Reliability Transformation: New Thinking About Reliability

by Terrence O'Hanlon, Publisher and CEO Reliabilityweb.com and Uptime Magazine

Warning:  Your brain is not naturally wired to think reliability

If you are a maintenance reliability leader you can probably recall a time in the not so distant past when you were not aware of proactive reliability strategies.  Maybe strategy is not even the right word.   There was a time when you thought about maintenance reliability the way that the vast majority of people who actually think about maintenance do:

1. Something is new and operates close to perfect
2. Occasionally someone from the maintenance department shows up to lubricate, tighten things and possibly replace some fluid or filters
3. The thing ages and requires replacement or major repair or rebuilding
4. There is not much that can be done to create a longer operating life of the thing

Then you met someone who changed your mind or you started reading books, articles and blogs or you attended conferences where you learned a new way of thinking about maintenance.  You learned about the concepts of failure, consequences, condition monitoring, and reliability-centered maintenance.  You re-wired your brain to think VERY differently about reliability and what you might be able to do to improve it.

Let’s call this a “Reliability Transformation”

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Of course there are people you work with that have not experienced a reliability transformation yet but that does not mean they cannot do so – especially with your assistance.

Don't change beliefs – transform the believer ~ Werner Erhard

You can consider using some of the following Reliability Transformation tips:

• Learn more than one way to present the concept of reliability.
• Practice communicating the concept of reliability on friends, strangers, supportive and hostile listeners.
• Check in with the listener often. Are they following? Let them ask questions.
• Allow “white space” around the idea of reliability. Start at a very high level view.  Don’t overwhelm them with details
• Try to close with actions – even if small. 

OK now I need to make a broad generalization about many of the maintenance reliability leaders I know.  They tend to talk in great detail and use examples that are too micro when they should be macro.  They also fail to tie these conversations to business results.  Feel free to file a dispute in the comments section below.

Can you refine and distill your conversation to support the concept of Reliability for your managers and other company leaders as well as floor level people who will be affected?

• What are the BARE BONES parts of your concept about reliability and some of the changes that would be required?
• How few words can you use, and still get meaning across? (Example: we will double production on line 1).
• What part of the concept is most confusing? Can you change it?
• Would a picture help?
• How much can be explained later without hurting the conversation now?
• What’s your next sentence, after this new, distilled one?

Are you willing to take responsibility for the way things are now and still create possibilities for a reliability transformation in your organization?

Let me know if you already have or will do so.  You can contact me through Google+ here