C O M P I T I E N D O in large markets AND INCREASING NU E S T R A S COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES
I N TRODUCTION
On several occasions we have heard the word "trustworthy" or "trustworthy" mentioned to describe something or someone that does not present failures, that remains when necessary, even around several it is distinguished because it has proven to be the safest option, more accurate. At present, where a supermarket has thousands of products for a need (example: jeans), it is necessary to know what type of products are reliable and safe, that is, that they meet our expectations and exceed the characteristics of their competitors, in order to that we as consumers or clients have the best option at the time of purchase.
However, the question that could be asked in our mind would be how to know when a product is reliable? And the answer can be found through the words of the author (Acuña, 2003) where he mentions that many of the production problems can be prevented through reliability techniques, with which a product can be obtained according to customer expectations. in terms of durability and quality, the technological and operational limitations of manufacturing and working capital.
And that's when our question is answered, another question arises. What is Reliability? Or better yet, what is Reliability Engineering?
Therefore, in this article we will try to explain the origins of the term, as well as its characteristics and main uses from the perspectives of various authors.
AN TECEDENTES
(Cruz & Leonel, 2014) mention that the word reliability designates the probability that a system satisfactorily fulfills the function for which it was designed, during a certain period and under specified operating conditions. Thus an event that interrupts this operation is called a failure. The development of concepts and techniques for the reliability analysis of components, equipment and systems has been associated with the development of complex and high-risk technologies, such as aeronautics, military and nuclear. The first concerns arose in the aeronautical sector.
During the Korean War, the United States Department of Defense carried out reliability studies on military electronic equipment, the failures of which were causing serious economic losses and diminished military effectiveness. Because of this, the relationship between reliability, costs and maintenance became very important. Since then, purchases of electronic equipment by the United States military have been regulated according to equipment reliability specifications.
The development of the nuclear industry began in the 1950s, and concepts related to reliability were increasingly used in the design of nuclear plants and their safety systems. Until the early 1960s, theoretical and practical studies on reliability were carried out mainly in the States and the Soviet Union.
(Escobar, Villa, & Yáñez, 2003) mention that the oil crisis, at the beginning of the seventies, generated a change in the world economy and marked the beginning of the Japanese leadership in the quality and reliability of products and services.
(Cruz & Leonel, 2014) In this decade, studies spread to other countries and also to other technologies. In addition, a great development of the fundamentals and theoretical concepts related to reliability takes place, and the consolidation of the Reliability Theory takes place. At this time, a mathematical theory of reliability is exposed for the first time. The field of application of the Reliability Theory is constantly expanding. All engineering systems, simple and complex, can benefit from the integrated application of the concepts of this theory in their planning, design and operation phases. Increased reliability generally leads to increased short-term costs. But this increase in reliability can be reverted to profit in a longer period of time, and it can mean,on the other hand, a reduction in risks to people's health and lives, and to the environment. Now, the increase in costs must be offset by the decrease in risk, that is, an adequate relationship must be established between the cost and the benefit that will be obtained, in order not to exaggerate or skimp on the security provisions.
(García, 2006) argues that the nineties were characterized by a considerable increase in mechanization and automation of processes and machines integrated with developments in software and hardware; multidisciplinary working groups; safer and less harmful designs for the environment; more expensive, more efficient, more productive technology, among other aspects, which are reflected in higher quality estimators and high levels of global competitiveness, which required greater reliability and availability of equipment and production plants with a greater emphasis in the healthcare, data processing, communications and building management sectors.
The new paradigm to be solved is that "the higher the level of automation, the greater the probability that failures affect quality standards", and as a consequence of this, the level of knowledge and experience of the plant operators and engineers has risen.. Maintenance techniques developed during this time have focused on condition-based plans (maintenance prediction), risk analysis, failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA), and projects focused on reliability.
With the expansion of the applications of reliability engineering to a wide range of industries, it became necessary to generate knowledge of engineering in both directions: Reliability Engineering and that of each industry. Reliability Engineering is oriented towards the search and development of methods, tools and techniques that help a component, system or product perform its functions safely to provide optimum quality under previously defined operating conditions for a specified time. Every component, system or product can benefit from the integrated application of reliability engineering in its planning, design and operation phases (Valles, 2014)
(Arata, 2008) reminds us that business competitiveness is a complex issue in which factors specific to the company as well as the organizational, territorial and global environment intervene. The competitiveness of a company is achieved not only by being efficient through the reduction of costs, but also by being effective in both internal and external customer service, and being effective in caring for the environment and respecting people.
Also, the current conditions imposed by an increasingly demanding market force the company to assume its work with social responsibility and with a flexible production system that operates with the logic of Lean Production, which is not only based on quality management but also in productive maintenance. In this complex environment, an approach that contributes to achieving business excellence is Operational Reliability, which is the ability of the company, through processes, technologies and people, to fulfill its purpose within the limits of design and of operational conditions.
In the design of industrial projects, the main engineering efforts are aimed at optimizing the different operational processes that make up the value chain. Normally significant resources are allocated to evaluating different scenarios through complex financial tools that seek to reduce uncertainty by covering the largest number of variables and their respective projections in the evaluation horizon, without considering the risk associated with not complying with production plans and revenue projected by process engineers. The optimization models that originate the production estimates are based on ideal conditions that are difficult to achieve, which occasionally force the incorporation of defined safety factors without the rigor and certainty assigned to the rest of the project.
This problem has its solution in the use of Reliability Engineering tools that allow to calculate in a robust and intrinsic way to each project the probability of failure or non-operation of the production system, with the objective of establishing an income function that forces to optimize the processes evaluating its Operational Reliability in order to estimate the real profitability of the project or, failing that, consider new investments to achieve the required NPV or to reduce the level of uncertainty
C ICLO LIFE product and process
In his book (Acuña, 2003) he asserts that in reliability analysis, it is important to consider the life cycle of the product, as it is the clearest way to establish reliability values that satisfy customer expectations. This cycle is defined by four stages:
- Definition and conceptual design. This is a team task, where the client's requirements are studied in depth and together with the process and product characteristics a conceptual design is developed that is manufacturable. Detailed development and design. Once the conceptual design has been tested and proven adequate, the detailed design proceeds, which considers details about the required production resources and makes improvements based on the results of. the tests carried out on the conceptual design. Construction, manufacturing or both This is the mass production of the product, where some failures are generated that must be corrected on the fly. It should be remembered that failures that occur in the laboratory are not the same as those that occur in the field,when the product is exposed to the true shelf-life environment. Operation. The product is already in the hands of the customer and has been put to the test. A strategy should be established to collect customer complaints, which can be valuable to improve the engineering and functional characteristics of the product.
Product failure can occur at any of these stages; however, its incidence depends on the type of product or service. It is different if it is a bridge, a building, a soft drink, a machine or an electronic device, because its incidence and effects are different.
In the case of industrial products, the first two stages of product development play an important role in their useful life.
Traditionally, this stage of product development is carried out in five steps that are (Kusiak, 1999):
- Conceptual and feasibility phase. The product ideas presented are studied and economic and technical feasibility studies are carried out in order to evaluate the feasibility of production and sale of the product. Detailed design phase. The details of the design are worked out considering the opinion not only of designers but also of process engineers who are aware of the limitations of machines and other production resources Prototype phase Prototypes are built and subjected to laboratory tests, in order to know the behavior of the main design and engineering characteristics. Currently, the application of rapid prototypes is widely spread, as a means of having products that are very similar to those that are mass manufactured.Pilot tests in the field, In order to test the robustness of the product,Field tests are carried out where the product is subjected to real conditions of use Changes in the design of the product and / or process. The results of the field tests allow feedback and improvement of the designs.
Reliability studies have gained considerable interest in recent years due to the great competition in the market, in which customers demand better product performance and better service commensurate with the price they pay for it. Radical changes in conception from traditional to modern aspects that have had a great impact on some key aspects of manufacturing and service should be considered in these studies.
I N neering RELIABILITY
According to the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy, we find that the concept of engineering is a set of knowledge aimed at the invention and use of techniques for the use of natural resources or for industrial activity. (ASALE, 2017).
While the concept of reliability according to (Sueiro, 2012) in the modern industrial world is extremely important, given that reliability is the «ability of an item to perform a required function, under established conditions for a certain period of time ».
We also find that the word reliability has a synonym that is "reliability" and In the field of psychology, education and social research, reliability is a psychometric property that refers to the absence of measurement errors, or what is the same applies to the degree of consistency and stability of the scores obtained throughout successive measurement processes with the same instrument. (Lexicoon, 2017).
It is then when we can infer that Reliability Engineering is the use and invention of techniques to develop the capacity, the degree of consistency and stability needed for a particular product, at a given time.
However (Acuña, 2003) believes that reliability differs from confidence in that the former refers to a numerical value associated with the performance of the product in operation and the manufacturing process, while the latter refers to the real value they have. some parameters pertaining to quality characteristics of the product, so it is a purely statistical concept.
(Rivera, 2012) defines Reliability Engineering as the function of engineering which provides the theoretical and practical tools to predict, design, test and demonstrate the reliability of parts, components and systems and ensure their requirements and optimize their safety, availability and quality levels.
(Arata, 2008) mentions that: Reliability Engineering, also called Maintenance Engineering, assumes an increasingly relevant role in the process of changing how maintainers should do maintenance, and how project engineers should conceive of safety operational systems and how the company's managers must understand the management and maintenance of assets.
Reliability Engineering, through the commitment of the human factor and quantitative analysis, must, based on the behavior of the equipment and its systemic configurations, project, improve and control the management and maintenance of assets, from the stage from the conception of new projects to their operation. It is the function that delivers value since through the modeling of the variables associated with the operational safety of the equipment and systems (availability, reliability, maintainability and usability), and with the overall costs (own and induced costs), it achieves identify critical factors according to the combination of the frequency of events and their impact.
Reliability Engineering makes it possible to determine, on a quantitative and qualitative basis, solutions at the project level through the All Costs Analysis approach, productive maintenance plans and continuous improvements that optimize the management and maintenance of assets favoring the business results.
Currently, many of the large companies worldwide are changing their vision of asset management and maintenance, overcoming their partial and short-term view of considering it only as a cost to view it as an important opportunity to improve the Operational Reliability, so the participation of Reliability Engineering in the management and development of new projects is something that is being increasingly considered. However, Reliability Engineering has not necessarily been well interpreted, implemented and developed in companies,fundamentally due to the fact that the competencies of the maintainers have traditionally been limited to executing maintenance rather than how to avoid it through a logic in which prevention and genetic improvement of equipment and systems prevail, as well as the competencies of project engineers it has been oblivious to knowledge related to operational safety, associated with the reliability and maintainability of assets.
To save and overcome this situation, so that Reliability Engineering becomes a reality and delivers the expected contributions, it is essential that professionals dedicated to maintenance and project development acquire the necessary skills for the development of this relevant activity in the company, in order to reduce the existing gaps, in a large part of the organizations, between the available and required competencies, so that the reliability engineer, in addition to his role in the operation stage of a facility, also assumes a important role in the design of new equipment and industrial plants and in the definition of their maintenance plans,Those that should not only contain the interventions and inspections but should also include the human factor in terms of its organizational structure and the required competencies.
Although Operational Reliability is conceptually easy to understand, its application requires complex analytical and probabilistic models since industrial facilities are characterized by a large number of equipment that are in different phases of their life cycle (infant mortality, useful life and wear and tear), they are also systemically integrated in the most diverse ways (series, parallel, partial redundancy, stand-by and fractionation) and the associated costs are of a different nature (direct costs and costs of failure).
These models allow the simulation of different solutions in terms of redundancies, division and equipment characteristics as well as the type of management strategy to be implemented, allowing to determine the criticalities, the operational safety of the facilities (availability) and associated global costs. Given the complexity and dynamics of these processes, it is essential to have computerized tools that allow easy and reliable simulation. Among them, the R-MES (Reliability & Maintenance Engineering System) is worth highlighting.
L A RELIABILITY
The concept of reliability, like many quality and productivity techniques, had its origin during World War II, since at that time it was a fundamental goal to achieve high reliability in military equipment in order to minimize the probability of failure of any team. This concept has been refined vertiginously in recent years. until becoming an important area of investigation in which a great variety of mathematical and statistical concepts is incorporated.
The application of reliability to product and process engineering has shown excellent results as a means of anticipating operational failures. The development of field tests, accompanied by failure analysis and their corresponding probability of occurrence, offer an excellent alternative to develop robust products and processes capable of manufacturing them. In this context, a product is understood as any manufactured good that fulfills a specific function for a user or customer; thus, this product can be a machine, a piece of equipment or any general consumer good.
Many of the production problems can be prevented through reliability techniques, with which a product can be obtained according to the customer's expectations in terms of durability and quality, the technological and operational limitations of manufacturing and working capital. (Acuña, 2003)
The great competition in national and international markets forces companies to develop strategies based on four fundamental factors: price, quality, reliability and delivery time (Anderson, 1990). These strategies have gained a lot of interest these days, since it is a reality that success will be for those who manage to arrive first, with a satisfactory quality for the client and with a reasonable and affordable price for the market niche that is intended to be captured. Additionally, these products are wanted to perform without failure for a sufficient time (useful life) to meet customer expectations.
(Zapata, 2011) ensures that there is a close relationship between the reliability, quality and safety aspects: improvements in the last two lead to improved reliability.
Ensuring a given level of quality, safety and reliability encompasses all stages of a component or system: Planning, Design, Manufacturing, Installation and Operation.
It is not economically possible to design, manufacture and operate a component or system that offers 100% reliability (zero failures) under all conditions since the internal and external events that affect the components and produce the failures are random, that is, it cannot know exactly the time of its occurrence. Therefore, the arrival of a component or system failure is a random or uncertain phenomenon.
According to (Acuña, 2003) There are some theoretical aspects of Reliability such as:
- Data collection with statistical bases that serve to carry out product shelf life tests and determine the reliability of a product or process Selection of the best reliability analysis method that meets the analysis and testing requirements Understanding the reliability concept based on the properties of the materials. Application of the concepts of failure analysis and their use in the design of robust products. Analysis of the principles for the implementation of a product reliability and safety program.
The reliability of a system (product or process) can be estimated through a study that is carried out in four phases:
- Definition of objectives and requirements for reliability of the product or process. This phase is executed by a multidisciplinary team in which the voice of the customer intervenes captured by marketing and the voice of the process captured by engineering and in which the technological and engineering limitations of materials and machines are considered. A study of Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is an excellent tool for this type of analysis Disaggregation of the product or process into components and reliability estimation for each of these components The product or process is divided into its components and these, in turn, into its parts, with in order to determine at a micro level the value of the reliability of each one of them. In this phase, block diagrams and «gozinto» diagrams (Niebel,2001) to carry out an orderly disaggregation in which essential components of the product or process are not lost. Prediction of the reliability of the product based on the reliability of its components. The combination of the reliabilities of all the components gives rise to the reliability value of the product or process as a whole. Macro-level reliability estimation is complicated and can lead to errors. This estimation uses the theory of probabilities to determine the reliability of the product or process. Analysis of the product or process in order to determine strengths and weaknesses and take advantage of new opportunities for improvement. Once the reliability of the product or process has been determined during its design,Product failures are studied during manufacturing and throughout its useful life, as these are excellent agents for detecting weaknesses that lead to improving the performance of products.
(Arata, 2008) explains the aforementioned concept of Operational Reliability: a series of continuous improvement processes are considered that systematically incorporate diagnostic tools, analysis methodologies and new technologies, to optimize the project, management, planning, execution and control, associated with industrial production, supply and maintenance. For the search for Operational Reliability, it is necessary to act in an integrated manner on the assets, from their design to their operation, as well as on aspects related to processes and people, this is how the components that make it up and that act integrally are the process reliability.
Operational Reliability has five axes that must be considered and on which action must be taken if a long-term reliable installation is desired in terms that operates as projected. These axes are:
- The human reliability that is related to the involvement, commitment and competencies that people have with the activities that correspond to them The organizational structure to achieve it; The maintainability and reliability of the assets that is linked to the design of the equipment and its support logistics, for the reduction of the average time to repair and with the maintenance strategies of the equipment of the facilities and with the effectiveness of the maintenance, for the increase of its average time between failures, respectively; The reliability of the process that is associated with the harmony that exists between the process and the procedures used to operate the facilities, with the operational parameters to be used, in order to respect the established conditions; and finally.The reliability of the supplies that refers to the integration between the different processes or internal units, such as operation, maintenance, supply, development, and the suppliers of inputs, energy, goods or services in order to ensure supply in terms of quantity, quality, timeliness and cost through established processes that facilitate inbound logistics and allow third-party management, efficient contract administration, and supply analysis, when appropriate.Timeliness and cost through established processes that facilitate inbound logistics and allow third-party management, efficient contract administration, and supply analysis, when appropriate.Timeliness and cost through established processes that facilitate inbound logistics and allow third-party management, efficient contract administration, and supply analysis, when appropriate.
DATA AND RELIABILITY MODELS
(Escobar et al., 2003) mentioned in their article that there are two large and important areas of reliability:
- serviceable systems and replaceable components or units
In general, the analysis and modeling of data from these two areas require different assumptions about the data and different sampling schemes to obtain them. Extreme care must be exercised not to confuse these two types of reliability data, which can lead to incorrect analysis of the data.
Serviceable system data describes the trends and failure patterns of an entire system. These data require special statistical tools and may arise, for example, from monitoring a set of repairable units where the event of interest may be the failure of the units (to assess their reliability), the cost of repair (to assess the cost of operation / maintenance) or both.
Replaceable unit or component data describes times of failure or degradation of units that are not repaired. Among other reasons, a unit is not repaired because it is more practical or cheaper to replace it or it is very difficult to repair it. Sources of these data are: laboratory tests of materials or components and data of replaceable components or subsystems obtained from system monitoring tests. Although of a different nature, life data corresponding to the first failure of a system are also included in this category.
C OSTS OF RELIABILITY
(García, 2006) reminds us that the inherent reliability of a system or equipment is the maximum reliability that it can achieve based on its design and its manufacturing process. Maintenance can increase reliability, but not its inherent reliability. Regardless of the type and complexity of the system under study, three essential steps are required to assess the reliability of a system.
- Build a model for the analysis, then; Make the analysis of the model and the calculation of the appropriate reliability indices, and, finally, Make an evaluation and interpretation of the analyzed results
Globally, reliability is used to measure the performance and / or behavior of individual systems, equipment and / or components, in order to guarantee: the optimization of design, maintenance, quality and production costs; human, industrial and environmental security; the quantity and consequence of the failures; the quality of the products, among other aspects.
Obtaining reliability normally means saving money and preserving the integral security of the production system, a reason that leads to maintaining an "economic balance" that allows setting optimal levels of reliability. For example, a designer might ask himself if the system he is going to develop will be "reliable enough" instead of wondering if the system "will be reliable" and the answer requires quantifying the reliability by resorting directly to the tools of statistics and of course to the reliability theory.
(Zapata, 2011) in his article indicates that as the level of reliability increases, the level of investment required increases and vice versa. The cost of reliability must be weighed against the overall benefits for both the user and society. The acceptable level of reliability depends on what users and society as a whole are willing to pay for it. This acceptable level of reliability may be different from the mathematical optimum. To justify investments in reliability improvement, the costs associated with service failures or interruptions (outputs) for users, distribution companies and society must be defined. The outage cost is defined as the value of economic losses due to failure or exit.
S OFTWARE FOR CALCULATING RELIABILITY
(Cruz & Leonel, 2014) mention that numerous computer packages have been developed to perform reliability analysis, each one with its own degree of sophistication and characteristics that range from the use of graphics, a friendly interface, etc. Among them are:
- PROBAN (Probability Analysis). This program was developed in Norway for the marine industry at Det Norske Verita. This is a very easy-to-use program, and includes FORM, SORM, MonteCarlo simulation and response surface methods. It is available in versions for DOS and Windows. STRUREL(Struct ural Reliability). This program has been developed in Germany, at the Technical University of Munich by Prof. R. Rackwitz and his partners Contains the same tools as PROBAN, but is perhaps less expensive.CALREL (California Reliability). This program has been written by Prof. A Der. Kiureghian and his partners at the University of California (Berkeley). It contains the same applications as the previous programs, but is less developed as a commercial package. It can be obtained at a reasonable cost. RELAN(Reliability Analysis). This program has been written in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of British Columbia. RELAN is a reliability analysis program that calculates the probability of failure for a given performance criterion. RELAN implements not only FORM and SORM procedures, but also the response surface method, and simulation using the MonteCarlo method, adaptive or importance sampling techniques. It has a capacity of 50 random variables and 100 failure modes. In addition, it includes 9 types of probability distribution, with an option to modify each one for extreme distributions of minimums or maximums or for upper or lower limits. It also allows the correlation between random variables, specifying them in pairs,giving the number for the pair of correlated variables and its correlation coefficient.
TO THANKS AND THESIS TOPIC
I thank God for all his blessings, also for the opportunity to work through the process of improving myself. I thank the Technological Institute of Orizaba, the Master of Administrative Engineering, the subject of Fundamentals of Administrative Engineering, for challenging me every day to be better as a professional.
Topic: Implementation of Reliability Engineering in Customer Service to increase competitive advantage in the market.
Objective: Implement a reliability engineering system in the company, establishing indicators that allow to determine the failures in the Customer Service processes, giving way to continuous improvement.
B IBLIOGRAPHY
- Acuña, J. (2003). Reliability Engineering. Costa Rica: Editorial Tecnológica de CR. Arata, A. (2008). Engineering and management of operational reliability in industrial plants. Application of the R-MES Platform. RIL Editores.ASALE, R.-. (2017). engineering. Retrieved on March 21, 2017, from http://dle.rae.es/?id=La5bCfDCruz, M., & Leonel, J. (2014). Analysis of damage in reinforced concrete structures considering corrosion effects on reinforcing steel. Retrieved from http://cdigital.uv.mx/ handle / 123456789 / 41558Escobar, LA, Villa, ER, & Yáñez, S. (2003). Reliability: history, state of the art and future challenges. Dyna, 70 (140), 5-21.García, G. (2006). Introduction to the theory of reliability and its application in the design and maintenance of industrial equipment in a renovation process.Recovered from http://www.bdigital.unal.edu.co/12051/Lexicoon. (2017). Reliability - Definition and synonyms of reliability in the Spanish dictionary. Retrieved on March 21, 2017, from http://lexicoon.org/es/confiabilidadSueiro, G. (2012). What is Reliability? Recovered from https://avdiaz.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/calidad-y-confiabialidad.pdfValles, L. (2014). Fundamentals of Reliability Engineering. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.Zapata, CJ (2011). Reliability in Engineering (1st ed.). Colombia: Publiprint Ltda. Retrieved from: http://www.feis.unesp.br/Home/departamentos/engenhariaeletrica/lapsee/curso_2011_zapata_1.pdfRetrieved on March 21, 2017, from http://lexicoon.org/es/confiabilidadSueiro, G. (2012). What is Reliability? Retrieved from https://avdiaz.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/calidad-y-confiabialidad.pdfValles, L. (2014). Fundamentals of Reliability Engineering. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.Zapata, CJ (2011). Reliability in Engineering (1st ed.). Colombia: Publiprint Ltda. Retrieved from: http://www.feis.unesp.br/Home/departamentos/engenhariaeletrica/lapsee/curso_2011_zapata_1.pdfRetrieved on March 21, 2017, from http://lexicoon.org/es/confiabilidadSueiro, G. (2012). What is Reliability? Retrieved from https://avdiaz.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/calidad-y-confiabialidad.pdfValles, L. (2014). Fundamentals of Reliability Engineering. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.Zapata, CJ (2011). Reliability in Engineering (1st ed.). Colombia: Publiprint Ltda. Retrieved from: http://www.feis.unesp.br/Home/departamentos/engenhariaeletrica/lapsee/curso_2011_zapata_1.pdfCreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.Zapata, CJ (2011). Reliability in Engineering (1st ed.). Colombia: Publiprint Ltda. Retrieved from: http://www.feis.unesp.br/Home/departamentos/engenhariaeletrica/lapsee/curso_2011_zapata_1.pdfCreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.Zapata, CJ (2011). Reliability in Engineering (1st ed.). Colombia: Publiprint Ltda. Retrieved from:
