Kevin R.

Bringing my experience of reliability in the automotive sector to rail

I joined Ford Motor Company after a successful milk round interview during the first year of my BSc in Mechanical Engineering at Bath University. Following a very successful summer placement I was offer a job upon graduation non-dependent upon my degree classification (still gained a 2:1 !) I realised I enjoyed process engineering, quality and reliability and became Quality Supervisor for Dagenham Body and Assembly Plant. I joined Ford’s world class Engineering Quality Improvement Programme and later became one of Ford's first Six Sigma Master Black Belts . I was approached to help turn around Network Rail's Six Sigma programme for maintenance activity. To gain non-engineering, transactional experience, I became Senior Business Improvement Manager in Contracts and Procurement and reduced a process from 3 days to 18 second! As Reliability Improvement Manager for Signalling, I identified the need, wrote and gained stakeholder approval for NR’s mandated Design for Reliability (DFR) Standard, integrating reliability tools into design. I've briefed and taught this to NR, suppliers and European Infrastructure Management companies and was made a NR Technical Fellow, for experience and knowledge in the fields of quality and reliability. I won Kepner Tregoe’s combined technologies 2022 Global Excellence Award for my work on DFR and was shortlisted for the 2022 National Rail Award for Outstanding Personal Contribution to Rail. I am Chair of the IMechE’s Safety and Reliability Work Group and have written a regular article on DFR techniques for ‘Rail Infrastructure Magazine’ since July 2022.

Manage/direct the process designers of controlled products must follow

DFR is a mandated structured procedure identifying minimum requirements for suppliers to demonstrate they have designed reliability into new or changed controlled products and addressed potential reliability risks using documented outputs from proven tools. DFR was designed to address causes of unreliability, whilst also considering whole life cost. We expect our suppliers to demonstrate the use of DFR tools at Product Acceptance (PA) and we put greater emphasis on sharing historic failure mechanisms with suppliers. When applied to product changes, it considers best methods to confirm that correct cause/s have been identified and addressed. DFR adds a reliability element to the legal and safety elements of PA. Although DFR focuses on reliability, it assist safety, as reliability products need less manual intervention and eliminate both safety and non-safety related failures. The process is split into 11 Reliability Readiness Levels with most being possible before a physical prototype is made. This is followed by testing away from the operational railway under conditions that represent a thorough list of factors, identified in the real world, with particular attention to interactions with other systems. The final activities, after PA, then occur on the operational railway. DFR places increased early emphasis on installation processes, suitability of measurement equipment and maintenance regimes in the design process, where it is cheaper and quicker to make changes to address potential risks. Clear evidence of how our requirements are prioritised to become design features, process parameters and ultimately process controls is also required.

Feeling that I make a difference

I can see a short, direct, immediately and obvious link between how I spend my time at work and passengers arriving safely at their destinations on time. That outcome is why NR exists and what is spoken about nationally if it doesn't happen.

Be honest

Some people may not wish to mention their mistakes, but they are key learning opportunities in our lives if we decide to learn from them. Also, unless you are honest about how you may fit with a job and what your biggest challenges may be, you may end up in a role you don't enjoy, don't benefit from or may miss out on some available support.

Introduced proactive DFR process despite being told it wouldn't happen

Introducing a mandated process that puts barriers in place to avoid introducing unreliable products is tough. I was told by a very experienced colleague that it was impossible! But I achieved it and it has been mandated for 8 years. It was tough because: -It potentially slows down innovation (but who wants an unreliable innovative product!) -We have a vast array of controlled railway products and our process needs to cover all of them -There was little experience of the reliability tools in rail that had been used in other industries for decades -Tens of thousands of people need to be made aware of the new process and these people move roles -The new process is different to how we had done it for almost 200 years -Effort has to be expended now by people for later benefit of others -Etc.....