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Handbook of Maintenance Management and Engineering

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The Handbook of Maintenance Management and Engineering covers a wide range of topics in maintenance management and engineering. It includes extensive references to the theoretical foundations, recent research and future directions of this important subject. Using applications and examples which reflect the growing importance of maintenance, this book presents readers with an inter-disciplinary perspective on topical issues which affect any organization engaged in manufacturing, process, or service industry, no matter how large or small. Contributors to the book are maintenance experts with both academic and industrial backgrounds, who are able to offer a comprehensive analysis of the subject matter, including both quantitative treatment and discussion of management issues. The Handbook of Maintenance Management and Engineering features both fundamental and applied works from across the whole maintenance spectrum. It will provide professionals with the solutions and management skills needed to evaluate and to continuously improve maintenance systems. This handbook will also be an invaluable resource for researchers and graduate students working in this area.
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Mirce Functionability Equation
Dr Jezdimir Knezevic
MIRCE Akademy, Woodbury Park, Exeter, EX5 1JJ, UK
Abstract
Scientific principles and concepts expressed through the laws, equations and formulas are the bedrock for the
prediction of the deign-in functionality performance of any engineering creation. However, there is no
equivalent when the in-service functionability performance predictions have to be made. Hence, Mirce
Mechanics has been created at the MIRCE Akademy to fulfil the roll. The main purpose of this paper is to
present the development and application of Mirce Functionability Equation which is the bedrock for the
prediction of the functionability performance of maintainable systems.
I. The Concept of Functionality
According to Einstein Everything that the
human race has done and thought is concerned with
the satisfaction of felt needs”.
Human needs for transporting, communicating,
defending, entertaining and many other functions are
satisfied by ships, airplanes, tractors, computers,
radios and other systems. As they are functioning in
accordance to the laws of science, which are
independent of time, place and human impact, their
design-in performance, like speed, acceleration,
power, fuel consumption and many others, are
accurately predictable. [1]
II. The Science of Functionality
The theoretical foundations of designing systems
are laws of science that describe observable natural
phenomena, known to humans so far. Among them
laws of motion are the most significant from the life
cycle engineering and management point of view, in
respect to functionality of a system. Some of them
are very briefly addressed in this paper as the
scientific foundation for the development of the laws
of the motion of functionability. Hence:
Newton's laws of motion are three physical laws that
form the basis for classical mechanics. These laws
describe the relationship between the forces acting on
a body and the motion of that body. They were first
compiled by Sir Isaac Newton in his work
Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, first
published on July 5, 1687.Newton used them to
explain and investigate the motion of many physical
objects and systems, from the “apple” to planets.
Kepler's laws of planetary motion are three
astronomical laws that describe the motion of planets
around the Sun. From them it is possible to
accurately predict either what the position of the
planet is at a given time, or the time when the planet
is in a given position.
Maxwell's equations are a set of four partial
differential equations that relate the electric and
magnetic fields to their sources, charge density and
current density.
NavierStokes equations, describe the motion of
fluid substances. These equations arise from applying
Newton’s second law to the motion of fluid, together
with the assumption that the fluid stress is the sum of
a diffusing viscous term (proportional to the gradient
of velocity), plus a pressure term. The equations are
useful because they describe the physics of many
things from modelling the weather, ocean currents,
water flow in a pipe, air flow around a wing and
motion of stars inside a galaxy. In their full and
simplified forms help with the design of aircraft and
cars, the study of blood flow, the design of power
stations, the analysis of pollution, and many other
things.
Boltzmann transport equation, is used to study the
motion of physical quantities such as heat and charge
through fluid, and thus to derive transport properties
such as electrical conductivity, viscosity, and thermal
conductivity. Physicists today use the equation to
model gases in everything from nuclear power
stations to galaxies
Heisenberg's equation of motion was the first
complete and correct definition of quantum
mechanics, branch of physics that study the motion of
subatomic particles. It extended the Bohr model of
atom by describing how the quantum jumps occur, by
interpreting the physical properties of particles as
matrices that evolve in time. The Heisenberg
equation of motion, named after Werner Heisenberg
who formulate it in 1925.
Schrödinger equation describes how the quantum
state of a physical system changes in time. It is as
central to quantum mechanics as Newton's laws are
RESEARCH ARTICLE OPEN ACCESS
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to classical mechanics. In the standard interpretation
of quantum mechanics, the quantum state, also called
a wavefunction or state vector, is the most complete
description that can be given to a physical system.
The equation is named after Erwin Schrödinger, who
constructed it in 1926. Solutions to Schrödinger's
equation describe not only molecular, atomic and
subatomic systems, but also macroscopic systems,
possibly even the whole universe.
In summary, scientific principles and concepts
expressed through the laws, equations and formulas
are the bedrock of any engineering creation. They
have achieved that status by providing accurate
predictions for all engineering and management
concepts, scenarios and “dreams”.
III. Concept of Maintainable System
At the end of production or construction process,
when all consisting components are assembled
together and relationships between them established,
a new physical system is “born” with capability to
deliver all expected functionality characteristics. That
unique, infinitesimally short instant of time, is
denoted as t=0, to mark the beginning of the system
operational process. Thus, each system will have its
own “birth” time, which is very important from the
system life point of view. At that instant the system
is, for the very first time in its life, able to satisfy
users’ needs by delivering functionality (function,
performance and attributes). Hence, functionality
characteristics of the system are inherited from its
design process and cannot be changed during the
system life, apart from implementing some
modifications and redesigns.
For example, in 1969, engineers and managers of
the Boeing Corporation have deliver to the world first
wide body aircraft, named Boeing 747, series 100
with the known functionality characteristics.:
Passengers
3-class configuration
2-class configuration
1-class configuration
366
452
N/A
Cargo;
6,19 ft3 = 30 LD-1
containers
Engines
maximum thrust
Pratt & Whitney
JT9D-7A
46,500 lb (20,925 kg)
Rolls-Royce
RB211-524B2
50,100 lb (22,545 kg)
GE CF6-45A2
46,500 lb (20,925 kg)
Maximum Fuel
Capacity
48,445 U.S. gal (183,380 L)
Maximum Takeoff
Weight
735,000 lb (333,400 kg)
Maximum Range
6,100 statute miles (9,800
km)
Typical Cruise Speed
at 35,000 feet
Mach 0.84
555 mph (895 km/h)
Basic Dimensions
Wing Span
Overall Length
Tail Height
Interior Cabin Width
195 ft 8 in (59.6 m)
231 ft 10.2 in (70.6 m)
63 ft 5 in (19.3 m)
20 ft (6.1 m)
It is expected that each Boeing 747-100 series
aircraft have the same functionality, under identical
environmental conditions, because the laws of nature
are independent of time and the location in the
universe, However, experience teaches us that in-
service performance of these systems is dominated by
phenomena like fatigue, operator induced errors,
corrosion, creep, foreign object damage, a faulty
weld, bird strike, perished rubber, carburettor icing,
to name just a few. These phenomena generate
energy exchanges between systems and environment,
leading to the loss of the design-in function or
performance. Hence, maintaining the deign-in
performance beyond the delivery day requires actions
like troubleshooting, repairs, replacements,
modifications, diagnostics, “cannibalisations” and
similar to be performed.
In summary, any entity that satisfy human needs
by performing a measurable function whose design-
in functionality is maintained by humans is defined
as a maintainable system.
IV. The Concept of Functionability
Thus, the ability of being functional through
time, known as functionability, is an essential in-
service property of maintainable systems.
From functionability point of view, at any instant
of time a system can be in one of the following two
states:
Positive Functionability State, PFS, which is the
state of being functional
Negative Functionability State, NFS, which is
the state of not being functional
The motion of the system through functionability
states is governed by the occurrence of
functionability events, which are classified as:
Positive Functionability Events, PFE, which
cause the transition from NFS to PFS
Negative Functionability Events, NFE, which
cause the transition from PFS to NFS
Consequently, the life of a maintainable system
could be considered as motion of system through
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functionability states. The pattern generated by the
motion of functionability through functionability
states, in respect to the passage of time, forms the
functionability trajectory.
V. Functionability Questions
One of the major concerns of design engineers
and project managers are predictions of operation,
maintenance and support resources required for
maintaining systems in positive operational state
through their life. These include diagnostic
equipment, skilled and trained maintenance
personnel, maintenance facilities, spare parts,
inspection tools, technical data, storage facilities,
means of transportations and so forth. Often the cost
of these resources considerably exceeds the purchase
cost of system itself. Equally, the lack of
maintenance resources causes further delays in the
recovery of functionality. Hence, some balance
between investment in the resources and the time
delays incurred by their deficiency is required. To
make that trade off, engineers and managers, need to
find the answer to the following functionability
related questions:
How many Negative Functionability Events are
going to occur?
What types of Negative Functionality Events are
going to occur?
What frequencies of Negative Functionability
Events are going to be?
How the cause of Negative Functionability Event
will be detected?
How long systems are going to be in Negative
Functionability State?
How long systems are going to be in Positive
Functionability State?
Unlike the functionality questions to which
existing laws of science readily provide the answers,
the above raised functionability questions stayed
unanswered. Existing equations of motion, some of
which are briefly presented at the beginning of this
paper, are not able to even the address the above
questions, not because they are incorrect, but because
they are not created to address these phenomena.
In summary, without ability to provide accurate
answers to functionability questions design
engineering and project management are not in the
position make the trade off between the cost of
resources required to maintain systems in positive
functionability states and the consequential losses
while they are in negative functionability states.
VI. Concept of Mirce Mechanics
The development of science started when people
began to study phenomena not merely observing
them. People developed instruments and learned to
trust their readings, rather than to rely on their own
perceptions. They recorded the results of their
measurements in the form of numbers. Supplied with
these numbers they began to seek relationships
between them and to write down in the form of
formulas. Then the formulas became the only things
they came to trust when they began to predict things
they could not physically experience.
Consequently, to address functionability
questions the author established the MIRCE
Akademy in 1999. Staff, Fellows, Members and
students of the Akademy study in-service behaviour
of maintainable systems to:
Physically observe the emerging trajectory of the
motion of functionability through the life of
maintainable systems and to measure emerging
in-service performance
Scientifically understand mechanisms that cause
the motion of a functionability through the life
of maintainable systems, within the physical
scale from 10-10 to 1010 metre [2,3,,4,5,6,7]
Mathematically define the scheme for the
prediction of in-service performance of a given
design-in system, for a given in-service
conditions and rules.
A science based body of knowledge, formulated
through axioms, formulas, methods, rules and
algorithms for predicting the in-service performance
of the future systems, resulting from their motion
through the functionability states in respect to time
constitutes Mirce Mechanics.
The ability to simultaneously predict the design-
in functionality performance and in-service
functionability performance of the future systems is
of fundamental importance for the engineers,
managers, investors, regulators and other specialists
who are responsible for the satisfaction of the
“human felt needs”, in reliable, economical and safe
manner, for the future transportation, communication,
defence, energy, entertainment and many other
functions delivered by maintainable systems.
VII. The Concept of Motion in Mirce
Mechanics
Motion is one of the most complex concepts of
science. The images it creates in our minds are
diverse as the “jiggling” of atoms and molecules to
the movement of planets, and beyond.
Since the earliest years of science the only idea
of motion imagined was that of mechanical motion,
so there is a tendency to view all other kinds of
motion in terms of the concept of trajectory. As the
science progressed, this naturally became impossible,
for instance when the attempt was made to conceive
the electrical motion. It could be possible, of course,
to think in the case of a high-voltage transmission
line that wire is the “trajectory” of the electric
signals. However, such a mental picture would have
no practical purpose, as the electromagnetic waves
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could not have been viewed as a liquid flowing
through the wires.
Consequently, the question by which the motion
of functionability through the life of maintainable
systems is to be described must contain only those
quantities that can be measured physically. Research
performed shown that it could only be seen as the
change in the functionability state of a system
through time. Hence, a life of any maintainable
system could be viewed as a sequence of occurrences
of positive and negative functionability events that
“move” systems through functionability states.
In summary, in Mirce Mechanics the motion of
functionability is perceived as the change in the
functionability state of a system in relation to
functionability state variables, with respect to the
passage of time. Functionability state variables are
measures of functionality performance of a system
that uniquely determine the functionability states of a
system.
VIII. Mechanisms of Motion
As statistics does not study the cause of
statistical behaviour, to understand that motion of
functionability it was necessary to scientifically
analyse the mechanisms that generate functionability
events.
To understand the mechanisms that generate
negative functionability events analysis of over tens
of thousands of components, modules and assemblies
of systems in defence, aerospace, transportation,
motorsport, nuclear, communication and other
industries, had been studied at the MIRCE Akademy.
As it has a profound impact on all aspects of the in-
service life on any maintainable system several
research studies have been performed by the Master
and Doctoral students of the MIRCE Akademy with
aim to understand the physical mechanisms that
caused their occurrences.
All physical phenomena that cause the motion of
a system from the positive to negative functionability
states are known as negative functionability events.
Mechanisms that generate negative functionability
events belong to the following three categories:
Overstress mechanisms, where acting stresses
generated by mechanical, electrical, thermal,
radiation, chemical and other type of energy
exceed that strength of components and systems
subjected, resulting from phenomena like foreign
object damage (birds, hail, rain, snow),
lightening, abuse by operators, maintenance
errors and similar
Wearout mechanisms, where cumulative
damage, generated by mechanical, electrical,
thermal, radiation, chemical and other type of
energy, is accumulated through processes like,
corrosion, fatigue, creep, wear and similar.
Human actions, where the transition from
positive to negative state results from direct
decision taken by humans. Most frequently these
actions are performed as a part of scheduled
maintenance tasks performed to check the state
of a system, to preventively replace
predetermined components or to install modified
components.
All physical phenomena that cause the motion of
a system from the negative to positive functionability
states are known as positive functionability events.
Mechanisms that generate positive events belong to
the following categories [8]:
Servicing: replenishment of consumable fluids,
cleaning, washing, painting, etc.
Lubrication: installing or replenishing lubricant.
Inspection: Examination of an item against a
defined physical standard.
General visual inspection: performed to detect
obvious unsatisfactory conditions.
It may require the removal of panels and access
doors, work stands, ladders, and may be required
to gain access.
Detailed visual inspection: consists of intensive
visual search for evidence of any irregularity.
Inspection aids, like mirrors, special lighting,
hand lens, boroscopes, etc. are usually required.
Surface cleaning may be required, as well as
elaborate access procedure.
Special visual inspection: an intensive
examination of specific area using special
inspection equipment such as radiography,
thermography, dye penetrant, eddies current,
high power magnification or other NDT.
Elaborate access and detailed disassembly may
be required.
Check: a qualitative or quantitative assessment
of function.
Examination: a quantitative assessment of
one/more functions on an item to determine
whether it performs within acceptable limits.
Operational: a qualitative assessment to
determine whether an item is fulfilling its
intended function. It does not require quantitative
tolerances.
Restoration: perform to return an item to a
specific standard. This may involve cleaning,
repair, replacement or overhaul.
Discard: removal of an item from service.
All of the above listed mechanisms of the motion
of systems through positive and negative
functionability states are observable physical
processes or recognisable human actions. [9]
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IX. Mathematics of Motion in Mirce
Mechanics
Results of experiments and observations
performed thus far unquestionably lead to conclusion
that the deterministic regularity found in the
continuous motion of functionality, such as speed,
acceleration and similar, studied by classical
mechanics, cannot be found in respect to the motion
of functionability through time. What can be found is
discrete motion with statistical variability, as shown
in Figure 1.
Thus, functionability trajectories, generated by
similar individual systems, under similar
circumstances vary among them self, to the degree
that no two trajectories are identical. Therefore, the
proven formulas of Newtonian mechanics that govern
the motion of macroscopic bodies through time
cannot be used for predicting the motion of
functionability through time, as far as the
functionability trajectory is concerned
The relative frequency histogram of the motion
of functionability through the life of sample size of
497 systems at specific instances of time is obtained
by using well known statistical expression:
Number fo systems in PFS @ t
'( ) Total Number of Systems Orserved
yt
1.
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
040 80 120 160 200 240 280 320 360 400 440 480 520 560 600 640 680 720 760 800 840 880 920 960 1000
Figure 1: Relative Frequency Histogram of the
Motion of Functionability through the life of 497
Systems at specific instances of time
Clearly, functionability histograms can be
produced only after the data have been generated,
which means after the events. However, the objective
of Mirce Mechanics is to develop equation that will
be able to predict the data that are going to be
observed, in the similar manner as the predictions
made by Newton’s, Maxwell’s, Schrödinger’s
become confirmed by the future events.
Mirce Mechanics Formulas, developed at the
MIRCE Akademy, by D Knezevic, are mathematical
expressions of the physically observed processes of
the motion of systems through functionability states
and they define and predict physically measurable
properties of system functionability in the
probabilistic terms.
The laws of probability are just as rigorous as
other mathematical laws. However, they do have
certain unusual features and clearly delineated
domain of application. For example, it can be readily
verify that in the case of a large number of systems
failure phenomena will occur in a specific number of
the cases, and the law is more accurate the more
systems are observed. However, this accurate
knowledge will be of no help in predicting the
occurrence of functionability events in each
individual case. This is what distinguishes the laws
of probability: the concept of probability is valid only
for an individual event and it is possible to work out a
number that corresponds to it. However, it can only
be measured when identical tests are repeated a great
number of times. Only then can the measured value,
the probability, be used to assess the occurrence of
each individual functionability event, which is one of
the possible outcomes of the test.
The unusual features of the laws of probability
have a natural explanation. In fact, most probabilistic
events are results of quite complex physical
processes, which in many cases cannot be studied or
understood in all of its intricacy. Such inability takes
its toll, as it is only possible to predict with certainty
the average result of numerous identical tests. Thus,
for each functionability event it is only possible to
indicate its likely outcome.
Probabilistic predictions of the functionability
trajectory are based on the framework of the
sequence of occurrences of Positive and Negative
Functionability Events, whose individual and
cumulative times are measured as shown in the
Figure below.
Figure 2: Individual and Cumulative Times to
Functionability Events
Based on the Figure 2, the following functions are
used:
Negative Function, Fi(t), which defines the
probability that the ith NFE will take place before or
at instant of time t is defined in the following way:
( ) ( ), 1,
ii
F t P TNE t i
. 2.
Positive Function, Oi(t), which define the
probability that the ith PFE will take place before or at
instant of time t is defined by the following
expression:
( ) ( ), 1,
ii
O t P TPE t i
. 3.
Probability distribution that defines this event is
uniquely determined by the physical properties of the
process that generate positive functionability event
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(replacement, repair, calibration, modification and
similar) [9].
Sequential Negative Function, Fi(t), which
defines the probability that the ith sequential NFE will
take place before or at instant of time t, is defined as:
i
( ) ( ), 1,
i
F t P TNE t i
. 4.
Sequential Positive Function, Oi(t), which
defines the probability that the ith sequential PFE will
take place before or at instant of time t: is presented
in the following manner:
. 5.
Equations E3 and E4 define the sequence of
functionability events for any maintainable system.
Having determined the probability distribution and its
governing parameters of the times to subsequent
functionability event, positive and negative, it is
possible to develop a mathematical scheme that will
provide opportunity to predict the future sequence of
functionability events for any given system. This is
the essence of the Mirce Mechanics, which is the
only theory available to design engineers to
quantitatively predict the consequences of all of their
decisions on in-service behaviour of their future
systems.
X. Mirce Functionability Equation
The trajectory of functionability is uniquely
defined by the sequence of functionability events,
from the birth of the system to its decommissioning.
Thus, the fundamental equation of Mirce Mechanics,
the functionability equation y(t), that defines the
probability of a system being functionable at a given
instant of time t is defined as:
0
1
0
( ) ( @ )
( @ )
i
i
ii
i
y t P PFS t
P PFS t
P TPE t P TNE t




Making use of equations 3 and 4, while bearing in
mind that
0(0) 1O
, as a system starts its life in
positive functionability state, the above expression of
functionability equation could be presented in its
final form:
( ) 1 ( ) ( )y t t t

6.
where:
1
( ) ( )
i
i
t P TNE t

is the expected number of
negative functionability events that will take place
from the birth of a system and a given instant of time
t.
1
( ) ( )
i
i
t P TPE t

is the expected number of
positive functionability events that will take place
from the birth of a system and a given instant of time
t. This expression is developed by the author and it
is named Mirce Functionability Equation. It defines
the trajectory of a functionability through the
probability of a system being in positive
functionability state at a given instant of time t.
The unit of functionability determined in
accordance to the Mirce Functionability Equation, .is
1 Senna [1S]. It is quantified by the probability of
maintainable system being in PFS at a given instant
of time.
Making use of existing observational data related
to the in-service behaviour of a sample of 497
systems, operating in similar environmental and
utilisation conditions, the probability laws that drive
shapes of positive and negative functions defined by
the equations 2-5 where determined. The obtained
functions are shown in Figure 3, where the green
lines represent positive functions and the read lines
represents negative functions.
The functionability trajectory, calculated in
accordance to the expression 6 is shown with a black
line in the Figure 3.
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1.0
0100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Figure 3: Functionability profile calculated by Mirce
Functionability Equation for the Example shown in
Figure 1.
Analytical solutions for the Mirce
Functionability Equation are seldom possible due to
inability of mathematics to deal with the large
number of functions and their interactions. These
types of problems are not specifically related to the
Mirce Mechanics; they are common to all scientific
disciplines of this nature, as it is a known
mathematical fact that the integral equations do not
have analytical solutions. [10]
However, it is necessary to develop
computational methods to deal with the mathematical
difficulties as it is unacceptable to simplify observed
reality of system in-service behaviour in order to
cope with mathematical limitations. [11]
For the numerical example used in this paper the
result of the application of the Monte Carlo
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simulation method performed to obtained quantitative
solution of the Mirce Functionability Equation is
shown in Figure 4 as dots.
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1.0
0100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Figure 4: Functionability profile calculated by Mirce
Functionability Equation
XI. The Impact of Mirce Functionability
Equation on System Engineering and
Management
Although science has to be truthful, rather then
useful, the body of knowledge of Mirce Mechanics is
essential for scientists, mathematicians, engineers,
managers, technicians and analysts in industry,
government and academia to predict functionability
trajectories of the future systems, for a given
configurations, in-service rules and conditions, in
order to manage functionability events in the way
that the functionability performance is delivered
through the life of system, at least investment in
resources and environmental impact. For that to
happened, the science proven method is needed, very
much different from the classical scientific
knowledge, described trough the type of the
equations mentioned in the introductory part of the
paper, because functionability performance are
defined in the following way:
Every scheduled flight will leave on time with a
probability of at least 0.97 or in other words, it is
acceptable to have no more than three delays, on
average, out of 100 flights;
The direct maintenance cost will not exceed 25
% of the purchase cost with a probability of 0.95;
The probability that the production line will be
fully operational during the specified in-service
time will be not less than 0.91;
In system consisting of several systems, at least
90% of them will be operational at all times with
a probability not less than 0.925;
The mission reliability will be greater than 0.98
for missions shorter than 500 hours;
There should be 5 NFEs among 1000 systems,
on average, during the first 10 years of service,
with a probability of 0.95.
Each 10 hour flight will be successfully
completed with probability of 0.995, during the
first 20 years of operation
Consequently, the only way to address
performance targets formulated in the way above is
to use concept and principles of Mirce Mechanics to
evaluate engineering and management options, at the
time when fundamental and irreversible decision are
made regarding future systems.
XII. Conclusion
This paper clearly demonstrates that
functionability performance of any maintainable
system is very much different from its functionality
performance, in physical, technical, engineering and
management sense.
This paper also demonstrates that functionability
performance is the time dependent property of the
system and its motion is manifested through the
sequence of transitions through positive and negative
functionability states.
Like in the classical mechanics, where the
continuous uniform motion is natural state of the
macro world that is fully defined and predictable by
Newton’s equations, or in quantum mechanics where
the continuous motion is also natural state of a micro
world fully described and predictable by Schrodinger
equation, in Mirce Mechanics continuous change in
the functionability states is a natural state of
maintainable systems during they in-service life,
which is fully defined and predictable by Mirce
Functionability Equation.
Finally, Mirce Functionability Equation is the
scientific foundation of the System Engineering and
Management predictions and analysis regarding the
motion of functionability through the life of
maintainable system.
References
[1] Knezevic, J., Functionability in Motion,
Proceedings 10th International Conference
on Dependability and Quality, DQM
Institute, 2010, Belgrade, Serbia.
[2] Zaczyk, I., Analysis of the Influence of
Atmospheric Radiation Induced Single Event
Effects on Avionics Failures, Master
Diploma Dissertation, MIRCE Akademy,
2008.
[3] Knezevic, J., Scientific Scale of Reliability,
Proceedings of International Conference on
Reliability, Safety and Hazard, Bhabha
Atomic Research Centre, 2010, Mumbai,
India.
[4] Zaczyk. I., Knezevic, J. , Cosmic
Phenomena in Mirce Mechanics Approach
to Reliability and Safety, International
Journal of Life Cycle Reliability and safety,
Vol 2, Issue No 2, 2013, ISSn-2250 0820,
Society for Reliability and Safety, India.
[5] Bader, R.F.W., Atoms in Molecules: a
Quantum Theory, Oxford University Press,
Dr Jezdimir KNEZEVIC Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applications www.ijera.com
ISSN : 2248-9622, Vol. 4, Issue 8( Version 7), August 2014, pp.93-100
www.ijera.com 100 | P a g e
Oxford, UK, 1990. ISBN 978-0-19-855866-
1
[6] Knezevic, J/, Atoms and Molecules in Mirce
Mechanics Approach to Reliability, SRESA
Journal of Life Cycle Reliability and Safety
Engineering, Vol 1, Issue 1, pp 15-25,
Mumbai, India, 2012. ISSN-22500820
[7] Hirtz, C., Impact of Environment and
Human factors on Duration of Maintenance
Task, Doctoral Diploma Dissertation,
MIRCE Akademy, Exeter, UK, May, 2012.
[8] Air Transport Association of America
(1993), Maintenance Program Development
Document MSG-3, Revision 2, Air
Transport Association of America,
Washington, DC and London.
[9] Ben-Daya, Duffuaa., Raouf, Knezevic and
Ait-Kadi, D. (2009), Handbook of
Maintenance Management and Engineering,
Springer, Dordrecht, Heidelberg, London
and New York, NY.
[10] Dubi, A., Monte Carlo Applications in
System Engineering, John Wiley, 2000,
ISBN 0-471-98172-9
[11] Marras, A., A Contribution to the
Computational Mirce Mechanics, Master
Diploma Dissertation, MIRCE Akademy,
Exeter, UK, 2010.

Chapters (24)

Organizing is the process of arranging resources (people, materials, technology etc.) together to achieve the organization’s strategies and goals. The way in which the various parts of an organization are formally arranged is referred to as the organization structure. It is a system involving the interaction of inputs and outputs. It is characterized by task assignments, workflow, reporting relationships, and communication channels that link together the work of diverse individuals and groups. Any structure must allocate tasks through a division of labor and facilitate the coordination of the performance results. Nevertheless, we have to admit that there is no one best structure that meets the needs of all circumstances. Organization structures should be viewed as dynamic entities that continuously evolve to respond to changes in technology, processes and environment, (Daft, 1989 and Schermerhorn, 2007).
Maintenance productivity is one of the most important issues which govern the economics of production activities. However, productivity is often relegated to second rank, and ignored or neglected by those who influence production processes (Singh et al. 2000). Productivity in a narrow sense has been measured for several years (Andersen and Fagerhaug, 2007). Since maintenance activities are multidisciplinary in nature with a large number of inputs and outputs, the performance of maintenance productivity needs to be measured and considered holistically with an integrated approach. With increasing awareness that maintenance creates added value to the business process; organizations are treating maintenance as an integral part of their business (Liyanage and Kumar, 2003). For many asset-intensive industries, the maintenance costs are a significant portion of the operational cost. Maintenance expenditure accounts for 20–50 % of the production cost for the mining industry depending on the level of mechanization. In larger companies, reducing maintenance expenditure by $1 million contributes as much to profits as increasing sales by $3 million (Wireman, 2007). The amount spent on the maintenance budget for Europe is around 1500 billion euros per year (Altmannshopfer, 2006) and for Sweden 20 billion euros per year (Ahlmann, 2002). In open cut mining, the loss of revenue resulting from a typical dragline being out of action is US $ 0.5–1.0 million per day, and the loss of revenue from a 747 Boeing plane being out of action is roughly US $ 0.5 million per day (Murthy et al. 2002). Therefore, the importance of maintenance productivity is understood more and more by the management of the companies.
Probability and statistics are indispensable tools in reliability maintenance studies. Although excellent texts exist in these areas, an introduction containing essential concepts is included to make the handbook self-contained. This chapter is organized as follows. The next section provides an introduction to basic probability concepts. The third section introduces the reliability and failure rate function. Commonly used probability distributions are presented in Section 3.5. Finally, Section 3.6 deals with types of data and parameter estimation.
Managing risk is a must for any organization. Clause 0.1 of ISO 9004 mentions risk management along with cost and benefit considerations given its importance to the organization and its customers. Clause 5.4.2 also includes risk assessment and mitigation data as necessary inputs for efficient and effective quality planning. Risk management is also important when dealing with equipment failures and their consequence on production, safety and the environment.
A maintenance system can be viewed as a simple input/output system. The inputs to the system are manpower, failed equipment, material and spare parts, tools, information, polices and procedures, and spares. The output is equipment that is up, reliable and well configured to achieve the planned operation of the plant. The system has a set of activities that make it functional. The activities include planning, scheduling, execution and control. The control is achieved in reference to the objectives of the maintenance system. The objectives are usually aligned with the organization objectives and include equipment availability, costs and quality. The feedback and control is an important function in this system that can be used to improve the system performance. A typical maintenance system with key processes and control function is shown in Figure 5.1. The figure exemplifies the role and the need for effective feedback and control.
Effective planned maintenance management enables an organization to gain uptime – the capacity to produce and provide goods and services to customers’ satisfaction, consistently. This becomes quite critical in capital intensive organizations because of the heavy investment in capital assets needed for serving customers. Planned (preventive) maintenance involves the repair, replacement, and maintenance of equipment in order to avoid unexpected failure during use. The primary objective of planned maintenance is the minimization of total cost of inspection and repair, and equipment downtime (measured in lost production capacity or reduced product quality). It provides a critical service function without which major business interruptions could take place. It is one of the two major components of maintenance load. The other component is unplanned (unexpected) maintenance. Planned maintenance could be time or use-based or could be condition-based.
Maintenance activities concern the most important assets of firms and can directly impact the competitiveness of companies. Its performance influences the entire production process, from product quality to on-time delivery. Poor maintenance procedures can cost millions of euros in repairs and can lead to very poor products’ quality and substantial production loss while good maintenance practices can cut production costs immensely. Thus maintenance function should no longer be considered as a source of cost but as a critical lever for strategic competitiveness of firms. Maintenance managers deal with manufacturing systems that are subject to deteriorations and failures. They often have to rethink the way they should deal with maintenance policies and maintenance organization issues. One of their major concerns is the complex decision making problem when they consider the availability aspect as well as the economic issue of their maintenance activities. They are continuously looking for a way to improve the availability of their production machines in order to ensure given production throughputs at the lowest cost.
Carrying out an effective maintenance operation requires efficient planning of maintenance activities and resources. Since planning is performed in order to prepare for future maintenance tasks, it must be based on good estimates of the future maintenance workload. The maintenance workload consists of two major components: (1) scheduled and planned preventive maintenance, including planned overhauls and shutdowns, and (2) emergency or breakdown failure maintenance. The first component is the deterministic part of the maintenance workload. The second component is the stochastic part that depends on the probabilistic failure pattern, and it is the main cause of uncertainty in maintenance forecasting and capacity planning.
This paper addresses the problem of spare parts identification and provisioning for multi-component systems. A framework considering available technical, economic and strategic information is presented. Mathematical models are proposed to determine, for each spare part, the required quantity over a given planning horizon. The objective may be to maximize either the reliability or the availability of the system. Analytic models are proposed to determine the inventory management parameters such as the order quantity, the order point, and the safety stock. Joint ordering and maintenance policies are presented. The recourse to reconditioned spare parts is investigated and the optimal age of those parts is derived.
All major process industries (petrochemicals, refining, power generation, pulp and paper, steel plants, etc.) use Turnaround Maintenance (TAM) on a regular basis to increase equipment asset reliability, have continued production integrity, and reduce the risk of unscheduled outages or catastrophic failures. Plant turnarounds constitute the single largest identifiable maintenance expense. A major TAM is of short duration and high intensity in terms of work load. A 4 - 5 weeks TAM may consume an equivalent cost of a yearly maintenance budget. Because TAM projects are very expensive in terms of direct costs and lost production, they need to be planned and executed carefully. Turnaround management's potential for cost savings is dramatic, and it directly contributes to the company's bottom line profits. However, controlling turnaround costs and duration represent a definite challenge. Maintenance Planning and Scheduling is one of the most important elements in maintenance management and can play a key role in managing complex TAM events.
Planning is the process of determining future decisions and actions necessary to accomplish intended goals, and targets. Planning for future actions helps in achieving goals in the most efficient and effective manner. It minimizes costs and reduces risks and missing opportunities. It can also increase the competitive edge of the organization. The planning process can be divided into three basic levels depending on the planning horizon: 1. Long range planning (covers a period of several years); 2. Medium range planning (one month to one year plans); and 3. Short range planning (daily and weekly plans).
Les textes publiés dans la série des rapports de recherche HEC n'engagent que la responsabilité de leurs auteurs. La publication de ces rapports de recherche bénéficie d'une subvention du Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies.
In many situations, there are no apparent symptoms indicating the imminence of failure. For such systems whose failures are not self-announcing, the level of degradation can be known only through inspection. Each inspection consists in measuring one or some characteristics to assert degradation level. An inspection strategy establishes the instants at which one or more operating parameters have to be controlled, in order to determine if the system is in an operating or a failure state. These inspections require human and material resources as well as a certain know how. Many interesting contribution related to inspection strategies have been published during the last decades. This chapter presents an overview of the main works addressing different analytical approaches as well as numerical optimization procedures, which are related to author’s research interest in reliability and maintenance area. A significant set of recent references as provided for a further contributions.
In the advanced nations, comfortable lives of citizens depend on a wide variety of social infrastructures such as electricity, gas, waterworks, sewerage, traffic, information networks, and so on. For the steady operation of these infrastructures without any serious troubles such as emergency stop of operation, the steady maintenance is indispensable and the maintenance budget becomes extremely expensive in the most advanced nations because of the high personnel costs. In the twenty first century, such conflicts between the needs of utmost variety of infrastructures and the demands of least maintenance budgets becomes a serious social and industrial issue in these nations. Cost-effective maintenance has become an important key technology to resolve the inherent conflict.
The maintenance function must ensure that all production and manufacturing systems are operating safely and reliably and provide the necessary support for the production function. Furthermore, maintenance needs to achieve its mission using a cost-effective maintenance strategy. What constitutes a cost effective strategy evolved over time? In the past, it was believed every component of a complex system has a right age at which complete overhaul is needed to ensure safety and optimum operating conditions. This was the basis for scheduled maintenance programs. The limitation of this thinking became clear when it was used to develop the preventive maintenance program for the “new” Boeing 747 in the 1960s. The airlines knew that such a program would not be economically viable and launched a major study to validate the failure characteristics of aircraft components. The study resulted in what became the Handbook for the Maintenance Evaluation and Program Development for the Boeing 747, more commonly known as MSG-1 (Maintenance Steering Group 1). MSG-1 was subsequently improved and became MSG-2 and was used for the certification of DC 10 and L 1011. In 1979 the Air Transport Association (ATA) reviewed MSG-2 to incorporate further developments in preventive maintenance; this resulted in MSG-3, the Airline/Manufacturers Maintenance Program Planning Document applied subsequently to Boeing 757 and Boeing 767.
Manufacturing organizations worldwide are facing many challenges to achieve successful operation in today’s competitive environment. Modern manufacturing requires that, to be successful, organizations must be supported by both effective and efficient maintenance practices and procedures. The global marketplace has necessitated many organizations to implement proactive lean manufacturing programs and organizational structures to enhance their competitiveness (Bonavia and Marin, 2006). Over the past two decades, manufacturing organizations have used different approaches to improve maintenance effectiveness. One approach to improving the performance of maintenance activities is to develop and implement strategic TPM programs (Ahuja and Khamba, 2007). Among various manufacturing programs, Total Quality Management (TQM), Just-in-Time (JIT), Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and Total Employee Involvement (TEI) programs have often been referred to as components of “World Class Manufacturing” (Cua et al. 2001).
Periodic inspections remain as one of the effective maintenance strategies currently used in industry. One of the key decision variables in such a strategy is the determination of the inspection intervals that can be regular or irregular. To clarify the objective of the type of the maintenance strategy we are concerned with here, consider a plant item with a maintenance strategy of inspecting every period T hours, days, weeks, months, ..., with repair of failures undertaken as they arise. The inspection consists of a check list of activities to be undertaken, and a general inspection of the operational state of the plant. Any defect identified leads to immediate repair, and the objective of the maintenance strategy is to minimise operational downtime. Other objectives could be considered, cost, availability, output, ..., but for now we consider downtime reduction.
Development and acquisition of technological capabilities has become one of the major strategic requirements to excel commercially today in various business sectors. Front-end innovative technologies in conjunction with mass globalization and outsourcing of industrial operations has created a fruitful environment for technology-based growth and excellence. Different industries are in search for various technological solutions in their continuous efforts to improve performance in different parts of their businesses. Advanced solutions are often found implemented within range of application areas varying from corporate information management to logistics planning and coordination activities. In this setting, both industrial assets and business processes have been subjected to a technology-driven change process.
According to Albert Einstein, “Everything that the human race has done and thought is concerned with the satisfaction of felt needs.” Einstein (1991). Thus, need for transporting, communicating, racing, entertaining, heating, navigating, and similar functions are daily manifested by the human race. It is common practice to use the word system as a generic term for all solutions for satisfying human needs. System is a collection of mutually related components, selected and arranged after some distinct logical, scientific or instinctive method to perform at least one function with a measurable performance and attributes. Hence, the concept system became viable only when the measurable function is associated with a collection of components.
The desire to be safe and secure has always been an intimate part of human nature since the dawn of human history. The demand for safety and security is pursued at every location in one’s entire environment. This ranges from homes, in transit, at all premises, and indeed; in the workplace. The need for a safe working environment was first brought to light during the first decade of industrial revolution (Roland and Moriarty, 1983). Based on the knowledge acquired in the past decades, companies and labour organizations have pursued ways and means of enhancing occupational safety. Since 1950, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have had a common definition of occupational health and safety. This definition was adopted by the Joint ILO/WHO Committee on Occupational Health at its First Session (1950) and revised at its 12th Session (1995): “Occupational health should aim at: the promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations; the prevention amongst workers of departures from health caused by their working conditions; the protection of workers in their employment from risks resulting from factors adverse to health; the placing and maintenance of the worker in an occupational environment adapted to his physiological and psychological capabilities; and, to summarize, the adaptation of work to man and of each man to his job” (Source: www.wikipedia.com).
Womack et al. (1990) coined the term lean production. In the lean context, nonvalue- adding activity was viewed as any activity that does not lead directly to creating the product. The approach is based on reducing the non-value-adding activities which results in savings to the company. It has been reported that activities not adding value to the product comprise more than 90% of the total activity (Caulkin, 2002). Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is an approach which aims at the total elimination of all losses, including breakdowns, equipment set ups, adjustment losses, minor stoppages, reduced speed, defects and rework and all major yield losses. It may be said that the ultimate goal of TPM are few equipment breakdowns and zero product defects resulting in ultimate utilization of production assets and plant capacity. Romm (1994) indicates that environmental benefits are involved in the lean implementation. A strong relationship between lean manufacturing and environmental improvement has been reported (Waldrop, 1999; Pojasek and Five, 1999; Florida, 1996; Hart, 1997). The foregoing suggests that maintenance quality, which essentially has a similar objective to lean manufacturing, has a strong relationship with environmental improvement.
Sustainability performance appears to be one of the most influential concepts for managing modern businesses. Over the last few years it has drawn significant attention from many socio-political and socio-economical sources as the serious challenges encountered by both western and eastern societies were subjected to discussions and debates. This concept by far questions and challenges the fundamentals of commercial activities and its complex interactions with the environment external to an organization. Sustainable development is defined as ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (UNWECD, 1987).
Although humans have felt the need for maintenance of their equipment since the beginning of time, the beginning of the modern engineering maintenance may be regarded as the development of steam engine by James Watt [1736 - 1819] in 1769 in Great Britain (The Volume Library, 1993). Today, billions of dollars are being spent each year on equipment maintenance around the world. For example, each year United States industry alone spends over $300 billion on plant maintenance and operations and for the fiscal year 1997, the operation and maintenance budget request of the United States Department of Defense was $79 billion (Latino, 1999; 1977 DoD Budget, 1996). Humans play an important role during equipment life cycle: design, production, and operation and maintenance phases. Even though, the degree of their role may vary from one equipment to another and from one equipment phase to another, it is subject to deterioration because of the occurrence of human error. A human error may be classified under six distinct categories: design, assembly, inspection, installation, operating, and maintenance (Meister, 1962, 1976). In particular, the maintenance error or poor human reliability occurs basically because of wrong repair or preventive measures and their two examples are incorrect calibration of equipment and application of the wrong grease at appropriate points of the equipment. A comprehensive list of publications on human reliability and error in engineering maintenance is available in Dhillon and Liu (2006). This chapter presents various important aspects of human reliability and error in maintenance.
Emphasis on the elimination or reduction of human error in maintenance and its consequences is a relatively recent phenomenon. Human error in maintenance can result in maintenance error that may potentially degrade the performance of technical systems and possibly give rise to extremely serious safety and economic consequences. Much of the initial focus in addressing human error has been placed upon the role of the system operator through personnel training, through the adoption of procedures and practices and through regulation. More recently, there has been a growing awareness of the impact that system design can have on human error in maintenance. This chapter examines how potential human error in maintenance can be systematically analyzed to develop specific design strategies that can be used to reduce the occurrence of human error in maintenance and to mitigate its consequences. The content of the chapter is based upon the author’s extensive experience of developing and applying such analysis and design strategies in the aerospace industry where the principles and methodology discussed have been employed in the design of civil and military aircraft. However, the principles and methodology are generic and can be applied to other technical systems where the potential for human error is present in maintenance activities.
... O controle envolve o monitoramento e a supervisão das atividades de manutenção para garantir que elas sejam executadas conforme planejado e que os resultados sejam alcançados. O objetivo final do Planejamento e Controle da Manutenção é maximizar a disponibilidade operacional, reduzir os custos de manutenção e melhorar a qualidade e a segurança dos ativos (Ben-Daya et al., 2009). ...
... Ela pode ser classificada em manutenção de intervalo constante ou manutenção realizada em intervalos fixos, equilibrando o risco de falha com intervalos longos e os custos de manutenção preventiva com intervalos curtos. Na manutenção baseada em idade, a manutenção é realizada apenas após o sistema atingir uma idade específica, reduzindo o número de intervalos de manutenção em comparação com a manutenção de intervalo constante (Ben-Daya et al., 2009). ...
... Os indicadores de desempenho também são importantes para o benchmarking, ou seja, a comparação do desempenho da manutenção com padrões internos ou externos. Isso permite que as organizações identifiquem áreas de melhoria e adotem melhores práticas da indústria (Ben-Daya et al., 2009). ...
... F. Prasetyo et al., 2021). Selanjutnya dibuatkan Reliability Block Diagram (RBD) untuk semua sistem, sistem yang tidak termasuk kritikal yaitu tidak terjadi kegagalan sebanyak 2 kali selama periode penelitian langsung di masukan ke sistem RBD dengan distribusi probabilitasnya eksponensial (Ben-Daya et al., 2009). Setelah RBD dibuat dilakukan analisa keandalan dan efektivitas mesin. ...
Article
Production machine maintenance is an activity to maintain the machine's reliability to operate as planned. Apart from reliability, evaluating the effectiveness of the machine is also equally important. Therefore, this research has two main objectives: determining the system's criticality and increasing the effectiveness value of using forklifts using reliability analysis and machine's effectiveness (ME). The research began with collecting operation and maintenance data to calculate the initial conditions of machine reliability and effectiveness. The initial reliability calculation results were 36.79%. Availability is 98.89%, performance is 93.53%, and ME value is 92.49%. The performance value is still below world-class standards, so it needs to be improved. Next, rank the problem using the Pareto diagram for determining system criticality. Efforts to increase performance values to reach world-class standards are carried out by analyzing maintainability and implementing a policy that maintainability values are at least 50% for forklifts and their critical systems. As a result, the availability value increased to 99.74%, the performance value increased to 95.57%, and the ME value increased to 95.32%. So availability, performance, and ME meet the requirements because they exceed world-class standards. Therefore, companies can implement a forklift maintenance policy using maintainability of at least 50% reliability to increase the value of availability, performance, and ME. Keywords: Forklift, Reliability Analysis, Machine’s Effectiveness, Maintainability
... These proactive measures help prevent serious problems and maintain equipment availability [2]. As maintenance practices evolve, they enhance efficiency and effectiveness, leading to reduced costs and minimized operational downtime [3]. The evolution of maintenance models in Fig.1, aligned with advancements in time and technology, leads to improved asset performance in terms of availability and reliability. ...
Article
Full-text available
The coal industry remains attractive business, making heavy equipment quite essential for efficient coal mining operations. Effective maintenance of this equipment is crucial for maintaining performance, as breakdowns and component failures can lead to significant losses and disrupt mining activities. To mitigate these risks, this study focuses on optimizing Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM) to better identify and reduce component failures. To optimize CBM, especially in assessing component health, an index has been developed to represent component condition. Fifteen parameters are used to determine the health of Komatsu HD785-7 engine components. Each parameter plays a distinct role and carries a different weight in identifying failure indicators for the components. The determination of these weights requires operational analysis approach to achieve optimal values. The index used to represent engine component health is called the Condition Monitoring Index (CMI). Through rigorous monitoring and evaluation, the incidence of unscheduled overhauls can be significantly reduced. The CMI can serve as a guide for determining subsequent proactive maintenance actions. Continuous monitoring and evaluation are essential for detecting early engine component failures.
... In this research, the approach taken involves using the PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Action) concept with the use of quality tools to address the primary issue related to the highest downtime of eco-filter machines. According to maintenance management tools, in addition to FMEA, other related tools that can be applied are quality tools such as Root Cause Analysis (RCA), Pareto Diagram, and Cause and Effect Diagram [17]. The 80/20 principle, also known as Pareto, can be implemented to solve various problems, where a significant portion of results or profits often stems from a small contribution, such as 20% of products or services generating 80% of total profits, or 20% of factors causing 80% of all customer complaints or issues [18]. ...
Article
Full-text available
Awareness of the negative environmental impacts needs to be considered in all aspects of life, including the automotive industry. An eco-filter is not just a filter for automotive vehicles but a progressive step towards environmentally friendly mobility. Environmentally oriented products often face challenges in their production processes, including eco-filters, which have the highest machine failure rates compared to other products in this study. This research demonstrates that quality tools can help analyze and understand the causes of the highest machine downtime during repairs at one of Indonesia's largest automotive component manufacturers. The results show that the highest failure was due to replacing halogen heaters used to melt plastic caps. After analyzing the causes of failures and machine breakdowns, it was found that modifying the machine by installing a TVR to regulate the halogen power according to the ideal specifications is a solution to reduce machine downtime. The study shows that quality tools can be used not only to make improvements to enhance quality or productivity but also to reduce machine downtime, especially to improve machine reliability on eco-friendly products.
Article
Full-text available
Reliability Theory, since it's beginnings in 1950s, has been based on mathematical theorems rather then on scientific theories. Massive attempts where made to further applications of the existing mathematical and statistical methods and analysis without attempts for understanding "failure mechanics". Then, in 1980s, practicing reliability engineers and analysts, who have neither ability nor need to understand the mathematics, turned to what they have had, which is enormous practical experience of the observed failure modes of existing systems. Thus, a large number of "practical reliability methods" have been developed and used, all of which were based on the failure mode, effect and criticality analysis, but still without understanding and addressing failure mechanics. Consequently, during the last 50 years the Reliability Theory made very little progress, a part from a few exceptions, in the direction of becoming the science, in terms of making accurate predictions that could be confirmed with practical observations. The reason is very simple; neither statistics, which does not study causes of statistical behaviour, nor engineers whose "applied methods" were focused on meeting contractual and legal requirements, were able to provide a fertile ground for the development of reliability.
Functionability in Motion
  • J Knezevic
Knezevic, J., Functionability in Motion, Proceedings 10 th International Conference on Dependability and Quality, DQM Institute, 2010, Belgrade, Serbia.
Analysis of the Influence of Atmospheric Radiation Induced Single Event Effects on Avionics Failures
  • I Zaczyk
Zaczyk, I., Analysis of the Influence of Atmospheric Radiation Induced Single Event Effects on Avionics Failures, Master Diploma Dissertation, MIRCE Akademy, 2008.
Cosmic Phenomena in Mirce Mechanics Approach to Reliability and Safety
  • I Zaczyk
  • J Knezevic
Zaczyk. I., Knezevic, J., Cosmic Phenomena in Mirce Mechanics Approach to Reliability and Safety, International Journal of Life Cycle Reliability and safety, Vol 2, Issue No 2, 2013, ISSn-2250 0820, Society for Reliability and Safety, India.
  • Dr Jezdimir
  • Knezevic Int
Dr Jezdimir KNEZEVIC Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applications www.ijera.com ISSN : 2248-9622, Vol. 4, Issue 8( Version 7), August 2014, pp.93-100
Atoms and Molecules in Mirce Mechanics Approach to Reliability
  • J Knezevic
Knezevic, J/, Atoms and Molecules in Mirce Mechanics Approach to Reliability, SRESA Journal of Life Cycle Reliability and Safety Engineering, Vol 1, Issue 1, pp 15-25, Mumbai, India, 2012. ISSN-22500820
Impact of Environment and Human factors on Duration of Maintenance Task, Doctoral Diploma Dissertation
  • C Hirtz
Hirtz, C., Impact of Environment and Human factors on Duration of Maintenance Task, Doctoral Diploma Dissertation, MIRCE Akademy, Exeter, UK, May, 2012.
Monte Carlo Applications in System Engineering
  • A Dubi
Dubi, A., Monte Carlo Applications in System Engineering, John Wiley, 2000, ISBN 0-471-98172-9
A Contribution to the Computational Mirce Mechanics
  • A Marras
Marras, A., A Contribution to the Computational Mirce Mechanics, Master Diploma Dissertation, MIRCE Akademy, Exeter, UK, 2010.