Volume 6, Issue 1

Reliability Edge Home

A common problem faced by many reliability engineers is that they have not had formal training in the field. Rather, they might be mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, quality engineers or engineers from other disciplines who have also been assigned the reliability function within the organization. This problem can be experienced in both large and small organizations but is more prominent in smaller companies with fewer resources and smaller groups/business units in large organizations without a dedicated reliability group. As such, these engineers may not have the proper training to handle reliability questions effectively.

For more than a decade, ReliaSoft has trained thousands of reliability professionals from more than a thousand companies and government agencies worldwide. ReliaSoft offers a complete array of reliability engineering training courses designed to advance the knowledge and skill set of the practicing engineer and also to quickly bring up to speed those engineers newly assigned to the field.

The reliability training courses offered by ReliaSoft have recently been re-structured and expanded to better meet the needs of the reliability community. This includes a variety of new courses designed to address the special requirements of management (such as Reliability Leadership and Managing an Effective FMEA Process) along with courses on new topics and software. This article presents a summary of the revised and expanded training options.

Master the Subject, Master the Tools Course Collection
ReliaSoft's Master the Subject, Master the Tools (MSMT) reliability training course collection uniquely combines instruction in the theoretical background for each subject with the software tools designed to put the principles/theory into practice. Three series are available.

MSMT Reliability Foundations Series: This five-day training package provides in-depth coverage of Reliability and Life Data Analysis (Weibull Analysis) along with introductions to other fundamental reliability subjects, including Reliability Growth Analysis, Quantitative Accelerated Life Testing Data Analysis and System Reliability and Maintainability Analysis. Some of the topics covered include:

• Basic statistical concepts and commonly used lifetime distributions and reliability growth models
• Setting and meeting reliability goals
• Comparing designs, suppliers and data sets
• Cost projections for in-warranty failures
• Quantitative accelerated life testing data analysis
• Using reliability block diagrams for system reliability and maintainability analysis

These courses also include hands-on application examples using ReliaSoft’s Weibull++, ALTA, BlockSim and RGA software.

MSMT Advanced Series: These three-day training courses are a continuation of, and detailed expansion into, the fundamental reliability analysis disciplines that were introduced in the MSMT Foundations Series. Topics addressed in the MSMT Advanced Series include Accelerated Life Testing, System Reliability and Maintainability, Reliability Growth and Repairable Systems Data Analysis, also with hands-on application examples using software.

MSMT Specialized Series: These training courses provide instruction on specific reliability subjects and tools that are not covered in the MSMT Foundations Series. This includes Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Design of Experiments (DOE), and others. These courses also include hands-on application examples with applicable software, such as ReliaSoft’s Xfmea.

Reliability Overview Course Collection
These one-day courses have been designed to introduce basic reliability concepts, methodologies and implementation benefits for management and a general audience. Topics include Reliability Leadership, Reliability Overview for Managers, Reliability Concepts for Maintenance Organizations, Managing an Effective FMEA Process, and more.

Selected Topics in Reliability Course Collection
These two- and three-day courses are designed to address specific quality/reliability subjects in detail. Topics include Reliability Methods in Mechanical and Structural Design, Random Vibrations, and others.

Preparatory Course Collection
These three- and four-day courses cover basic subjects that provide a background to prepare you for more advanced reliability theory and applications. Topics include Engineering Statistics, Statistical Process Control, and more.

Public and On-Site Training Seminars
Many of ReliaSoft’s training courses are offered as public seminars scheduled throughout the year in the United States and various international locations. ReliaSoft’s expert instructors are also available to present training courses at a specified time and location that meets your organization’s specific needs. You can contact ReliaSoft to discuss your particular on-site training requirements.

The current public training schedule and detailed course summaries are available on the Web at http://www.ReliaSoft.com/seminars.

Applied Reliability Symposia
In addition to the four course collections described in this article, ReliaSoft has also partnered with the System Reliability Center (SRC) to organize the annual International Applied Reliability Symposium, which provides a forum for expert presenters from industry and government to discuss the application of reliability and related techniques to meet real world challenges. Regional symposia are also offered in Singapore and Brazil. For more information, see http://www.ARSymposium.org.