Monthly Archives: February 2013

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07Feb 2013

3 Steps to a better FMEA – The Importance of Language in FMEA

A FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis) is a large effort. Here are three (3) simple steps to help improve your FMEA. We add some hints that makes this process easier.

With any FMEA, the language we choose and record can make or break the analysis. Within the same language. we all interpret words differently. Without the proper use of words, some failure modes can be misleading when read by others. All is not lost.There are a few simple rules of thumb to follow. This will allow for better FMEA results.

Read on to learn how!

06Feb 2013

The ‘Olympic’ Root Cause

Gary Tyne ⋅ Leave a Comment

Having watched one of the best Olympic Games ever this summer in London, with some jaw dropping performances being witnessed, it left me thinking about the reasons behind the athlete’s success. What is it that makes an athlete want to win, what gives them the desire to train every day for a chance of winning an Olympic medal?

Whilst listening to British Cycling’s performance director Dave Brailsford, he discussed the success of the British cycling team. “The whole principle came from the idea that if you broke down everything you could think of that goes into riding a bike, and then improved it by 1%, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together”, he said. According to Dave it was these ‘marginal gains’ that underpinned the team’s success. Read More →

06Feb 2013

To perform 5 Whys, or not to perform 5 Whys? That is the question.

Gary Tyne ⋅ Leave a Comment

To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether ’tis Nobler in the mind to suffer
The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles…

“To be or not to be” is the opening phrase of a soliloquy in William Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet”. It is perhaps the most famous of all literary quotations, but there is deep disagreement on the meaning of both the phrase and the speech. Whilst we won’t be solving that disparity in this article, we will discuss the disagreements amongst the global engineering community as to whether the 5 Whys process is sufficient enough to effectively identify the root causes and ultimately, the solutions, for a particular problem.

Why – Why – Why – Why – Why? Read More →