List of Essential Root Cause Analysis Tools to Use In the RCA Process
Unfit for Purpose
The data in Maintenance Management Systems are very often “unfit for purpose”. When asked about why there is an Enterprise Asset Management or Computerized Maintenance Management system, the answer varies. Here are some reasons we’ve heard:
- It helps with the planning and scheduling of maintenance work.
- It helps us capture maintenance costs against the right cost centers.
- It helps us find the parts we need for maintenance jobs.
- It provides data for reliability improvements.
- We couldn’t possibly manage all the jobs without a system.
Successful Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) Implementation
Doing an RCM analysis is only half the battle for successful RCM Implementation. From the beach in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, I share what you can do to get the results you want.
[Read more…]Facilitation Skill # 8 – Brainstorming
The mere formulation of a problem is far more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skills. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science. – Albert Einstein
In this article, we will discuss how to use brainstorming to enhance FMEA effectiveness, and when (and when not) to use brainstorming.
LNG Regasification Facilities: Consider High Pressure Releases
LNG import terminals in the U.S. follow NFPA-59A and 49CFR193 standards for facility siting. As a part of the siting studies, LNG regasification facilities report thermal radiation exclusion zones and flammable vapor exclusion zones:
- Flammable vapor hazard zones are based on a design spill from a single accidental source, usually a guillotine rupture.
- Thermal radiation hazards are based on tank fire.
What Are Broken Parts Trying to Tell Us?
Author: Mark Latino
RCA and How to Understand the Basics of Component Failure
When performing a PROACT® Root Cause Analysis (RCA) there is a data collection step called ‘Preserve’ (or the PR in the PROACT acronym) which requires the team to collect failed parts, conduct interviews, obtain paper data and positional information after an undesirable event occurs.
[Read more…]Five Ways to More Effectively Facilitate Tree Diagrams
This article discusses five ways to effectively facilitate tree diagrams by conducting pre-session exchanges, asking powerful questions, using exercises that engage, anticipating disruption, and controlling the tempo. The foundations of systems thinking and facilitation apply to tree diagrams because the analysis requires a group to establish the nature of separate and inter-related components.
Facilitation is defined as a structured session(s) in which the meeting leader (the facilitator) guides the participants through a series of predefined steps to arrive at a result that is created, understood, and accepted by all participants.” As provided in the definition, the fundamentals of good facilitation are always essential, including having a structure for developing tree diagrams that include predefined steps and a process for arriving at results that are created, understood, and accepted by all participants.
Facilitating Tree Diagrams
A tree diagram is a management tool that depicts the hierarchy of tasks and subtasks needed to complete an objective. The finished diagram bears a resemblance to a tree. (American Society for Quality, 2019).
[Read more…]Resilience as We Return to a “New Normal”
Resilience has been lost – and it’s our fault. We need to get it back.
As the Covid pandemic transitions to endemic (I am optimistic) we will get back to a “new normal”. No one really knows what the “new normal” will be like (yet), but it’s safe to say that it won’t be the same as the “old normal”.
[Read more…]How a Plant Wellness Way EAM System-of-Reliability gets Operations to World Class Maintenance and Reliability Success
Companies end rat-race problems fast and get world class reliability by using the simple Plant Wellness Way EAM methodology to slash operational risk and make your plant and equipment world class reliable
How to get a Plant Wellness Way EAM system-of-reliability that ends your Production and Maintenance rat race is shown in the image below. It’s a simple strategy and plan for building a truly effective life cycle asset management system that purposely replaces old production and maintenance rat-race causing systems.
[Read more…]Meeting Procrastination Risk or Productivity Opportunity
Guest Post by Malcolm Peart (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)
You wait 15 minutes for people to turn up, call-in, or get on-line. Some may have popped down to Starbucks to get their daily fix of skinny hazelnut caramel latte, or green tea or Evian water. The punctual few chit-chat away about anything and everything except the meeting agenda in case they commit some anticipatory faux pas. Then there are those, particularly the decision makers, who let everybody know that they only have a certain amount of time available; they will need to leave promptly so they won’t be late for their next meeting and with all plausible deniability may avoid decisions and conclusions; but wasn’t that the point of the meeting?
[Read more…]Understanding the Geometric Distribution
Coauthored with Mark Fiedeldey
The geometric distribution is a discrete distribution often encountered in reliability work, which contains some valuable properties worth understanding. Let’s take a look at some of these characteristics.
This model is useful when trying to answer the question, “How many trials are needed to get a particular result?” So, the number of trials is not set initially; we need to figure that out.
[Read more…]The Most Commonly Underused CMMS Features
Want to achieve a worthwhile return-on-investment (ROI) from your software? Then it’s important to learn about some of the most commonly underused computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) functions. Many organizations do not use all of the features their preventive maintenance software provides, or don’t use the functions to their full capacity. According to a national CMMS survey conducted by Reliable Plant magazine, a majority of plant maintenance managers feel they aren’t using their preventive maintenance software to its maximum capability.
[Read more…]1944 Cleveland LNG Incident: Lessons Learnt
An explosion occurred at East Ohio Company’s peak-shaving plant in Cleveland, Ohio on October 20, 1944. 128 people were killed and 225 injured as a result of the incident.
[Read more…]What Does it Mean to be ‘Safe’?
So what does it mean to be ‘safe’? Is a company ‘safe’ because they have not had an OSHA recordable injury in say over a one year period? Does that mean they will continue to be ‘safe’ in the next year? Does it mean they are at a higher risk of an incident in the near term, because they weren’t safe…but lucky? These are the debates I read about online and as an outsider, I can see both sides. But there has to be a practical middle ground as Safety and Reliability depend on each other for their individual successes, they are interdependent.
[Read more…]Five Ways to More Effectively Facilitate Failure Modes & Effects Analysis (FMEA)
This article discusses five ways to facilitate failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) more effectively by conducting pre-session exchanges, asking powerful questions, using exercises that engage, anticipating disruption, and controlling the tempo. The foundations of systems thinking and facilitation apply to failure modes and effects analysis because the analysis requires a group to establish the nature of separate and inter-related components.
Facilitation is defined as a structured session(s) in which the meeting leader (the facilitator) guides the participants through a series of predefined steps to arrive at a result that is created, understood, and accepted by all participants.” As provided in the definition, the fundamentals of good facilitation are always essential, including having a structure for an FMEA that includes predefined steps and a process for arriving at results that are created, understood, and accepted by all participants.
