Acuitas was created in 2010 to respond to a need. Reliability OR Reliability, Availability and Maintainability (RAM) is the bedrock of organizational success, but often difficult to 'make happen.' We can often forget (or be made to forget) that a focus on budget and schedule now rarely has good outcomes for budget and failure in the future.
Perhaps the biggest challenge with reliability engineering is the 'TERM DEPOSIT' mentality. Reliability engineering is important for quality products, systems and services that help brand reputation or mission success. So this means that every ounce of reliability engineering effort today will reward someone else ... a long time from now. No wonder it is hard to get people excited about reliability!
But the 'TERM DEPOSIT' mentality is wrong.
Reliability engineering is all about preventing problems. Some of these problems are what we call 'failures.' The vast majority of these problems are process issues, design problems, flunked tests and all sorts of other things that blow out your budget and schedule this week. So getting reliability engineering happening from the start means you create high quality, robust things quickly and cheaply.
If reliability engineering isn't making you money (today), then you're doing it wrong.
There are many organizations who may have had initial success with some RAM tools or activities, but indefinitely repeat these activities with no ongoing improvement. Others perhaps enlist 'specialists' who may focus initially on complex data analysis which immediately loses organizational focus. The key is finding the right team who understands both RAM practice and reliability engineering - and when to apply each.
But more often than not, the first thing that needs to happen for an organization that wants to improve reliability and availability is to focus on the way the organization is managed and lead.
Culture is everything.
Acuitas can help. We are experienced in practice, theory, and (managerial) culture. That means we are better placed to suggest a tailored approach for reliability and availability improvement in a way that supports your organization's value proposition- which more often than not is a long-term profit. We have helped a wide range of clients and customers from many industries. Where you want to reduce warranty claims, lifecycle costs, or satellite mission reliability, we can support you as we've done before with many other clients.
We also offer training packages that can be tailored to your unique needs. Our services include short courses that can be delivered virtually or on site.
Contact us today if you'd like to discuss your organizational RAM needs.
CHRIS JACKSON
Founder
chris.jackson@acuitas.com
Chris is a reliability engineering and leadership expert with more than 20 years of experience across multiple industries. He retired as a lieutenant colonel in the Australian Army where he served in Special Operations Command (with several military deployments across the world) and also as the Australian Army's Senior Reliability Availability and Maintainability engineer (when he was back home.) He is now based out of North America and helps companies and government agencies across the world.
Why does he do this? When Chris first got into reliability engineering, he was (essentially) told it was all about TOOLS. Data analysis. A specific test plan. That standard. This guidebook. This did not mesh well with his military experience where we focus on the VITAL FEW things you need to achieve for mission success ... and then work out what tools you need to get there. And quite often, reliability engineers were often people who only advocated for their favorite tools. Not the most useful tools.
So this is why he does this line of work. He has a strong background in management and leadership. But he also has an academic background. Chris was awarded his mechanical engineering degree from the University of New South Wales and has since received a Ph.D. and Master's in Reliability Engineering from the University of Maryland. He is an American Society of Quality Certified Reliability Engineer (CRE), and a Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng) from Engineers Australia.
He has been the director and founder of multiple research centers at the University of California Los Angeles. He has authored or co-authored multiple textbooks on reliability engineering and implemented several RAM programs across multiple industries.