Hello Daniel,
Thank you very much for your very interested reply, which is really encouraging. In terms of answering your questions:
On (1), Daniel I'm afraid I don't know it very well as I have only joined the society (and ASM) this year - so in terms of how it is run, the symposiums etc.. it is relatively new to me, so that if there is already a platform to base this potential discussion on then I would be very happy to do it that way. My apologies accordingly that I have missed years of discussion on this topic before, and there is an aspect of myself 'catching up'
In terms of where this idea came from, I am a fellow with the IoM3 in the UK, and being part of their MFIG (Materials Failure Investigation Group) I have raised the same idea with them - and we are soon to hold a FA capability workshop accordingly. I wished therefore to run a similar workshop on the other side of the Atlantic, and with this in mind I sought to join ASM and the FAS, as guided by my good colleague Matt Johnson in the Indianapolis team (R-R). I confess that my aim has some sense of selfishness in that I wish the FA (FI) teams in my company to be "up with the times" in terms of our capability, but I am also aware that we all have a measure of moral obligation to share what we know that could affect product safety (or, in the aerospace world, flight safety) and so I am seeking a platform to be able to do that.
On (2), my dream was to have/ run a workshop on the topic that would last a few hours (yes, about 4) in which a few different organisations would present on their own capability over the first half, and the second half would be a discussion forum to look to formulating best practice together. In terms of the presentations, these would be relatively high level (so wouldn't have to tell the world exactly how they carry out failure analysis) and would avoid advertisement of their organisation (that is, to have no ulterior motive), but rather have a common ground of wishing to share together how best to perform the task with an underlying aim of that moral obligation I mention above. I would be happy to present in terms of our own organisation of course, but does not necessarily have to be that way. In the ideal world, it would have been great to run it face-to-face (I am old fashioned that way), but with the current situation, travel restrictions, and for the sake of cost it would have to be virtual.
I did raise this idea a few months ago with some of the FAS committee, but have decided that to start a discussion thread would be useful. I have a short presentation that covers the thoughts - that I could send you personally if you wish
On (3) this is really interesting, and would like to contemplate the symposium you mention further (would be interested in more details on that). It's certainly true that in the World of aerospace and the jet engine there are many aspects of FA that we do differently, and I am obviously very interested in what we can learn from that specific world. However, I feel that it is time we learnt from the much wider community and give something of what we know back, so yes - it is with the wider FA community that I would be looking.
In terms of specific subjects, I am keen going forward to look into other topics - for example, evidence preservation, striation counting (of which I ran a workshop a few years ago in Europe, and have wondered about doing the same in the US)
On (4) yes
Please note that I have received replies from other parties showing interest to date, who may wish to take the opportunity to present.
Thank you again, regards - Eddy
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Edward Saunders
Specialist Scientist - Failure Investigation
Rolls Royce plc
Bristol
+44(0)7876651647
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-03-2021 13:00
From: Daniel Dennies
Subject: Failure Analysis Capability
Hello Ed,
I am the current President of FAS. I m interested in your thoughts. FAS is trying to foster more international participation, so you caught my attention. For example, our sister society, IMS just had a joint session with the DGM conference in Germany last week. Now, as someone who does failure analysis, I will start by asking you a few questions. :-)
1) How well do you know the FAS society.? Its current committees and what they do? Our symposium that has been happening yearly for 25+ years? Some of them cover the subjects you to which you refer. There is not good or bad answer, it provides me a sense of how to approach your idea.
2) Can you provide a structure to your idea. Are you thinking of a Virtual meeting? A one day meeting, 4 hour meeting, etc. Connect with a certain group, company or society?
3) Topic - "Is our group is "up with the times" in terms of kit, research, staff development and so on - and so, what improvements do we need to make?" This conversation comes up at our 4 day symposium each year. Our multiple sessions cover various specific areas in FA. However, it is very subject area specific. For example, you are with a jet engine fabricator. Your world is unique to RR, PW, GE, etc. Different from 99% of the rest of the world of of FA. Is this what you want?
4) Can we count on your support and effort to help us make this happen?
I look forward to you thoughts. I wish to bring this idea to the FAS International Relations Committee
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Daniel Dennies
Principal and CEO
DMS, Inc.
Foothill Ranch CA
949 554 9545
Original Message:
Sent: 10-01-2021 08:38
From: Edward Saunders
Subject: Failure Analysis Capability
Dear all (FAS),
I am keen to start a line of conversation concerning capability in failure analysis, a topic I have great interest in. This is partly for selfish reasons in that I'm keen on understanding whether our group is "up with the times" in terms of kit, research, staff development and so on - and so, what improvements do we need to make?
I'm considering what kind of tools and techniques do we use, and what research we are involved in? With all the rapidly advancing techniques in Materials Science – what do we use in-house, what are useful in day-to-day FA, where do we go to find tools externally and why/when would we use them? Also, it is about staff training and development - what courses and help is out there to assist us in that - this is all part of the game.
I'd be happy to share some detail in subsequent posts. Would you be interested in such a discussion?
It would be really interesting to put together a workshop at some point in the near future to air and discuss this topic more at length. If anyone is of the opinion that that would be a good idea, or even if you may be interested in contributing to such a workshop, then please let me know.
Eddy Saunders - FI Specialist, Rolls-Royce plc (UK)
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Edward Saunders
Specialist Scientist - Failure Investigation
Rolls Royce plc
Bristol
+44(0)7876651647
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