Reliability Workshops


Reliability and Management

Course No. REL-01
This two-day course provides program managers, systems designers, and logisticians with a practical knowledge of the elements of a successful reliability program and how to specify, plan, and manage them. Participants will become familiar with the key elements of a successful reliability program, methodologies for accomplishing these elements, how to develop a plan and manage the program, and what challenges exist and how to overcome them. Real world examples are used throughout the workshop to illustrate key learning points and practical exercises are accomplished by workshop participants to reinforce workshop objectives.

On modern complex system and equipment programs, the need exists to meet challenging system operational availability and affordability requirements. Reliability analysis provides the theoretical and practical tools to specify, predict, design in, test, and demonstrate the probability of items (from individual parts up to entire systems) to perform without failure for desired time periods in specified environments. Reliability analysis also enables the monitoring and feedback of performance of the item(s) to all concerned organizations and allows implementation of any needed corrective action(s).

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Reliability, Maintainability, and Availability (RM&A)

Course No. REL-02
This two-day workshop is designed to provide engineers and managers with a solid understanding of reliability, maintainability, and availability concepts, and their application to development programs. Examples from actual products are used to put the course material in a context that participants can relate to.

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Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)

Course No. REL-03
This three-day workshop provides training on performing Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), using current methodologies. A hands-on example is used to reinforce analysis techniques. Participants in this course will be capable of organizing, conducting, or evaluating FMEA programs for a wide range of production processes including automotive, aircraft, manufacturing, or logistics systems.

Attendees will become familiar with current FMEA techniques and develop hands-on experience in applying these techniques using sample products. Selected examples will be used to demonstrate FMEA product and process applications. As an exercise, attendees will set up and perform a FMEA on a product and process. Results will be documented in accordance with industry standards. Attendees will discuss how to communicate and use results of other analysis to improve their company's or team's products or processes.

The FMEA workshop can be tailored to utilize your company's product as the sample. This will provide attendees with applicable analysis experience. The workshop can also be tailored to focus on either the Society of Automotive Engineering (SAE) approach or Department of Defense (MIL-STD-1629) approach.

FMEA is the most commonly applied deductive reasoning technique used to identify potential product and process failure modes and their subsequent effects. FMEA's are commonly applied for the purpose of:
  • Eliminating product or process downtime
  • Eliminating undesired failure modes through design improvements
  • Reducing the effects or probability of failure mode occurrence
  • Improving safety and availability of the product
  • Providing critical inputs to product maintenance planning
  • Improving customer satisfaction


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Process Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)

Course No. REL-04
This two-day workshop provides training on performing a Process Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) using current methodologies. A hands-on example is used to reinforce analysis techniques. Graduates of this course will be capable of organizing, conducting, or evaluating Process FMEA programs for a wide range of products.

FMEA is the most commonly applied deductive reasoning technique used to identify potential product and process failure modes and their subsequent effects. Design FMEA's focus on equipment related failures and associated effects on equipment performance. Process FMEA's focus on identifying potential manufacturing, assembly, and test process failures and their associated effects on equipment performance.

Attendees will become familiar with current Process FMEA techniques and develop hands-on experience in applying these techniques using sample exercises. Selected examples will be used to demonstrate Process FMEA applications. As an exercise, attendees will set up and perform a Process FMEA on a portion of a product and its associated processes. Results will be documented in accordance with industry standards. Attendees will discuss how to communicate and use results of this analysis to improve their products and processes.

The Process FMEA workshop can be tailored to utilize a customer product and processes as the sample. This will provide attendees with relevant analysis experience.

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Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)

Course No. REL-05
This two and one-half-day workshop is designed to develop skills needed by engineers and logisticians to properly perform Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM). It is also useful for engineers, logisticians, and managers who must interact with or support the RCM process.

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Fault Tree Analysis

Course No. REL-06
This one-day workshop will provide attendees with a working knowledge of fault tree analysis and its application as a reliability analysis and system safety tool. Simple hands-on examples will be used to give attendees experience in constructing both qualitative and quantitative fault trees.

The technique known as fault tree analysis originated in the early 1960's as a means of identifying and analyzing risks associated with complex missile systems, then under development. A fault tree analysis is a deductive analysis that focuses on a particular undesired event and determines the causes and contributing events or conditions that can lead to it. The fault tree developed using this technique provides a graphical representation of the logical combinations of failures, events, or conditions that can result in the undesired "top" event. The fault tree analysis produces qualitative and quantitative insight into the probability of failure.

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