Discussion
1 Conduct a survey amongst colleagues, friends and acquaintances of how they cope with the possibility that their computers might fail, either in terms of ceasing to operate effectively, or in losing data. Discuss how the concept of redundancy applies in such failure.
2 We have a test bank where we test batches of 100 of our products continuously for 7 days and nights. This week only 3 failed, the first after 10 hours, the second after 72 hours, and the third after 1,020 hours. What is the failure rate in percentage terms and in time terms for this product?
3 an automatic testing process takes samples of ore from mining companies and subjects them to four sequential tests. The reliability of the four different test machines that perform the tasks is different. The first test machine has a reliability of 0.99, the second has a reliability of 0.92, the third has a reliability of 0.98, and the fourth a reliability of 0.95. if one of the machines stops working, the total process will stop. What is the reliability of the total process?
4 For the product-testing example in Problem 2, what is the mean time between failures (MTBF) for the products?
5 in terms of its effectiveness at managing the learning process, how does a university detect failures? What could it do to improve its failure detection processes?
6 review your own (and your friends) approach to protecting against malicious data theft. What is the biggest risk that you/they face?
SELECTED FURTHER READING
Breakwell, G.M. (2014) The psychology of risk , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
an interesting book focused on the broader psychological aspects of risk.
Melnyk, S., Closs, D., Griffis, S., Zobel, C. and Macdonald, J. (2014) Understanding supply chain resilience, Supply Chain Management Review , January/February, 3441.
a nice article outlining the key aspects of failure, prevention and resilience in operations and supply networks.
Regester , M. and Larkin, J. (2008) Risk Issues and Crisis Management: A Casebook of Best Practice , Kogan Page, London .
aimed at practising managers with lots of advice. good for getting the flavour of how it is in practice.
Simchi-Levi, D., Schmidt, W. and Wei, Y. (2014) From superstorms to factory fires: managing unpredictable supply-chain disruptions, Harvard Business Review , vol. 92, no. 12, 97101.
another practitioner-focused article looking at the low-probability, high-impact end of the failure continuum.
