Articles

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Where does ‘failure’ come from? Why do some things not go as we planned? When bad things happen, at that time, it can be chaotic and appear very complex. Often, in hindsight (when the urgency has faded), we find that good people made bad decisions at that time. Most of the time such failures were not complicated and we find

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Our newest software offering, EasyRCA, continues to grow with both an increasing user base as well as with strategic partnerships. One example is a partnership agreement announced this week with Uptake. Through this non-exclusive partnership, EasyRCA has once again validated itself as a powerful solution for helping Reliability Teams increase their ROI while completing better, faster RCAs. “Joining RCI’s root

Reading Time: 11 minutes

Abstract: An undesirable event occurs (fancy term for unexpected failure) a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is triggered. This usually means what occurred is a severe event as triggers are often set pretty high (i.e. – reportable injury/fatality, equipment damage in excess of >$$k, production losses in excess of > $$k, regulatory violation, etc.). Since there is urgency and visibility, how

Reading Time: 10 minutes

Abstract: I used to be on Facebook many years ago in an effort to keep up with old friends. However, I began to realize the forum was often used to create an illusion that someone wanted their community to have about them. I knew many of these people creating such illusions, that is how I know they were ‘illusions’. Their

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Chronic Failures = Hidden Treasures When we look at the widely used and misunderstood tool of Root Cause Analysis (RCA), we should reflect its interpretation in our own environments. Think about it: when is RCA typically requested and applied in our environment? Based on my experience, it is typically requested and applied when…

Reading Time: 3 minutes

We often hear our organizations referring to their workforce as their greatest ‘asset’. But are they really? Let’s first define ‘asset’ from a financial perspective:

Reading Time: 9 minutes

WE LOVE OUR POST-ITS! When I’m asked who our primary competitors are, I quickly and simply reply ‘Post-Its’

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The majority of times that a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is ‘required’ is often due to some type of threshold of pain being met. Someone is hurt, we’ve had an environmental excursion, we lost a lot of money in throughput or equipment damage, we violated some regulation, etc. Essentially, when the ‘suits’ show up, something bad has happened and we

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Traditionally RCA is only utilized after an event has occurred, so how can one call it proactive? This perception is explored through trying to understand the current paradigms that exist about RCA, what it is and when it is used. Do we really have to wait for an undesirable outcome to occur in order to use RCA?

Reading Time: 4 minutes

I recently presented a webinar for SMRP and Empowering Pumps, on the title above. There were several questions, post-presentation, that I felt were worthy of expanding on in the form of a blog. Question #2  How do you manage a situation where people just decide not to use simple tools like RCFA, just comfortable doing things same way? Even when you keep

Reading Time: 3 minutes

I recently presented a webinar for SMRP and Empowering Pumps, on the title above. There were several questions, post-presentation, that I felt were worthy of expanding on in the form of a Q&A style blog…

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Trick question, it’s neither! When we hear people use the term ‘error’ it is normally associated with being the cause of some type of bad outcome. We hear it all the time with airline accidents where they conclude ‘pilot error’. ‘Error’ is neither the cause nor the undesirable outcome! Let’s see why.