Articles

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‘De-Flate Gate’ & RCA Originally published on January 23, 2015  

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Root Cause Analysis: The Justification Game Part 2 of 2 Maintenance Solutions In last month’s introductory article, we discussed some of the barriers to selling not only the concept of Root Cause Analysis (RCA) but also the recommendations generated as a result of these analyses. We also laid the framework for making better predictions by generating and accessing better data—namely

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Root Cause Analysis: Investment or Expense? Abstract: In times that promise to be a financial challenge for many corporations, we must make decisions as to where to invest our scarce dollars and where to cut from our current operations.  When faced with these decisions, we must be realistic and pragmatic about how short-term decisions impact our long-term goals.  Yes, when times are

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PROACTOnDemand: Collect Evidence In The Field Using Mobile Devices Managing an investigation itself is often the most arduous task of conducting a Root Cause Analysis (RCA). The new PROACTOnDemand Investigation Management System allows investigators to collect field evidence on mobile devices and upload them to their respective RCA’s in the cloud.  This makes conducting RCA’s much more efficient and effective for only

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What is RCA? Separating the Tools from the Methodologies By Bob Latino, CEO, Reliability Center, Inc. Abstract: If we have heard it once, we have heard it a million times – “let’s do an RCA on that failure”. The problem here is that phrase will mean something different to everyone who says it. What is an RCA? That is a question even the notable

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Abstract: RCA has an image problem and needs a public relations agent to reshape its reputation in the healthcare industry! RCA is primarily viewed as a reactive tool. This perception is how we have been conditioned by various regulatory agencies that require us to do RCA under very specific circumstances (usually when something very bad has occurred). When such ‘Sentinel Events’ occur, then we

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Corporate Memory: Capturing Employee Experience Before they Retire in the Tropics! Robert J. Latino, CEO, Reliability Center, Inc., www.reliability.com Why do our Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) dictate that equipment is an asset and our employees are liabilities? Don’t our executives always tell us ‘our people are our greatest assets?’ How come our financials don’t support their assertion? How come during

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The ‘Soft Side’ of RCA: Management’s Role in ‘Effective’ Training By Robert J. Latino, CEO, Reliability Center, Inc. Abstract: In an era of rapidly advancing technology, the need for training to keep up is imperative. But training alone is not the panacea to a facility’s problems. Management’s must be aware that the environment in which their people work, will either progress or obstruct

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Abstract: No matter where we work, we will experience failures or ‘undesirable outcomes’ of some kind. As long as we work with other humans, this will indeed be the case. These failures may surface in the form of production delays, injuries, customer complaints, missed deadlines, lost profits, legal claims and the like. Effective Root Cause Analysis Means Accepting We Could Be Part of

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What is the Correlation Between Root Cause Analysis and Swiss Cheese? As long as humans are involved in running our organizations, there will be holes (vulnerabilities) in our cheese. This is why I state that we will never have American cheese (no holes) representing our safety systems, because this would imply they would be failsafe and not impenetrable. The Swiss cheese

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Why Reliability Professionals Can Frustrate the Hell Out Of Others! I guess I am writing this just as a reality/sanity check to see if it’s just me, or do my peers in the Reliability profession have the same problems I do, communicating with non-Reliability professionals? If anyone has been in the Reliability game for a long period of time (I

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This article is directed at those ‘first responders’ who arrive immediately at the failure scene. These are the people who have to ensure the area is safe, preserve the scene for investigators and contribute to a plan to expedite a quick, safe return to production norms. Many do not understand how valuable failed parts are to the metallurgical/forensic investigators. Broken