Training Courses

Objective:

To introduce the concept of Reliability Engineering and impart sufficient knowledge to the course attendees to allow them to oversee Reliability Engineering contracts and to apply the techniques used within ARM plans to simple systems.

Course Content:

General Introduction

Probability Theory, Boolean Algebra & Component Reliability Theory

Reliability Block Diagrams

HAZOP

Failure Modes and Effects Analysis

Reliability Centred Maintenance

Rapid Ranking

Fault Tree Analysis

Event Tree Analysis

Monte Carlo Simulation

Engineering applications and examples provided throughout

Objective:

To provide a general understanding of the HAZOP methodology and impart sufficient knowledge to the course attendees to allow them to participate in a HAZOP study of a system with which they are familiar.

Course Content:

Introduction to the HAZOP Methodology

Role of HAZOP in the Project Life Cycle

The HAZOP Technique

Preparation for the HAZOP Meeting

HAZOP 1 (Preliminary Hazard Analysis)

Identification of Nodes or Lines

HAZOP 2 (Full HAZOP Study)

Follow-Up Actions

Report and Documentation

Engineering applications and examples provided throughout

Objective:

To provide an overview of different techniques that can be used for Hazard Identification, including a brief outline of the approach, suitable applications, preparatory tasks, resource requirements, benefits and limitations.

Course Content:

Learning from Past Experience (checklists, codes and practices)

Structured Brainstorming Techniques (What If?, Cause and Effect Techniques, Scenario Creation)

Hazard Indices

Preliminary Hazard Analysis (PHA) and Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) Studies

Failure Modes and Effects Analysis

SNEAK Analysis

Human Error Identification

Fault Trees, Event Trees and Cause Consequence Analysis

Objective:

To introduce the FMEA methodology and impart sufficient knowledge to the course attendees to allow them to oversee an FMEA carried out by a third party and to discuss the results intelligently.

Course Content:

Introduction

FMEA Methodology

Breakdown of System into Sub-Systems

Functional FMEA

Component FMEA

Engineering applications and examples provided throughout

Objective:

To provide a general understanding of the FMECA methodology and impart sufficient knowledge to the course attendees to allow them to carry out their own FMECA of a system with which they are familiar.

Course Content:

Introduction

Reliability Block Diagrams

FMEA Methodology

Breakdown of System into Sub-Systems

Functional FMEA

Component FMEA

Criticality Analysis

Report & Documentation

Engineering applications and examples provided throughout

Objective:

To introduce the concept of ARM analysis and to impart sufficient knowledge to the course attendees to allow them to apply the techniques used within ARM to simple systems.

Course Content:

Introduction to ARM Analysis – Philosophy and Terminology

Overview of Reliability Block Diagrams

Introduction to Fault Tree Analysis

Overview of Failure Modes and Effects Analysis

Maintainability Issues

The ARM Plan

Case Study applying all of the techniques introduced within the course

Engineering applications and examples provided throughout

Objective:

To provide course attendees with an understanding of the assumptions underlying Markov analysis. At the end of the course the attendees will be able to carry out Markov analysis on simple systems.

Course Content:

The memoriless nature of Markov processes

Examples of Markov processes

Modelling the breakdown and repair of engineering components as Markov processes

Discrete Markov processes (Markov chains): the state-space diagram as defined by the states of the system and the transition probabilities between them

Deriving the solution of the discrete Markov process

Continuous Markov processes and their solution

Engineering applications and examples provided throughout

Objective:

To provide course attendees with an understanding of discrete and continuous probability distributions, and examples of how they arise in practice within engineering systems. At the end of the course the attendees will recognise those situations in which random variability occurs, and will be able to fit the most appropriate distribution to any given data set.

Course Content:

Probability and what it means

“Events” and Boolean algebra

Probability arithmetic

Probability distributions and how they are defined

The mean and standard deviation

Discrete distributions: Geometric, Binomial and Poisson

Continuous distributions: Normal, Exponential and Weibull

The Chi-Square distribution and goodness-of-fit test

Engineering applications and examples provided throughout

Objective:

To provide an appreciation of how statistical analysis can assist the engineer, covering the most useful techniques in practice, and engineering examples of their application. At the end of the course the attendees will understand the type of question that statistical analysis addresses, comprehend statistical statements, recognise those situations in which statistical analysis may be applied, and be able to identify the most appropriate type of statistical analysis in a given situation.

Course Content:

Statistical analysis, what it means, and examples of its engineering applications

The type of question statistical analysis addresses, and the range of techniques available

The expectation operator

The concept of unbiasedness

Estimating the mean and variance of a distribution

Testing hypotheses and calculating significance levels

Deriving confidence intervals

Regression analysis and the method of least squares

Straight-line regression and correlation

Non-linear regression analysis

Overview of other topics useful in an engineering context such as calibration methods, time series analysis, and statistical process control

Engineering applications and examples provided throughout

Objective:

To provide an understanding of the principles underlying economic appraisal and how they are applied in practice. At the end of the course attendees will know what information is needed for an economic appraisal to be carried out, and will be able to perform the required calculations.

Course Content:

The purpose of project (or investment) economic appraisal

Regarding a project as a flow of funds

The risks and rewards of capital investment

Risk aversion

The discounting rate and what it represents

The present value of an expenditure or income stream

The net present value (NPV) calculation for a project

The effect of taxation

Carrying out a sensitivity analysis

Checking the logic

Calculating the internal rate of return for the project

Other methods such as Pay-back Period, time-constrained NPV, etc.

Products are becoming increasingly dominated by software but the understanding and control of software reliability falls far short of the knowledge of hardware reliability.

As a product manufacturer or a procurer of major systems, you need confidence that the software component will be consistent with system reliability requirements. This course is designed to meet the needs of project managers, system analysts and software engineers.

The course is designed to increase understanding of current software reliability issues and examine:

How Software can be designed for improved reliability

How Software Reliability can be measured and modelled

This course has been specifically designed to meet the requirements of engineers and managers who need to understand the Fundamentals of Safety. An overview will be given of current trends in Safety Regulations and Safety Compliance, including Formal Safety Assessment and Human Error Analysis. Safety Management will be discussed, particularly the introduction of a Safety Case approach to the management of safety in defence (JSPs 430, 454 & 318) and transportation (e.g. Railtrack ESMS).

The course will include Safety Assessment workshops in HAZOP, FMECA and FTA to reinforce learning. The importance of a Safety Management will be discussed including structure and content of good safety management systems, requirements capture, life cycles, hazard logs, lessons learnt databases and independent safety assessment. The Human Link in the causes of accidents, their prevention and mitigation are important issues. These will be examined through the qualification and analysis of human error, perceptions of tolerable safety and the impact of the law.

One of the course days is dedicated to providing an understanding of Safety Critical Systems including the theory and practice of IEC 61508. It will introduce the concept of Safety Related Systems and Safety Integrity Levels through examples of different system types such as flight control computers and process plant shutdown systems.

Objective:

To impart sufficient knowledge to course attendees to allow them to construct their own fault trees and event trees for process systems and to quantify the unavailability or unreliability of those systems.

Course Content:

Introduction to Fault Tree Analysis

Fault Tree Symbols and Methodology

Fault Tree Construction

Fault Tree Reduction

Fault Tree Quantification

Dependent Failures

Event Tree Analysis

FTA Software Demonstration

Engineering applications and examples provided throughout

This course will provide prospective or recently appointed LSA managers and analysts within a Project Team with the knowledge to apply LSA techniques during the project life cycle as described within DEF STAN 00-60. Included within the course are the ILS management activities, Logistic Support Analysis (LSA) process, Reliability-Centred Maintenance (RCM), Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA), and AECMA SI000D & S2000M considerations. Delegates will be provided with an insight into the key LSA activities required to produce a cost-effective and meaningful LSA Record (LSAR). Over several course days, delegates will participate in an extensive practical exercise using CBT methods based on LSARUTE software to reinforce learning and ultimately demonstrate their understanding of the LSA processes.

Course presenters have many years of experience in the practical application of the ILS and LSA processes and regularly lecture in the UK, Europe and the USA. Other Reliability Consultants team members who have related experience add value to specialist sessions by supporting the main presenters. Two-way dialogue and discussion is encouraged, so delegates can gain from others’ experiences as well as those of the presenters.

This course builds on our experts unique knowledge of DEF STAN 00-60 and Mil-Std-1388-IA/2A/2B to provide ILS Managers in the MOD, Defence and non-Defence industry with a thorough knowledge of ILS processes and an introduction to LSA tools and techniques.
The course also provides a sound background to, and explains the key relationships in, DEF STAN 00-60, Mil-Std 1388-IA Tasks, Systems & Logistics Engineering, the LSAR, Mil-Std- I 388-2B, AECMA SI000D, AECMA 52000M, CALS, STEP and ILS Management responsibilities. Delegates will also be shown color=#000000>UKLSA, the MOD’s ILS tailoring tool. The ILS ‘One Stop Shop’ approach to LSA contains all the necessary LSA skills, including FMECA, ARM, RCM, LORA, LCC and safety.

Course presenters are all experienced ILS/LSA consultants who are specialists in their individual subjects. As co-authors of DEF-STAN 00-60, the experts have unparalleled knowledge of the Standard and are abreast of current and planned developments of the Standard and the developing ILS ISO Standard.

The objective of the course is to discuss the factors that affect preventive maintenance and to guide delegates through the MSG-3 process. The course is designed for engineers who need a thorough insight into MSG-3 analysis through to the production of maintenance schedules. The course will particularly benefit Reliability and Maintainability Engineers who have to undertake reliability analysis and produce planned maintenance schedules in both the airlines and civil aircraft industry.

Risk Management may seem a complex subject. In fact, by using the Project Risk Management methodology, risk management is a relatively simple process. This one-day course will provide delegates with a clear understanding of the principles and practices within the formal risk management process. The course programme follows an “Action Learning” style where an overview of the Risk Management process is provided initially, followed by application of the process in a risk review setting, where the course presenter takes the role of facilitator and a risk register is created and a Monte Carlo analysis of a project plan is developed. The outline provided in the overview session will be built upon during the Risk Review to provide a deeper understanding of the key issues of Risk Management.

The aim of the one-day Earned Value Management (EVM) course is to explain the fundamental processes and behaviours needed to gain the real benefits from Earned Value Management.
The course is designed for delegates with limited or no prior experience in Earned Value Management. There are many different roles within an organisation that can be affected by an Earned Value Management System. The main objectives are to:

Understand the fundamentals of an Earned Value Management System
Understand the benefits that can be gained by all roles touched by an EVMS who are attending the course
Experience base EV analysis.

The aim of the one-day benefits realisation management course is to generate a theoretical and practical understanding of benefits realisation methodologies, and the issues surrounding implementation within projects and change initiatives. It is expected that project managers, change champions and colleagues required to generate business cases will benefit most from this course.
The course is designed for delegates with no prior experience in benefits realisation theory or methods. The main objectives are to:

Understand how benefits realisation management can drive projects and change initiatives at the investment decision point and beyond
Gain an appreciation of the major techniques associated with benefits realisation, and how they complement other project control methodologies
Understand the relative merits and constraints of benefits realisation techniques
Experience benefits realisation techniques first-hand through practice sessions
Understand the key stages of benefits realisation implementation.
The training course is delivered through the presentation of theories and concepts augmented by case studies. The latter will represent a range if typical scenarios experienced in projects or change initiatives, addressed by management through benefits realisation. Delegates will be grouped into small syndicates to work on case studies and encouraged to share ideas and learning through formal and informal feedback sessions. This approach ensures that theoretical and practical aspects of benefit realisation management are emphasised and understood.

Delegates will receive all course notes in hard and soft copy and, on completion, the shared learning, proposals and solutions generated from course colleagues.