Reliability resources

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Originally published August 31, 2017.

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Since lubricating oil can oxidize, so can the base oil in grease.  When the grease oxidizes, it usually darkens; there is a build-up of acidic oxidation products, just as in other lubrications.  These products can have a destructive effect on the thickener, causing softening, oil bleeding, and leakage.  Because grease does not conduct heat easily, serious oxidation can begin at

Reading Time: 31 minutes

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things, because the innovator has for enemies, all of those who have done well under the old conditions, and luke-warm defenders in those who will do well under

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Does regulatory compliance with RCA guidelines ensure operational reliability? Operational Reliability involves the aggregation of Equipment, Process and Human Reliability methods and techniques. What is the difference between troubleshooting, problem solving and root cause analysis? Are the outcomes different when we use The 5-Whys, The Fishbone or a Logic Tree? Can deficiencies in our approach to RCA increase the risk

Reading Time: 4 minutes

The following article was published in Plant Services earlier this year with the title, “Don’t get stuck in reactive mode – The world of fantasy maintenance is calling you”. The alias of the author is Captain Unreliability, so all credit should go to the Captain :-).

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Author’s Note: I want to reiterate that this Series about reading the basic fracture surfaces, is for novices who often come into contact with such failed components. This Series is about the basics (101), and is intended to give readers an appreciation for the value of such ‘broken’ parts to an effective investigation/RCA. While this information will be rudimentary to

Reading Time: 8 minutes

RCA management is a structured and methodical approach to problem-solving, and it helps organizations learn from their mistakes and continuously improve their processes and systems to prevent recurrent issues. If managers knew what the overall power of a well-supported Root Cause Analysis (RCA) effort meant for their bottom line, they would be breaking down doors to implement the process. In

Reading Time: 4 minutes

This case history takes place in a packaging facility in Virginia. The packer on module E5 was checked for vibration integrity during a pre-machine care evaluation. A problem was detected in the folding arm gearbox. The frequency characteristics indicated a bearing was deteriorating. This seems very straight forward but let’s put the reality of the situation into the problem detected.

Reading Time: < 1 minute

For some time now, Inland Steel has been committed to improving the reliability of our plant operations as a way to reduce costs, downtime and increase productivity. Recognizing that substantial savings could be achieved by reducing or eliminating chronic system and equipment failures, the company provided extensive training in Root Cause Failure Analysis (RCFA) to 50 reliability engineers and more

Reading Time: 6 minutes

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. In order to prevent the recurrence of any such undesirable outcome,