
onsthathave
multipl
eplantsoftenfai
l tot akeadvantageoft heknowledgeand
economyofscal eaf f
ordedt othem,eit
herbecauseofacul t
ureof
i
nternalcompet i
ti
onort hel ackofeffecti
veinterpl
antcommuni cat
ion
systemst hr
oughwhi cht oshar eknowledgeandexper i
ence.

3.Focusondesignf
orr
eli
abi
l
ity
,oper
abi
l
ity
,mai
ntai
nabi
l
ity
,saf
etyand
i
nspectabi
l
ity(
ROMSI)
Mostorgani
zat
ionshav
eattempt
edtoimproverel
iabi
l
ityst
ri
ctl
yfr
om t
he
mai
ntenancedepart
ment.I
tsi
mplydoesn’
twork.
Poorov erallrel
iabil
it
yistheresul
tofpoorbasic“ desi
gnforreli
abil
i
ty,
”
giventher equiredoperati
ngcontext;i
mproperoper at
ion,
whi chmaybet he
resul
tofpoor“ designforoperabi
l
ity
”;andineffecti
vemaintenance,which
maybet her esultofpoor“desi
gnformaintainabil
it
yandinspectabil
it
y.”
Somest udiessuggestthathalfofallfai
l
uresaredir
ectl
yattri
butabl
et o
poordesign.Designi
ngr el
iabl
eequi pmentandplantsr
equiresri
sk
assessment ,cl
earknowledgeoft heoperati
ngcontext
,inv
olvement
fr
om  oper
ationsandmai ntenance domainexpert
s,andaleadershipfocus
onmi nimi
zinglif
e-cycl
ecost .

4.Rel
i
abi
l
ity
-focusedoper
ati
ons
Equipmentthati sstar t
ed,st
oppedand/ oroperat
edi ncorr
ectly,orbeyond
i
tsoper at
ingli
mi ts,willsi
mplyexperi
enceahi gherfail
urerate.Ar el
iabil
i
ty-
focusedoperationst eam foll
owsandenf or
ceswell-
conceivedst andard
operati
ngprocedur es.Theyal sounderstandthat
,insomei nst ances,
producingmor ecanr esul
tinprof
iter
osion.Thement al
it
yext endsbey ond
plantoperat
ionst othesal esandmar keti
ngdepartment .
Anenl i
ght
enedsalesandmar keti
ngteam understandsthattheprofi
tabi
l
ity
ofsalescontr
actsandthereputat
ionofthefi
r m dependupon
the 
reli
abi
li
ty 
ofthemachinesorplant,
especial
lywhent ransact
ionscarr
y
penalti
esforl
ateornon-del
iv
ery–i nsomecases, total
-l
osspenalti
es.
Theyf
act
orpr
oject
edr
eli
abi
l
ityi
ntot
hei
rpr
ofor
maest
imat
esofcont
ract
profi
tabil
it
y.Therel
iabil
ity
-focusedoper ati
onsor ganizati
onwor ksclosel
y
withthe maint
enancet eam, part
icularl
ytoprovideinspectionandoper at
ing
healt
hf eedbackonar egularbasis,andsuppl i
esdesi gnengi neers,
procurementspeciali
stsandst rategicsuppli
erswi t
ht heinformat i
onthey
needt oimproveequipment
5.Rel
i
abi
l
ity
-focusedmai
ntenance
Whilemaintenancecan’
timprovetherel
i
abil
i
tyofequi
pment
,theycan
ensuret
hati t
sinher
entrel
iabi
li
ty,
basedupondesi
gnandoperat
ingcont
ext
,
i
smaxi mized.
Areliabili
ty-
focusedor gani
zationdoesn’tjustemploymoder ntechniques
l
ike Reliabi
li
ty-Centr
edMai ntenance (
RCM) ,
condi
tion-basedmai ntenance
(
CBM)andpr eci
sionmai nt
enancet echniques.Areli
abil
ity-
focused
maint enanceor ganizat
ionwor kshardtoopt i
mizemai ntenanceact i
vit
ies,
withaf ocusonr unningti
meact iv
iti
es.
Ital
soworkscloselywit
hoperat
ionstoensurethatt
heequipmentis
avai
labl
etoproduceasmuchpr oductasrequir
ed,meetquali
tygoal
sand,
mostimport
antly,sat
isf
ycust
omerdemands.
And, arel
iabi
l
ity
-focusedorganizati
onworksclosel
ywit
hdesignengineer
s,
procurementspeciali
stsandstrategi
csuppli
erstoimpr
ovedesignfor
rel
iabil
it
yandmai ntai
nabil
it
y,andt oavoi
dpurchasi
ngthesamepr obl
ems
overandov eragain.
6.Ef
fect
ivet
alentmanagement
Thesuccessorf
ail
ureofyourr
eli
abi
l
itymanagementprogr
am wi
l
l
ul
ti
matelycomedownt ot
hepeoplewhoareinvol
ved.
Eff
ecti
veplant 
rel
i
abi
li
tyleader
s r
ecogni
zethattalentmanagementgoes
beyondjusthi
ri
ngpeoplewiththeri
ghtski
l
lsforthej ob;
perf
ormanceis
al
soaf uncti
onofbehavi
ours.Ski
ll
scanbet aught
; behavi
ourscan’
t.
Infact,i
tisquitediff
icultt
osi gnif
icantlymodi fyanindivi
dual’
sbehaviours
beyondat emporaryinteri
m period.Ef f
ectiveplantrel
iabi
li
tymanagement
requir
esthaty ouidentifyt
hebehav iouralcharacteri
sti
csrequir
edto
succeediny ourorganizationandi nt hejob,theskill
sandknowl edge
requir
edf orthejob,amet hodf orassessi ngbot h,andtoolsandtechniques
formanagi ngandr etai
ningy ourtalent.
I
nthetoughtal
entmarketproj
ectedfort
hef
utur
e,t
alentmanagementmay
di
ff
erent
iat
ethewinner
sf r
om theloser
s.

7.St
rat
egi
ccust
omerandsuppl
i
err
elat
ionshi
ps
Supplier
sandcustomersali
kear ecri
ticalt
othesuccessofy ourrel
i
abil
it
y
program.Amaj orcomponentofthe Toy ot
aProductionSy st
em (commonly
refer
redtoas 
leanmanufacturi
ng)isnegot i
ati
ngproductionanddel i
ver
y
ti
mewi t
hthecustomer
,bothinternalandexternal
,forthepurposeofload-
l
ev el
li
ng.
Atti
mes, deliverydeadli
nesar en’tdeadl
inesatal
l;t
heyar ejustdatesthat
aresel ected.Understandingwhi chdeliv
erydeadl
inesarer ealandwhich
onesar earbit
rarycanhelpy ouopenl ydiscussmatter
swi thy our
customer s.Thishelpsyoucr eateapul l
-basedpr
oducti
onsy stem whi
l
e
avoi
di ngt headdedst ressont heequi pmentandorganizationtomeet
arbi
trar ydeadlines.
Asimilarstrategi
crelat
ionshipmustexistwit
hy oursuppl
i
ers.Avendori
sa
machinethatdi spensesasof tdr
inkorsnackinexchangeformoney.You
needstrategicsuppli
erpartners,
bothforprocessandMROmat er
ial
s.
St
rategicpart
ner sbr
ingimpor
tantknowledgeandexperi
encetothetabl
e,
whichenablesy outoplanmoreeff
ecti
vely;i
mprovedesi
gn,operat
ionsand
maintenance;andmor eeff
ect
ivel
yassesspr obl
emsandshortcomings.

8.Rel
i
abi
l
itydat
acol
l
ect
ionandanal
ysi
ssy
stems
Reli
abi
li
tymanagementandimprov
ementrequiresdat
a.Sur
prisi
ngl
yfew
organi
zati
onscol
lect
,anal
yzeandmanagerel
iabil
it
ydataef
fecti
vel
y.
From atechnical
perspecti
ve,
reli
abil
itystar
tswithfai
l
uremodesand
effect
sanalysis(
FMEA) ,t
hereli
abil
it
yblueprintofanoperati
onal
serv
iceor
machine.Often,t
he 
FMEA  i
scompl etedbydr awingonli
miteddata
experi
ence,andthatistheendofthepr ocess.
TheFMEAwor ksheet
sserveasar el
iabi
l
itygrowthmanagementtool.Each
ti
mey oulear
nsomet hingnew,y
oumodi fyt heFMEAanditsassociat
ed
ri
skprior
it
ynumber( RPN),a1to1,000ratingofther
isksassoci
atedwitha
fai
lur
ebaseduponsev erit
y,l
i
kel
ihoodanddet est
abil
i
ty.
Thi
smeanstheorgani
zati
on’spl
antmustbecommit
tedtocol
l
ecti
ng
oper
ati
onal
andmaintenance-
rel
ateddat
a–bothwhenthi
ngsaregoi
ng
well
andwhenthi
ngsgowr ong.
Mathematicalrel
iabil
i
tyengineeri
ngmethods andassoci
atedt ool
s(such
asrootcauseanal ysi
s)enableyoutoimplementinfor
mation-based
i
mpr ov
ementi nit
iati
ves.Per
f or
mancemoni t
oringanddetail
edf ai
lur
edata
col
l
ectiontechniquesareanabsol ut
emust .

9.Pr
ocedur
e,documentandknowl
edgemanagementsuppor
tsy
stems
Inappli
cationswherefail
ureri
skispotenti
all
ydeadly,suchasthe
commer cialavi
ati
onindustry
,managerslongagost oppedrely
ingonthe
“ski
lloft
heoper at
or”orthe“ski
lloft
hemai ntenancecraft
.”
 St
andar
d
operati
ngandmai ntenanceprocedur
es combi nedwit
hcheckli
stsdef
ine
expectat
ions.
Procedur
esand checkli
sts 
arenecessarytoensureconsistencyofpr
act
ice
amongdi f
fer
entpeopleandov erti
me.And, whenstaffchangesdooccur,
procedur
esarerequir
edt oassureconti
nuity
.Toomanypl antshavet
oo
muchoft hei
rint
ell
ectualpr
opertyresi
dingintheheadsofst affmember
s
thatcoul
dresi
gn,reti
reortakeil
latanyt i
me.
Proceduresalsocl
earl
ydefineskil
lrequir
ement sforaparti
cularjobor
acti
vit
y.Themoder n,
reli
abi
lit
y-f
ocusedor ganizati
onemploy sclearly
defi
nedoper ati
ng,
designandmai ntenancepr ocedur
es,enforcest hem,
and
i
ncorporateseasy-
to-
usesystemsf orexecutingwor kand managi ng
change.

10.Tar
get
edl
eadi
ngandl
aggi
ngmet
ri
cs
Leadi
ngmetri
csrevealperf
ormanceoncausal fact
orst hat
,when
eff
ect
ivel
ymanaged,yiel
dsdesirabl
eperfor
manceonl aggi
ngindicat
ors–
theef
fect
.Forexample,i
t’
scommonf orJapaneseplantstotrackthe
numberofsmallgr
oupmeet ingstheyhaverel
atedto TotalPr
oductiv
e
Maint
enance(TPM).
Thepr
emisei
sthatmoresmal
lgroupmeeti
ngsresul
tsi
nbet
ter
communi
cati
onbetweenf
unct
ionalgr
oups(
thecause),
whi
chresul
tsi
n
fewermi stakes,betterplantperf
ormance,andimprovedeffi
ciencyand
eff
ectivenessi nrespondingtopr obl
emsandoppor t
unit
ies(theeffect
).To
beef f
ectiv
e, yourmet ri
cs,bothleadi
ngandlagging,mustaccuratel
yrefl
ect
rel
iabi
li
tygoal sthatalignwiththeorgani
zati
on’
smi ssi
on.
Themanagementt eam mustunder standthatcauseandeffectprobably
won’tbet i
me-synchr
onous,hencet het er
m“ l
agging.
”Al
so,leftunchecked,
met r
icscantakecontrol
ofy ourorganizati
on.Don’tl
ett
heor ganizat
ion
focussomuchont hemet r
icthatitlosessightofthemissi
on.To
paraphraseW.Edwar dsDemi ng,
don’ tall
owmet ri
cstor
eplaceleader shi
p,
j
udgmentandcommonsense.

11.Vi
sion-
cent
ri
cteam r
ewar
dsy
stem
Whatgetsrewardedgetsdone.Despi
tethi
sobvi
ousfact
,we’
vegotal
ong
hist
oryofr
ewardingfai
l
ureinindust
ri
almanuf
actur
ingpl
ant
s,bot
h
extr
insi
cal
l
yandi nt
ri
nsi
call
y.
Forexampl e,whenamachi nef ail
sovertheweekendwi thoutwar ningand
techni
ciansarecalledintoaddr esst
heev ent,t
heyareext r
insical
ly
rewardedwi t
hov er
timepay .Formany ,f
ail
ure-i
nducedov erti
mepayi sso
commont hatthetechnici
anshav eadjust
edt hei
rli
fest
yletor efl
ectit
.
Also,whentheplantmanageror 
maintenancemanager r
etur
nstot heplant
,
heorsher i
ghtl
yseeksoutthetechni
ciansresponsi
blef
orrestor
ing
operati
onsandintri
nsi
cal
lyrewardst
hem wi t
hthanksandprai
sef orthei
r
effor
ts.
Inbothcases,therewardsareappropri
ate;buti
nbot hcases,t
heycreate
anincenti
veforunreli
abil
i
ty.Rel
iabi
li
ty-
focusedorganizat
ionsr
ewar d
rel
iabi
li
ty,
notfail
ure.Therewardstruct
uremustbemodi fi
edtocreatean
i
ncentivefort
hedesi r
edbehav i
our.

12.Rel
i
abi
l
itycul
tur
emanagement
Arguabl
y,t
hemostdi ffi
cul
taspectofplantrel
i
abi
li
tymanagementi
s
cr
eatingarel
iabi
li
ty-
focusedcul
ture.Peopleandor
gani
zati
onsli
ket
ohang
ontopastpracti
ces,resi
sti
ngchange.
“
We’
veal
way
sdonei
tthi
sway
”iscommonl
yhear
dar
oundt
hepl
ant
.The
desi
retoanchort
owhathasalway
sbeendonei
saphenomenonr
efer
red
toas“psy
chologi
cal
iner
ti
a.”
Reli
abilit
y-f
ocusedor gani
zationscontinuouslyquest
ioncurrentpr
acti
ces
andl ookforway stoimpr ove.Thispatter
nofbehav i
ourtakestimeto
establi
shandmuchwor kt operpetuat
e.It’
simperati
vetocreateaplanfor
achievingbehaviouralchange,start
ingwithleadusersandear l
yadopter
s
andgr aduall
ymaki ngittothosepeopl ewhoar eslowertoadoptorwho
acti
velyopposet hechange.
Thereisapoi ntatwhi chasuf fici
entpercentageoftheor gani
zat
ionwi l
l
comear ound.Thati swheny ou’ll
achiev
ecr it
icalmass.Butgetti
ngt othat
pointrequir
esleadershi p,patienceandt enacity
.Oncey ou’r
ethere,you
havetokeept hepr essur eonunt i
lthenewpr acticebecomesa“ new
businessasusual ”tor eplacet heoldone, ortheorganizati
onwil
l gr
aduall
y
sl
ipbacki ntoit
sol dcomf ortzone.
Besur ey ouror
gani
zati
onunderstandst heseimpor
tantelementsandt he
i
mpactt heyhav eonyourorgani
zation’sperfor
mance–st art
ingatthev er
y
top.Withoutthatl
eader
shipfocus,not hi
ngelsematter
s.Again,passthe
arti
clealongandgetmor eofyouror ganizat
ionont
her el
i
abil
ity
managementbandwagon.