Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/431954
30 November - December 2014 | www.machinerylubrication.com help describe what is shown in the photographs in case an object or situation is not easily recognizable. Every report should at least include the equipment information, the date of the current and last failure, an explanation of the failure and the findings with an idea of the root cause, an explanation of the past history, the proposed solution, an assignment of a person(s) to the solution, and appropriate data to help explain the failure (pictures, graphs, trends, etc.). Reviewing Reports Schedule a meeting to review all the reports and to come to an agreement as to what the solution should be. Send the reports in advance of the meeting to give ever yone a chance to look over and discuss the issues and possible solutions before- hand. This is better than first presenting the reports during the meeting and not allowing individuals to conduct their own research or investigation. Attendance at the meeting should be mandatory for area managers and engineers, maintenance managers, maintenance coordinators (both electrical and mechanical), area process super- visors and key process technicians, mechanics and electricians. Attendance may be optional for the operations manager, plant manager and planner. You can establish the meeting's importance by having the plant and operations manager question absent managers and engineers as to why they were not in attendance. Review each report, even if the failure was small, to make everyone aware of what happened and what is being done to prevent future failures. Come to an agreement on what the next steps should be so it is the entire group's decision rather than just one person's idea. Now you have a team of 10 to 20 individuals who are invested in the results. The frequency of your meetings should depend on how severe the failures are and how many have occurred. The more failures, the more often you should have meetings to discuss the problems. Implement and Track Changes Changes should be monitored by a lead person (usually a maintenance or reliability engineer). This person will create a method to track changes and observe what did or did not work. The team will also need to assign an individual and a date for completing the proposed solution. The lead person will then contact this individual to determine if the change has been made and if it was successful. A meeting should be scheduled for the lead person to review the solutions with the team. This will allow the group to understand what has been done to solve the problem and if the suggested action worked or if additional time or resources are needed. Similar to the database created previously, a simple document can be used to chronicle which ideas have been implemented and which remain to be carried out. Success Stories As you continue your root cause analysis program, be sure to use success stories to credit yourself, your team and the overall plant. Not everyone is aware of the changes you have made or the problems that the team has solved. Making this known to team members will show them how their efforts are making a difference and having a positive impact. Try to spread the word plant-wide in a newsletter or as a topic in a plant meeting. The more people who are cognizant of the effect that the root cause team has had on their job, the more willing they will be to provide you with informa- tion and suggestions to help in your investigations. Following are a few success stories that show how root cause analysis not only can impact a plant's bottom line but also make workers' jobs easier. Wet Mill Sump Pump A wet mill sump pump failed on average every two to three months over a three-year span. The solution was implemented in ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS RECORDS DATE OF FAILURE WORK ORDER # DATE OF LAST FAILURE AREA EQUIPMENT ID NUMBER FAILURE DESCRIPTION SOLUTION PERSON RESPONSIBLE DATE COMPLETED 01/02/2014 90057499 01/18/2013 ALC P-5680 Ferm. 80 Recirc. Pump Seal leaking Pump operation Doyle Baxter 01/31/2014 01/02/2014 90056756 10/15/2013 BRG C-4514 Pellet Airbelt Take-up roll bearing failed Research bearing type Kenny Evans/ Kurt Bradley NOT DONE 01/03/2014 90057464 12/02/2013 REF P-6926 Car Wash Return Pump Seal failed Power monitor option John Martinez/ Jeff Mitchell 02/25/2014 01/03/2014 90057353 03/25/2013 W/M M-3107 3rd Grind Mill #1 (Fixed End) PdM bearings impacting/ packing failed Look into new packing/ adjusting packing Kurt Bradley/ Matt Prock NOT DONE 01/06/2014 11071264 01/14/2013 REF P-6640 Raffinate MR Feed Pump Seal failed Change seal type on 3,600-rpm pumps Kenny Evans/ Matt Prock 02/03/2014 An example of a database for tracking equipment failures