Reliability engineering is primarily concerned with application of technical skills and ingenuity to the correction of equipment problems causing excessive production downtime and maintenance work. The position is dedicated to the maintenance function and is focused on the elimination of repetitive failure.
- Ensure maintainability of new installations.
- Identify and correct chronic and costly equipment problems, eliminate repetitive failure.
- Technical advice to maintenance and partners.
- Design and monitor an effective and economically justified preventive or predictive maintenance programs.
- Proper operation and care of equipment.
- Comprehensive lubrication program.
- Inspection, adjustments, parts, replacements, overhauls, and the like, for selected equipment.
- Vibration and other predictive analyses.
- Protection from environment.
- Maintain and analyze equipment data and history records to predict maintenance needs
Reliability engineering is primarily a strategic activity focused on the future. However, there also exists a need for tactical assistance to the operations and maintenance functions for methods improvement, identification and establishment of best design, procurement, installation, operating,
maintenance and repair practices, and developing methods to reduce losses from optimum performance levels. Some of these tasks, for example, failure analyses, sustaining maintenance, primarily deal with maintenance tactics and are usually performed by a maintenance engineer. In larger organizations, these roles are separate, but combined in most midrange and smaller organizations. For the purposes of this manual, we will consider the roles combined under the title of reliability engineer.