Actitudes y competencias

First, a word of advice: If the company is struggling with hiring a reliability engineer and might never hire one, then identify the smartest maintenance techni- cian and provide all the training recommended in the Introduction to this book. Reliability engineering tech- nicians, if trained properly, have a dramatic impact on the reliability in an organization.

The reliability engineer reports to the maintenance and engineering manager and is responsible for implement- ing advanced reliability tools and work processes and supporting reliability efforts in manufacturing plants. Proven expertise in basic engineering skills is required: generally a bachelor’s degree in mechanical or electrical engineering; a master’s degree engineering (take out busi- ness) is a plus. Professional certification is available and should be pursued. Hands-on experience in a craft skill area would be beneficial but is not a requirement. This engineer works to improve equipment and process per- formance by applying reliability engineering principles, statistical data analysis, and supporting work process.

For example, the reliability engineer is expected to

● _{Provide engineered solutions to complex equipment}

problems.

● _{Identify and set priorities on opportunities for reli-}

ability improvement by mining information using the reliability databases.

● _{Statistically analyze equipment and process per-}

formance to assess reliability, maintainability, and availability.

● _{Lead maintenance planning and process procedure}

improvements via reliability tools.

● _{Translate reliability opportunities into bottom-line}

cost savings and top-line growth (e.g., implement Six Sigma work processes in support of reliability projects and high-impact projects to deliver bottom- line cost reductions).

● _{Provide training and facilitation on root cause}

failure analysis with maintenance and production personnel.

● _{Provide training and facilitating failure modes and}

effects analysis (FMEA), a process by which mainte- nance strategies are developing identifying known and likely failure modes and what there effects on a system, with maintenance and production personnel.

● _{Provide “design for reliability” input to capital proj-}

ects.

● _{Facilitate and manage ad hoc work teams.}

● _{Provide technical leadership at all levels of the plant}

organization with special emphasis on interacting with maintenance crews.

Serving in a staff capacity, the reliability engineer relieves maintenance supervisors and planner/ schedulers of those responsibilities that are tech- nical and engineering in nature. Maintenance and reliability engineering is different and distinct from plant, project, and process engineering. Plant and project engineering support the longer-range capi- tal program of new installations and alterations. Process engineering typically reports to and focuses on problems of production. Reliability engineering is dedicated to the preservation of day-to-day asset reliability.

2.6.1. Responsibilities

● _{Perform detailed engineering calculations and cor-}

relate data for analysis.

● _{Support operations and maintenance to improve}

equipment reliability.

● _{Perform analysis of failure data using statistical anal-}

ysis tools.

● _{Lead problem solving teams to identify, design, and}

implement improvements.

● _{Work closely with maintenance to target maintain-}

ability issues, lower cost, and improve productivity.

● _{Identify value creation opportunities using reli-}

ability data collection and reliability business case tools.

● _{Work closely with operations and maintenance to}

communicate the opportunities of the most value- adding jo bs.

● _{Promote the use of reliability centered maintenance}

and reliability health monitoring software and other support tools.

● _{Manage reliability projects, interact with vendors,}

and work closely with project engineers.

● _{Provide equipment, safety, and environment risk}

mitigation leadership.

2.6.2. Job Skills

● _{Strong basic engineering skills (mechanical, electrical,}

chemical, industrial, and materials).

● _{Solid verbal and written communication skills.} ● _{Robust computer skills (at a minimum, Word, Access,}

Advanced Excel, PowerPoint, and SAP).

● _{Effective interpersonal skills and the ability to work}

with and lead loosely knit, cross-functional working teams.

● _{Basic skill in root cause analysis work process meth-}

ods and tools.

● _{Proven facilitation and group leadership experience}

and skills.

● _{Skills in basic reliability engineering principles, such}

as mechanical components and systems; properly categorizing and analyzing failure data and modes; translating failure data to cost; FMEA; fault tree analysis; data mining and management; reliability growth methods (Crow-AMSAA); failure reporting and analysis (FRACAS); basic reliability models, block diagrams, impact on reliability; and availabil- ity, reliability and maintainability.

● _{Practical statistical analysis skills, including failure}

statistics (normal, exponential, lognormal, bino- mial, Poisson); failure rates, hazard rates, expected life, MTTF, MTBF, MTTR, MTBM; and Weibull anal- ysis.

● _{Basic understanding of common predictive}

technologies: vibration analysis, lubrication, thermography, motor analysis, ultrasonics, machin- ery analysis, alignment and balancing procedures, and fixed equipment diagnostic technologies.

● _{Project value identification, including the ability}

to convert the cost of unreliability into bottom-line profit, and apply reliability business case tools.

● _{Lean and Six Sigma skills are a plus. (This is}

specialized and requires additional training).

Lean is a process that looks for ways to eliminate waste in any process. The goal is to eliminate steps in a process that add no value and develop new steps that improve efficiency in a process.

Six Sigma is a system of practices originally devel- oped by Motorola to systematically improve processes by eliminating defects. Defects are defined as units that

The Functional Maintenance Organization and Its People 35 are not members of the intended population. Since it

was originally developed, Six Sigma has become an element of many quality management initiatives.

The process, pioneered by Bill Smith at Motorola in 1986, originally was defined as a metric for measuring defects and improving quality and a methodology to reduce defect levels below 3.4 defects per million opportunities

DMAIC is a five-step process using Six Sigma methodology:

Define—This is the first phase of the DMAIC process. It involves clearly defining the opportunity or problem and validating it in measurement terms.

Measure—The measure phase of DMAIC is dedicated to assembling a data collection plan, executing that plan, and verifying the data collection is performed properly.

Analyze—In the analyze phase, first, develop

hypotheses about the causes of the defects. Next, analyze and process the data using statistical and nonstatistical methods. Then, prove or disprove the hypothesis.

Improve—In the improve phase, confirm the key

process inputs that affect the process outputs, causing defects. Identify the acceptable range of each input, so that the output stays within the specified limits. Imple- ment changes and install and validate the measure- ment systems used to improve the process in order to verify the new process is working.

Control—In the final phase of the DMAIC process, implement the control phase, in which controls are

used to continuously improved a process. These tools are statistical in nature and are used to control varia- tion in a process.

2.6.3. Reliability Engineering Dashboard—Key Performance

Indicators

A reliability engineer must be able to measure reliability and identify areas of opportunity where his or her technical ability can have the most impact on an operation. The most widely used measurements or KPIs (key performance indicators) used by reliability engineers are the following:

● _{Bad actors report. Top five critical assets with the}

highest total maintenance cost and worst reliability (MTBFF, mean time between functional failure).

● _{MTBFF by production line and area.}

● _{Percentage of critical assets with a maintenance strat-}

egy developed using an RCM methodology.

● _{Percentage of new assets with a maintenance strat-}

egy developed using an RCM methodology and ranked based on risk to the business.

These four KPIs can be identified as the “KPI dashboard” for a reliability engineer. A KPI dash- board is a tool that provides data to a reliability engineer in order to measure their impact on an operation and provide direction where problems may exist.

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