ReliaSoft's Reliability HotWire: Issue 63

In this issue:

Issue 63, May 2006

	Hot Topics
	Reliability Basics
	Tool Tips
	Latest Software Updates
	Hot News
	Contribute to HotWire

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Hot Topics

Modeling Event Trees in RENO

Event Trees are excellent tools for assisting analysts in assessing risks (or any type of event) and the probabilities of different possible outcomes. Event trees rely on an effective structured framework within which the different events can be laid out and the possible outcomes of the sequence of events can be investigated. Event trees are widely used in many fields such as finance, economics, reliability, risk assessment and numerous other probabilistic types of analysis. They help in creating a holistic picture of the risks and rewards associated with each possible course of action. They very are popular due to their simplicity. This article introduces event trees and presents an approach for modeling them using RENO.

Reliability Basics

Minimal Cut Sets

Traditional solution of reliability block diagrams and fault trees involves the determination of the so-called minimal cut sets. Minimal cut sets are the unique combinations of component failures that can cause system failure. Specifically, a cut set is said to be a minimal cut set if, when any basic event is removed from the set, the remaining events collectively are no longer a cut set.

Minimal cut sets have traditionally been used to obtain an estimate of reliability for complex reliability block diagrams (RBDs) or fault trees that can not be simplified by a combination of the simple constructs (parallel, series, k-out-of-n). BlockSim has the capability to derive an exact analytical solution to complex diagrams and therefore does not utilize the cut sets methodology. Cut sets are provided in BlockSim for interested users.

Tool Tips

Tips on working with plots in Weibull++ and RENO
In Weibull++, can returns be allowed in the same periods as the sales periods?

Latest Software Updates

New service releases are now available for Xfmea Standard (SR 3.5.2), Xfmea Enterprise (SR 3.5.2) and RCM++ (SR 3.5.2). To determine the compile revision of the application on your computer, select About from the Help menu. More Software Downloads...

Application	Date Created	Version
Xfmea
Xfmea Standard Xfmea Enterprise	5/9/06	3.5.2
Xfmea Standard Update Xfmea Enterprise Update	5/9/06	SR 3.5.2
RCM++
RCM++	5/9/06	3.5.2
RCM++ Update	5/9/06	SR 3.5.2

Hot News

North American ARS 2006 Coming Up Fast!!! Next months Applied Reliability Symposium will once again provide a forum for industry experts and reliability practitioners to discuss the practical application of reliability principles. Real world challenges and the success stories associated with them will be the primary focus. Don't miss this rapidly approaching event. Simply visit http://www.ARSymposium.org/register.htm to register now. The Symposium is scheduled for June 14 - 16, 2006 at the Sheraton World Resort in sunny Orlando, Florida, USA. Rooms must be reserved by May 22, 2006 to be eligible for the reduced rate of $98.00 per night.

ReliaSoft Representation at EuroMaintenance 2006 The EuroMaintenance 2006 3rd World Congress on Maintenance (http://www.ewc06.ch/) represents the entire spectrum of the world market for Maintenance, Facility and Asset Management in Basel, Switzerland, on June 20 - 22, 2006. It also offers a meeting place for managers, decision makers, professors and experts from every continent. David Thompson (dave@ramsoftuk.com) of ReliaSoft's partner RAMsoft will be present to address questions and demonstrate a variety of software tools. Early appointments can be scheduled by calling +44 1706 825021 or +44 1706 825162.

Asia Pacific ARS 2006 - September 13 - 14, 2006 will be held at the Hotel Istana in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The International Applied Reliability Symposium (ARS) provides a forum for expert presenters from industry and government to come together with reliability practitioners from all over the world to discuss the application of reliability principles to meet real world challenges. The theme this year will be, "Sharing applications, success stories and lessons learned in reliability and maintainability engineering."

Discount for Advanced Registration: You must register for the 2006 Symposium by July 1, 2006 to take advantage of the Advanced Registration discount. Visit http://www.ARSymposium.org/asia/register.htm for easy online registration.

Public Training Event Calendar

June 2006

June 5 - 9, 2006: RS 540 Repairable Systems Analysis in Manila, Philippines

June 12 - 13, 2006: RS 401(C) Life Data Analysis (Condensed) in Pune, India

June 12 - 16, 2006: MSMT Foundations in Penang, Malaysia

June 14 - 16, 2006: International Applied Reliability Symposium in Orlando, Florida

June 26 - 30, 2006: MSMT Foundations in Warsaw, Poland

August 2006

August 7 - 8, 2006: RS 401(C) Life Data Analysis (Condensed) in New Delhi, India

August 28 - September 1, 2006: MSMT Foundations in San Diego, California

September 2006

September 13 - 14, 2006: International Applied Reliability Symposium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

September 18 - 20, 2006: RS 522 Advanced System Analysis and BlockSim in Tucson, Arizona

September 21 - 22, 2006: RS 470 FMEA/FMECA and Xfmea in Tucson, Arizona

September 25 - 29, 2006: MSMT Foundations in Manchester, UK

Contribute to HotWire

Contributions Welcomed
As always, your feedback and contributions are appreciated. ReliaSoft is able to provide the most user-friendly reliability software packages and support because we listen to our customers. This applies to our newsletters and publications as well. We welcome any suggestions or contributions you may have for Reliability HotWire. If you have a topic or article that you think would be useful to the readers of Reliability HotWire, feel free to contact us.