Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/431954
By John Martinez, tate and LyLe Root cause analysis is an important component to any maintenance department. Its goal is to eliminate the source of equipment failures, not simply the symptoms, in order to prevent those issues from recurring. Performed correctly, it can reduce problem areas in the plant and allow for more consis- tent, stable production. Setup and Documentation When beginning a root cause analysis, you will need to be able to capture all failures that require investigation. There should be a system for viewing all of the failures that have occurred over a set period of time. For larger plants, this infor- mation should be reviewed daily. In smaller plants, weekly or monthly may suffice, depending on the number of failures and the frequency of their recurrence. After evaluating the failures over time, your next step is to deter- mine when a root cause analysis is necessary. A quick way to do this is to establish a trigger or a desired service life for your equipment. This can be measured in months or years and will be different for each equipment type. An example would be using a baseline of three years for motors and one year for a pump. With these guide- lines, any motor failure in less than three years and any pump failing in less than one year would call for an analysis to be performed. The lone exception would be for critical equipment. If an extremely crit- ical piece of equipment fails, a report may be required. Create a Database for Tracking Failures Once you have a list of failures, begin tracking the number of failures and the status of the analysis. To do this, you will need to create a database where all root cause reports can be viewed in one place. At the very least, the database should include the equipment number or name, the date of the failure, the date of the last failure, the area where the equipment is located, the notification or work order number, a brief explanation of the failure, possible solutions and the name of the person responsible for the solution. An example of this type of database is shown on page 30. Please note that not all the information will be readily available and may not be entered into the database until much later in the investiga- tion. However, as much information as possible should be included to help establish which facts are already known. Gather Equipment Information and History The next part of the process may be the most critical. Gather as much information as possible, including what happened during the failure and the equipment's failure history. Find out what has been tried previously to correct the problem. If these solutions did not work, you will save time by not trying them again. Utilize all of your resources. Talk to electricians, mechanics, shift personnel, operators, clean-up crews and anyone with knowledge of the equipment. These individuals may offer important clues as to why the problem occurred and possibly even solutions or sugges- tions for improvements. This is imperative if the failure happened on the weekend or on a specific shift. Speak to those who worked during the shift for details on how and why the failure happened when it did. Start the process as soon as possible. The sooner you start, the more accurate the information will be and the easier it will be to recover or remember. ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS: From Detection to Implementation 28 | November - December 2014 | www.machinerylubrication.com