Reliasoft BlockSim 2019
August 2019
See also Leo Wright’s Reliability competition and sales overview(from 2015)
“Who are JMP’s competitors? (maybe we have them in narrow areas) — but there is nothing else like it.
Who is as interactive?
Who else does as great a job at DOE?
Who does analysis faster and bigger on the desktop?
Who else does Graph Builder as well?
No one, because JMP is truly unique in the crowded marketplace.” -John Sall
Company
- Started in 1992 in Tucson, AZ, Reliasoft is a global reliability engineering software company, providing training and consulting services. In 2015, Reliasoft was acquired by Spectris plc, makers of HBM nCode, engineering software for durability and performance analysis. In May, 2016, HBM Prenscia joins nCode and Reliasoft software products, training and consulting. In October 2017, HBM Prenscia acquired privately held Omnicon Group through its parent organization, Spectris plc. Omnicon provides global custom engineering solutions supporting cost-effective software, hardware and test solutions for aerospace, defense, transportation, medical and other industries. This allows them to combine Prenscia’s technology with Omnicon’s services for more custom solutions. Reliasoft is widely considered the industry standard for reliability analysis. Reliasoft has a solid presence across durable goods manufacturing companies. Dr. Larry Crow, formerly a principle with Reliasoft, invented the Crow-AMSAA growth procedures.
Products
- Blocksim offers a comprehensive platform for system reliability, availability, maintainability and related analyses with graphical drag and drop interface with traditional Reliability Block Diagram (RBD) and Fault Tree Analysis (FTA).Version 2019 was released February 2019 with these highlights:
- New Process Flow module designed for continuous throughput processes (e.g., water treatment plants) to better model and understand various phenomena. This product option costs extra.
- Teams /multiple crews for tasks to allow users to assign tasks to crews as a part of the teams.
- Multiple spare part pools for tasks.
- Spare part pool profile models can be used to define any acquisition time and non-holding costs. This new model type allows you to model changes in cost and duration over time.
- Identical block simplification setting for subdiagrams.
- Enhancements for ease of use.
- Other products include RGA (reliability growth analysis), ALTA (accelerated life testing), RENO (flowchart-based simulations), and Lambda Predict (facilitates reliability prediction analysis). JMP provides most of these capabilities in one product.
Target Audience
- They sell to reliability engineers in Aerospace, Automotive, Transportation, Defense/ Military, Energy, Telecommunications, Chemical & Process, Oil & Gas, Semiconductor, Electronics/Appliances, Medical/Healthcare.
Feature Strength and JMP Response
- Reliasoft supports RBD, FTA and a combination of both procedures. JMP has continued to enhance reliability analysis capabilities with more Bayesian and many other enhancements.
- Reliasoft supports both non-repairable and repairable systems analysis. JMP supports both as well for traditional, corrective and preventive maintenance.JMP Pro 14 enhanced the Repairable System Simulation (RSS) with cross-component event/action links and JMP Pro 15 has added Import Component Distribution Settings to import configuration settings for the system diagram from a data table.
- Reliasoft supports both analytical and discrete simulation-based computations. JMP Pro does as well.
- Reliasoft reportedly can support up to 5000 nodes. JMP can build smaller library nodes, then add into overall system to compete with this feature capability.
- As part of HBM Prenscia, in addition to Reliasoft software, they can also leverage Omincon’s engineering expertise to offer more custom solutions. JMP has a network of thought leaders and partners who can be leveraged to offer customer solutions as well, in particular, Bill Meekerand Dave Trindade.
Feature Weaknesses and JMP Response
- See pricing below. Reliasoft requires clients to purchase task-based modules. JMP is inclusive.
- Reliasoft is a niche product focused mostly in the area of reliability, though they are integrated with nCode which gives them broader functionality. JMP is a diverse statistical package that will support most/all functional areas of an organization.
- Reliasoft is static. JMP has a cleaner interface with better graphics, and JMP is dynamic.
- Reliasoft may not offer the conditional cumulative distribution function (remaining life cdf) and conditional Birnbaum’s Component Importance (remaining life BCI). JMP offers cdf overlay in the bottom of the report, which is good for comparing different systems early in life. Mean residual life (MRlife) overlay is good for comparing systems as they have aged beyond a certain point of interest.
- Reliasoft is no longer a solely owned company. They were purchased by Spectris plc in 2015. At that time, there was a large exodus of long-time key developers following the sale. Former employees have left unfavorable reviewsof being employed at Reliasoft on Glassdoor.com and no new reviews have been added for the past several years.
Opportunities for JMP
- Major cross-sell opportunity due to extensive capabilities most reliability engineers need.
- Significant IT savings dealing with a single source software vendor.
- Future release development based on prioritized feature ID (similar to how we have progressed with overall JMP reliability improvements).
Threats for JMP
- More extensive feature capabilities. Strong user base of advanced users.
- Considered industry-leading software solution for reliability. However, they have marginal DOE capabilities.
- They offer product bundle price structure, which can be cost-competitive to JMP Pro.
Pricing*****This is older pricing. They no longer list prices. You must submit your contact information to obtain pricing.
Cost Advantage – JMP
Cost - Weibull++ $1295.00
Cost - ALTA $1495.00 (1-2 Stress) Pro $4995.00 (up to 8 stress constant or variable)
Cost - RGA $3495.00
Numerous software suites for bundle discounts available. See this link. They also offer many licensing options. Single user, standard network, concurrent network, rental and corporate partner licenses.
BlockSim
- Single-Thread: US$3,995.00
- Multi-Thread: US$5,995.00
- Upgrades
- Multi-Thread Upgrade from V8 Single-Thread: US$2,195.00
- Single-Thread Upgrade from BlockSim 7: US$1,895.00
- Multi-Thread Upgrade from BlockSim 7: US$3,895.00
- Single-Thread Upgrade from BlockSim 6: US$3,095.00
- Multi-Thread Upgrade from BlockSim 6: US$5,095.00
- Maintenance Agreements
- 1 year: 20% of software list price
- 2 years: 35% of software list price
- 3 Years: 45% of software list price
Competitive references where we’ve won against them or displaced them.
- A user at Apple gave us a nice reviewon Trustradius.com where we won over Reliasoft.
- Several existing customers have been adopting JMP for reliability. Examples include: Dow, Microsoft, Intel, Freescale, and Boeing, Raytheon , EMC, numerous DOD sites
- GE displacing Reliasoft in favor of JMP (development partner for JMP reliability growth).
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AMSAA
