The 10 Must-Have Traits of a Top Reliability Engineer

Executing reliability engineering is as much about behaviors as it is about skills. Skills define how to analyze failures, optimize maintenance strategies, and improve asset reliability. Still, behavior is about understanding why proactive reliability matters, why failure prevention is more valuable than failure response, and why culture drives long-term asset health.

Reliability engineers are not just data analysts but leaders in defect elimination, precision execution, and cultural transformation. Below is my top-10 list of behaviors for plant reliability engineers. These behaviors shape proactive reliability cultures and drive sustainable improvements in plant performance.

1. Drive the Characteristics of High-Reliability Organizations (HROs)

High-Reliability Organizations (HROs) maintain consistently low failure rates in complex, high-risk environments. The best reliability engineers instill these five principles:

• Preoccupation with Failure: Investigate even minor deviations.
• Reluctance to Simplify: Seek a deep understanding of failure causes.
• Sensitivity to Operations: Stay engaged with frontline personnel.
• Commitment to Resilience: Design systems that fail safely and recover quickly.
• Deference to Expertise: Prioritize hands-on experience and field intelligence.

2. Attentiveness to Weak Signals

Most catastrophic failures start as minor deviations. Great reliability engineers:

• Track subtle anomalies in vibration, temperature, pressure, amperage, or electrical harmonics.
• Encourage reporting of minor changes—odd noises, performance drops, or unusual smells.
• Act on leading indicators to prevent failures rather than reacting to them.

3. Begin with the End in Mind—Design is the DNA of Reliability

The design of an asset is its genetic code—its reliability is largely predetermined. Maintenance cannot overcome bad DNA. The best reliability engineers ensure that new equipment and modifications follow Design for Reliability (DfR) principles:

• Use correct materials and specifications.
• Ensure maintainability and operability.
• Integrate condition monitoring.

A well-designed asset is inherently reliable, reducing the burden on maintenance and ensuring long-term performance.

4. The Why-Why Mindset

Machines fail for a reason, and random failure is rarely random. The reliability engineer:

• Leads Root Cause Analysis (RCA) to eliminate failures at the source.
• Questions contributing factors beyond technical causes, including operational and procedural issues.
• Ensures corrective actions address underlying forcing functions, not just symptoms.

5. The Data Never Lies, But It Can Mislead

Metrics like Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) and Mean Time To Failure (MTTF) can be deceptive without context. To ensure accurate insights, reliability engineers:

• Analyze data variability, not just averages, to prevent misinterpretations.
• Apply Weibull analysis to model failure patterns over time.
• Differentiate failure modes to align maintenance strategies accordingly.

Averages don’t tell the full story—context and distribution matter.

6. Precision Maintenance—Mechanical and Electrical

Precision maintenance ensures that both mechanical and electrical systems operate within tight tolerances to prevent failures and extend asset life. Mechanical precision includes:

• Proper fastening with correct torque to prevent loosening and fatigue failures.
• Shaft alignment and balancing to minimize vibration and bearing wear.
• Lubrication management to maintain proper film strength and prevent contamination.
• Surface preparation and cleanliness to prevent corrosion and premature wear.

Electrical precision includes:

• Phase-to-phase balance to prevent overheating and failures.
• Power quality management by controlling harmonics and transients.
• Optimized power factor to reduce energy waste and increase efficiency.
• Power circuit integrity to prevent loose connections and resistive heating.

Electrical reliability is a core component of asset health.

7. Reliability Is an Engineering Discipline—Not Just Maintenance

Reliability engineering is about designing out failures and reducing intervention frequency. The best reliability engineers:

• Focus on load reduction, contamination control, and lifecycle extension.
• Work across operations, engineering, and maintenance.
• Ensure failure prevention is a core asset management strategy.

8. A Reliability Engineer Must Go to the Gemba

Reliability doesn’t live in an office, spreadsheet, or CMMS—it lives on the plant floor. The best reliability engineers:

• Engage directly with operators and maintainers to understand real-world challenges.
• Observe work being performed and align strategies with actual execution.
• Validate data against field conditions rather than assuming system-generated reports are infallible.

9. Understand the Value Stream and Constraints

Reliability engineers must see the bigger picture—how assets impact production. They:

• Identify bottlenecks and prioritize reliability efforts accordingly.
• Align maintenance with production goals to minimize downtime impact.
• Ensure asset strategies drive operational efficiency, not just reliability in isolation.

10. Continuous Improvement Drives Reliability Excellence

Reliability isn’t a one-time fix; it’s a continuous process. The best reliability engineers:

• View every failure as a learning opportunity.
• Drive Kaizen (continuous improvement) in reliability programs.
• Optimize designs, maintenance execution, and asset strategies over time.

Each incremental improvement compounds into long-term reliability gains.

Leading the Charge in Asset Reliability

A great reliability engineer isn’t just a technical expert—they are a leader in defect elimination, proactive maintenance, and high-reliability culture. Embedding these 10 behaviors into daily work ensures that assets perform better, failures decrease, and the organization moves toward world-class reliability performance.