Often times reliability engineers are hired and told "make the plant more reliable". If it were only that simple. Reliability isn't a project, it's a process that lives and takes new shape and direction when appropriate. Reliability requires discipline, and it requires that everyone be involved.

Let's consider the foundation of a well-engineered reliability initiative. We have to understand where we are starting from, so a bit of up front legwork is required:

· Do you have senior leadership championing this cause?
· Do they really understand what their role is within the reliability program?
· Do they know that they are the "chief roadblock-removers" and "the directors of assimilation"?

A successful program requires that management be the head cheerleaders for the cause and instill the expectation of everyone working toward the common goal of improving reliability. Through leadership's direction and guidance, the processes will start to take hold and the plant's culture will start to evolve. As roadblocks arise, it is leadership's responsibility, built on the foundation of training and process, to remove them so the goal of reliability improvement can proceed.

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Tip Provided By: Michael Howard, MSc, CMRP, CSSBB
Director, Reliability Solutions, Mobius Institute