Q: Could you briefly explain your role, involvement and experience with regards to this seminar?
Mark Norris (MN): >I have been a Reliability professional since 1998, joining the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Safety & Reliability Group (SRG) Committee and Working Group 1 (Engineering for Reliability) and Working Group 4 (Human Factors in Reliability) in 2004. I am currently Deputy Chair of SRG and WG1 and am one of the organisers of this event.
In terms of Designing for Reliability I have had the privilege of leading design activities using automotive style FMEA alone (not FMECA) and as part of Reliability Centred Maintenance to ensure products were not only fit for purpose but fit for maintenance. I have used the same techniques to influence the design of products as a buyer, which underlines the need for robust requirements setting prior to entering in to the Concept design stage.
Q: What are the main engineering challenges facing the industry at the moment and what are the most common issues you hear from colleagues?
MN: OEM suppliers who insist their products are reliable whenever you request known failure rates, MTBF, MTTR etc. information, burying their heads in the sand and refusing to admit anything ever goes wrong. I usually counter this by asking, “What are the ten biggest selling parts for this product?” which will tell me where to look for problems. Everything fails, it’s inevitable, and so I want to know what condition to inspect for degradation so I can effect a repair before a failure occurs.
One of the biggest engineering challenges is poor quality raw materials, particularly from China where falsified documentation means the materials supplied appear to be to the correct standard but will not harden correctly etc.
Q: What key topics are you excited to speak about?
MN: I’m hosting one of the roundtables - always very popular following the presentations with a lot of lively discussion and exchange of ideas, ideal for networking with like-minded people – rather than speaking on this occasion.
As mentioned previously, the supply chain can provide challenges, so I’m looking forward to hearing how Rolls-Royce’s Robust Design manages this.
Q: Who else are you most interested in hearing from on the programme, and why?
MN: I’m also interested in the use of data by Amey Strategic Consulting. We’ve known that failure happens at random since the 1960s, i.e. only 10% of equipment has a ‘life,’ so I’d like to see what they have come up with to predict Asset Reliability for the 90% of equipment that doesn’t fit that pattern.
Q: What is your top tip in terms of designing for reliability?
MN: Requirements setting. I regularly come across situations where an Asset Manager is not getting the reliability of equipment they’re expecting. Firstly, they need educating to realise that, at most, 10% of equipment has a ‘life’ due to the number of degrees of freedom for failure in complex equipment, so they simply do not wear out. Next is to check what was specified as I also find insufficient thought went into the requirements – rubbish in, rubbish out.
Next is testing. Has the OEM tested the equipment in a manner that is representative of actual operation? Was it a sufficiently dusty, dirty, cold, hot, wet etc. environment? Was maintenance carried out under those conditions or did the OEM assume conditions would always be perfect or not even consider their equipment may have to be serviced/ repaired when it’s cold and wet?
Q:Why is it important for engineers to join this seminar?
MN: To learn what others are doing, to network and discuss ideas with colleagues and peers. As with all such seminars, only 10% will be directly relevant but all of the discussions you have, and particularly the roundtable discussions, will be relevant.
In addition, CPD is now a requirement to maintain your Chartered status, so events such as this are ideal for meeting your CPD needs.
Q: What developments are you most interested in for the future and why?
MN: Machine learning. We know that 90+% of equipment fails at random, however, it is possible to determine a leading failure mode and monitor the condition of that part of the equipment, e.g. output flow from a pump. It is the nature of such devices that they are part of a system, so what is the impact of the degradation in performance on the rest of the system? Will a loss of flow require upstream processes to be slowed down to prevent overload or overspilling? Will downstream processes need to be reduced to prevent issues due to a reduced feed rate? How can we join the system up automatically to manage itself whilst preparations for intervention are made?
Asset Management: Designing for Reliability takes place on 26 March 2019 at One Birdcage Walk in London. Join this seminar to:
- Hear from asset management, design and reliability specialists from organisations across engineering sectors including ROSEN Group, Sellafield Ltd, Caterpillar Defense, Dyson, Rolls-Royce, Network Rail and more
- Learn how achieving clear definitions of life cycle conditions, loads and costs, can assist in saving costs and man-hours, reduce maintenance needs and guarantee safety
- Address challenges in capturing data in context, and using trending data to measure design robustness
- Build upon and improve existing design and strategies for whole life cycle costs
- Take part in interactive discussions during our roundtable sessions focusing in on key challenges relating to designing for reliability.
To book your place, please visit www.imeche.org/assetmanagement.