Overview

I selected the above quote to introduce this chapter because it seems to sum up reliability analysis in many situations. For some people, reliability is a science and for others it is a philosophy. One can be very much dedicated to the philosophy of good reliability without doing the heavy lifting needed to produce high reliability.

The discipline needed to achieve high reliability is like a religion. A person can attend church every Sunday and still not be a religious person. Similarly, it is possible to attend to reliability issues every so often but not all the time. You must then expect mediocre results. To achieve the best results, you need to turn your reliability programs from a philosophy into a science and from a hobby into an avocation.

Discipline:

Performing according to an established set of protocols and procedures. Performing consistently. Performing to the same high standard all the time.

An issue for your consideration is that all the steps required to process a failure (Malfunction Report Diagnostics Troubleshooting Failure Mode Identification) happen all the time. It doesn't matter if you have formalized the steps and trained someone to do them in an organized manner, or if they happen in the natural course of things. They happen. It is your choice if they happen in a structured manner that collects and analyzes critical information, or if you simply allow the process to...