E52: Building a Reliability Program from the Ground Up at NTT Global Data Centers

“In data centers, you don’t have the luxury of downtime—but you do have redundancy.” In this episode of Reliability 4.0, Lee McClish, Director of Maintenance and Reliability at NTT Global Data Centers , shares how he built a reliability program from scratch for a fast-growing organization with 21 U.S. sites and hundreds of mission-critical assets.

Lee discusses how he overcame the challenges of redundancy-driven complacency, built a proactive culture, and created measurable results by focusing on preventive maintenance (PMs), KPIs, and effective communication.

We dig into:

🔸 How NTT's data centers balance redundancy with reliability

🔸 Why reliability and culture are the hardest aspects to change

🔸 How Lee built PMs and KPIs from scratch to track progress

🔸 The importance of educating operators and “preaching” proactive maintenance

🔸 How Lee uses scorecards to hold teams accountable and drive continuous improvement

If you’re building a reliability program in a growing, complex environment—or struggling with culture change—this episode has the lessons learned you can implement today.

This episode is available on

📺 YouTube

🎧 Apple Music

Or wherever you get your podcasts!

Want to improve your reliability culture and program? 👉 https://easyrca.com/engage

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