Whether you are new to reliability improvement, or you are a manager thinking of starting an initiative, ARP-A: Reliability Advocate is the best way to begin the reliability journey.
Where are you on the journey to reliability improvement? If you are new to the program, or you are interested in learning more so that you can begin a new program at your plant, then the Asset Reliability Practitioner [ARP-A] “Reliability Advocate” course is precisely what you need.
Improving the reliability of physical assets takes far more than just monitoring their condition, improving lubrication practices, and making some improvements to the maintenance department. To have a truly successful program you must understand how to add value to the organization and thus gain senior management support. You must have the support of the entire organization, not just a small group of evangelistic condition monitoring and reliability experts. You must have a coordinated effort between maintenance, operations/production, engineering, finance, and the reliability group – no more silos. And you must follow a strategy that will enable you to build the program, layer upon layer, to achieve milestones and build on success.
Yes, we could simply talk about the common reliability acronyms of RCM, PMO, RCA, and literally dozens of others, but knowing what they mean does not help you implement a successful program.
The ARP-A Reliability Advocate program will provide a holistic view of how to improve reliability and plant performance. It will explain the implementation process and all the essential elements necessary to have a truly successful program.
FREE DEMO: See a preview of the ARP-A course. Included is segments from our instructional videos and a chapter from our comprehensive ARP-A manual. You can access the training demo with your student credentials or create a new account using this link – ARP-A Course Demonstration Link.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS COURSE
Duration:
- 16 hours minimum: Typically delivered over 3 days
Format:
- Live public course
- On-site course
- Virtual online course
- Video distance learning online course
Compliance:
- Training: modeled on 18436-2 and ISO 18436-3, but there is no ISO standard for reliability personnel certification.
- Certification: according to ISO/IEC 17024 and modeled on ISO 18436-1
- Training: ISO 18436-3
Exam:
- Two-hours
- 60 multiple-choice questions
- 70% passing grade
- Can be taken online or in-person at the course
Certification requirements:
- Training course completed
- 6-months of work experience, verified by an independent person
- Pass the exam
- Valid for 3 years
Pre-study:
- Access to the “Learning zone” upon registration and payment
- Complete set of videos covering every topic
- An excellent way to be prepared and get the most from the course
Post-study:
- Continue to access the Learning zone for 4-months after the course
- Continue learning, without charge, on Mobius CONNECT® via www.mobiusconnect.com
We only have three days together, and that includes plenty of time for discussions and case studies, so it is not possible to get into the details of every topic. The goal is to explain what it takes to be successful and how to avoid all the traps that have caused so many programs to fail. Public courses are conducted around the world, but to gain the greatest value, we recommend you invite the instructor to visit your facility and gather the entire team together.
The course follows the Asset Reliability Transformation® [ART] implementation process; however, it is totally up to you whether you follow our recommended practices.
After three days, you’ll have a clear understanding of why you should improve reliability and how to implement the successful program. You will also have a much clearer understanding of all the jargon, acronyms, and common elements that make up a reliability or asset management program. Plus, you will be ready to take the exam so that you may be recognized for your knowledge under the Mobius Institute Board of Certification™ [MIBoC] accredited program.
The course begins with a summary of why reliability improvement is so important to the future of an organization. But then it busts the myths associated with reliability improvement and asset management; there are so many misunderstandings in the industry that it is essential to get everyone on the same page so you avoid the common traps.
Next, we provide an overview of the implementation process: how to get started, how to gain senior management support, how to change the reliability culture so behaviors change, how to break out of the reactive maintenance cycle of doom, and how to establish a sustainable reliability improvement initiative. If you already have a program, you will learn how to assess its progress and re-focus and re-energize your program.
More than one day is spent on the common technical elements of reliability improvement. You will feel comfortable with defect elimination, the asset strategy (including Reliability Centered Maintenance, Preventive Maintenance Optimization, and Failure Modes, Effects, and Criticality Analysis), the asset criticality ranking, Pareto analysis, precision maintenance, and asset care, operator driven reliability, condition-based maintenance and all of the common technologies, lubrication best practices and contamination control, precision shaft alignment and rotor balancing, and root cause analysis. Yes, there are a lot of topics, but with our unique simulations and animations, you will be amazed at how confident you will feel with the subjects once you’ve completed the course.
Between the discussions, lessons, case studies, and polling (so you can make sure you understand what you think you understood), you will come away with a totally new perspective on how to improve reliability and performance in your organization.
In order to be certified you must:
- Complete a MIBoC approved training course (click here for a list of approved courses).
- Achieve 70% or higher on the exam (60 multiple choice questions, duration 2 hours).
- You must have a minimum of six (6) months of work experience in the industry involved in some way with reliability improvement, verified by an independent person.
Certification is valid for 3 years.
You can learn more about the certification process here or download our ARP Certification Guide here.
Yes, learn forever with Mobius Institute “Life Long Learning”. Receive access to video trainings for a lifetime as a past, present, and future Mobius Institute student. As a student you can continue to access the training videos. Regardless of whether you attend a public course or an onsite course or purchased an online distance learning. For a nominal cost of the equivalent distance learning course fee, past, present, and future Mobius Institute vibration students can continue to access the training videos forever.
To upgrade contact your training partner directly.
In short, you will have a solid understanding of the “big picture” of the reliability improvement process.
As a manager thinking of starting a new initiative (or reviving an existing one)
– You will understand the key ingredients of running a successful program:
- Defining value
- Gaining senior management support
- Having a detailed strategy
- Developing a motivated reliability culture
– You will see how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together
– How the technical elements support the overall business goal
As a person who is new to “reliability improvement” you will gain:
- A detailed understanding of the business case
- A detailed understanding of the “big picture” of reliability and performance improvement
- A solid understanding of the technical aspects, along with all the reliability, maintenance, and CBM technologies, techniques, and jargon
- The ability to contribute to an existing program
- Motivation and be re-energized to get involved and play your role
Yes, we can provide this training onsite at your facility or any other training facility of your choice with one of our expert instructors. Please get a quote through The Zem Academy from the link at right of this page.
Yes, you can attend regardless of experience. You will receive a certificate of completion. If you don’t have sufficient experience you will still receive a certificate if you pass the exam, but it will note that your experience was insufficient for ISO certification at the time.
You will receive notification of your results 5-10 days after the exam has been received at our Australian office. If you have passed the exam and met all certification requirements, you will receive your Digital Certificate 10-15 days after your exam results notification email.
Here is something to think about. The ARP-A Reliability Advocate course is an excellent way to get up to speed about reliability, especially when starting a new program. Many organizations have found it beneficial to have it delivered on-site so that a range of personnel can attend from the maintenance department, operations/production, finance, safety/health/environment, engineering, and even other departments – including the plant manager. The course gets everyone up to speed and on the same wavelength.
But the big question you must ask is; what happens next?
The course is beneficial, but if no one else is educated/trained, if there is not a strategy to move forward that everyone understands and believes in, if people don’t know how they can contribute to the initiative, then unfortunately, you may not gain the greatest benefit from the course.
- First, we have the ARP-L “Reliability Program Leader” course for the person/people who will lead the initiative, and the ARP-E “Reliability Engineer” course for the people who will engineer the technical aspects of the initiative. The ARP-A course is great, but it is just the start of the journey.
- Second, we have developed the Asset Reliability Transformation [ART] process with a roadmap that explains how to implement the strategy to achieve the best results. It is filled with the phases, steps, and recommended practices to guide you through the implementation process. It includes a training plan that gets everyone up to speed, pulling in the same direction, and skilled/qualified to play their role. iLearnReliability™ will help you with the plant-wide educational process.
- And if you need help with the roll-out, and/or the training component, we have Partners around the world who can help you with whatever you need.
We have developed a long list of Frequently Asked Questions on the ARP “Home page”. Please click the button below and scroll to the bottom of the page.
Mobius Institute Board of Certification (MIBoC) is accredited by the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ) to provide personnel certification for Asset Reliability Practitioners according to ISO/IEC 17024, ED161-1 and ED161-2.
The problem was, it caused confusion because whereas there is a definite growth path from Category I to II and III in vibration analysis, for example, and the fact that you needed to be Category II before you could apply for Category III, the same rules did not apply for ARP.
The Scheme Committee decided that a person should be able to transition directly to the highest certification level of the ARP without being required to be certified at lower levels. The reason why is described in separate FAQ questions.
The same is true for the second-highest level. The scheme committee determined that a person should be able to go directly to Category II.
To avoid confusion, the certification levels were renamed as follows:
• Category I became ARP-A “Reliability Advocate”
• Category II became ARP-E “Reliability Engineer”
• Category III became ARP-L “Reliability Program Leader”
• ARP-A: For engineers, managers, and practitioners who need to understand the entire picture of reliability and performance improvement without getting bogged down in any of the details in any one area
• ARP-E: For reliability engineers who are focused on the technical aspects of reliability, maintenance, and asset health monitoring – the requirements go well beyond CMRP or any other certification program
• ARP L: For the reliability program leaders who must primarily understand the business case, the requirements to change the culture, the strategy, and the leadership skills necessary to make such an initiative successful – the requirements, once again, go well beyond CMRP or any other certification program
• There are people who have come up through the ranks, potentially beginning in a condition monitoring role, then working in reliability engineering, and finally being promoted into a role where they lead the reliability program. That person will have the technical skills and experience but will have to develop the knowledge necessary to create the business case, change the culture, develop the strategy, and implement a successful program. And that is what ARP-L is for.
• However, there are also people who come into the role because they have already demonstrated leadership skills. They understand the business case, and they know how to lead people. They are organized project managers, and therefore have the skills to implement a successful program. In many cases, those people do not wish to delve deeply into the technical side of reliability engineering. Instead, they make sure that they have competent Reliability Engineers reporting to them who are able to make the right technical decisions and provide accurate information.
Although this second group of people would benefit from having a deeper knowledge of reliability engineering, it was decided that they should not be forced to gain that knowledge. Instead, the ARP-L training provides a solid overview of the technical aspects so that they understand the terminology and main issues.
Certain people in the industry and the practitioners who formed the Mobius Institute Board of Certification Scheme Committee and Technical Committee believed that there should be more than one level of certification in recognition of the challenging task involved with improving reliability, maintenance, operational performance, and asset health monitoring. Thus the three-level system was devised.
The Scheme Committee and Technical Committee also believed there should be a structured training program to support the certification program and that people should be encouraged to take the training. Many people are only given the opportunity to take training if it is associated with the certification program. Unfortunately, SMRP actively discourages organizations from offering training that prepares a person for the CMRP certification, instead requesting people to read a variety of books.
While certification is important, the education gained in achieving that certification is arguably more important.
ARP-E “Reliability Engineer” is focused on the role performed by personnel working with industrial equipment (rotating machinery, electrical equipment, mobile assets, etc.) with the goal of ensuring that equipment is available to be used when called upon, and to minimize the maintenance costs associated with those assets.
• ARP-A – 6 months
• ARP-E – 24 months
• ARP-L – 48 months
• ARP-A: 60 questions, duration 2 hours, 70% passing grade
• ARP-E: 100 questions, duration 3 hours, 70% passing grade
• ARP-L: 100 questions, duration 3 hours, 70% passing grade.
Once a question has been used in an exam, special statistical processes, called psychometrics, are used to check if any questions are too easy, too hard, or too confusing. Those questions are then reviewed by the TC and either improved or rejected.
However, the Mobius Institute Board of Certification [MIBoC] ED-161 scheme is modeled on the ISO 18436 standards; the topics are mapped to the ISO 55000 standards; the scheme follows ISO/IEC 17024, and the core knowledge and vocabulary/terminology is based on definitions developed in a variety of ISO standards (and other international standards). The topics themselves, and the requirements, were developed over a long time by the MIBoC Scheme Committee and Technical Committee. SC and TC are made up of industry experts and experienced people who work in the field from around the world.
Having said that, a person who has passed ARP-E should have the knowledge necessary to become an effective reliability engineer, and a person who passes ARP-L should be able to manage and lead a reliability improvement initiative.
Mobius Institute Board of Certification (MIBoC) is a private organization, however it operates in the same way as a not-for-profit organization (except that, due to Australian taxation law, we do not have not-for-profit status because we service organizations outside Australia, therefore we pay tax on all revenue received, unlike other not-for-profit organizations.) MIBoC is governed by the MIBoC Governing Body, and all of its procedures are defined by independent Scheme Committees. All technical matters are defined by independent Technical Committees.
It should be stated that the SMRP certification scheme has been developed with the highest standards, and the CMRP scheme is accredited to ISO/IEC 17024. The Mobius Institute Board of Certification [MIBoC] processes mirror the SMRP processes, and MIBoC is accredited to the same standard.
Ultimately most organizations wish to improve financial performance; whether that’s increased profits, or reduced expenses in the case of a government organization, for example. Organizations must also seek to improve their safety and environmental performance. In order to achieve the company’s goals, the organization must perform better in many departments of the company, including maintenance, operations/production, procurement, materials and work management, and engineering.
While we seek to improve reliability, we are not improving reliability for reliability’s sake; we are making improvements that add value to the organization, ultimately by improving performance.
There are actually two versions of the ARP-A course. The standard course which is taught during conferences and public training sessions, and a course that we call the ARP-A “PLANT-WIDE AWARENESS” course. This course was developed for people who will not actually work in the role of which the primary goal is to improve reliability, who therefore need to understand how to implement the program, the challenges of culture change, the business case, and other issues. The “PLANT-WIDE AWARENESS” is perfect for people who work in the plant and simply need to know why reliability should be improved, how they will benefit, how they can contribute to the program, and to demystify all of the technologies and terminology.
It is an excellent course if you want to ensure that everyone is on the same page, pulling in the same direction.
HOW CAN I TAKE THIS COURSE
ON-SITE : You can invite the instructor to your site and save yourself the cost and hassle.
ONLINE DISTANCE LEARNING : You can have the ultimate in flexibility learning by online videoes of the course. You can watch it multiple times at your pace! ARP-A Course Demonstration Link.
PUBLIC IN CLASS or VIRTUAL INSTRUCTOR-LED : You can take the public, instructor-led course with other people like you or take the course from the comfort of your computer, with a live instructor guiding you through the course You can find a public and virtual course dates course below ;
Virtual
FREE DEMO : See a preview of the U-CAT course. Included is segments from our instructional videos and a chapter from our comprehensive U-CAT I II manual. You can access the training demo with your student credentials or create a new account using this link – ARP-A Course Demonstration Link.
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