Accendo Reliability

Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site

  • Home
  • About
    • Contributors
  • Reliability.fm
    • Speaking Of Reliability
    • Rooted in Reliability: The Plant Performance Podcast
    • Quality during Design
    • Critical Talks
    • Dare to Know
    • Maintenance Disrupted
    • Metal Conversations
    • The Leadership Connection
    • Practical Reliability Podcast
    • Reliability Matters
    • Reliability it Matters
    • Maintenance Mavericks Podcast
    • Women in Maintenance
    • Accendo Reliability Webinar Series
    • Asset Reliability @ Work
  • Articles
    • CRE Preparation Notes
    • on Leadership & Career
      • Advanced Engineering Culture
      • Engineering Leadership
      • Managing in the 2000s
      • Product Development and Process Improvement
    • on Maintenance Reliability
      • Aasan Asset Management
      • CMMS and Reliability
      • Conscious Asset
      • EAM & CMMS
      • Everyday RCM
      • History of Maintenance Management
      • Life Cycle Asset Management
      • Maintenance and Reliability
      • Maintenance Management
      • Plant Maintenance
      • Process Plant Reliability Engineering
      • ReliabilityXperience
      • RCM Blitz®
      • Rob’s Reliability Project
      • The Intelligent Transformer Blog
    • on Product Reliability
      • Accelerated Reliability
      • Achieving the Benefits of Reliability
      • Apex Ridge
      • Metals Engineering and Product Reliability
      • Musings on Reliability and Maintenance Topics
      • Product Validation
      • Reliability Engineering Insights
      • Reliability in Emerging Technology
    • on Risk & Safety
      • CERM® Risk Insights
      • Equipment Risk and Reliability in Downhole Applications
      • Operational Risk Process Safety
    • on Systems Thinking
      • Communicating with FINESSE
      • The RCA
    • on Tools & Techniques
      • Big Data & Analytics
      • Experimental Design for NPD
      • Innovative Thinking in Reliability and Durability
      • Inside and Beyond HALT
      • Inside FMEA
      • Integral Concepts
      • Learning from Failures
      • Progress in Field Reliability?
      • Reliability Engineering Using Python
      • Reliability Reflections
      • Testing 1 2 3
      • The Manufacturing Academy
  • eBooks
  • Resources
    • Accendo Authors
    • FMEA Resources
    • Feed Forward Publications
    • Openings
    • Books
    • Webinars
    • Journals
    • Higher Education
    • Podcasts
  • Courses
    • 14 Ways to Acquire Reliability Engineering Knowledge
    • Reliability Analysis Methods online course
    • Measurement System Assessment
    • SPC-Process Capability Course
    • Design of Experiments
    • Foundations of RCM online course
    • Quality during Design Journey
    • Reliability Engineering Statistics
    • Quality Engineering Statistics
    • An Introduction to Reliability Engineering
    • An Introduction to Quality Engineering
    • Process Capability Analysis course
    • Root Cause Analysis and the 8D Corrective Action Process course
    • Return on Investment online course
    • CRE Preparation Online Course
    • Quondam Courses
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Live Events
  • Calendar
    • Call for Papers Listing
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Webinar Calendar
  • Login
    • Member Home

by Doug Lehr Leave a Comment

Failure Analysis – Root Cause Analysis

Failure Analysis – Root Cause Analysis

The information collected in the Storm Packer (SP) failure (Information) will establish: 

  • The timeline of events – which activity(s) preceded each significant event?
  • 3rd party impacts (process, products).
  • Product readiness at the time of installation.
  • Product suitability for the application.
  • Crew competency.

Simple failures often do not require a formal Root Cause Analysis (RCA). But in the case of the SP failure, there are many factors to consider, so an RCA must be used to narrow the list of probable causes or pinpoint the true root cause. Regardless of the RCA method used, these recommendations will help ensure a successful RCA:

  • Use a trained facilitator to lead the RCA.
  • Use a recognized RCA method such as a Fishbone Diagram or the 5 Whys.
  • Use an RCA team size of between 4 and 8 SMEs to maintain focus and progress.
  • SME team expertise must include product, process, application, and environment.
  • For complicated failures, multiple RCAs may be needed.

Some final thoughts.

  • Do not substitute brain-storming sessions for a rigorous RCA. These sessions are useful early in the FA process for idea generation, but not for identifying root cause(s).
  • RCA team members must approach the RCA with an open and objective mind. 
  • The RCA may take nontraditional paths of inquiry, but it will yield the true root cause(s).
  • RCA participants must think in terms of what immediately precedes each event. Jumping to a conclusion on any path of inquiry will miss significant events on the path.
  • Correlated events do not automatically mean that one caused the other. 

An FA interrupts the organization and is an opportunity cost that adds to the already high cost of the failure (Failure Analysis or Failure to Analyze?). But a rigorous RCA will minimize FA cost.

TRUTH: A recognized RCA method led by a trained facilitator will identify the true root cause(s).

This is the 4th of six articles in the Failure Analysis series for downhole tools.

  1. The Big Picture
  2. Scope
  3. Information Needs
  4. Root Cause Analysis
  5. Failure Simulation
  6. Mitigation

Filed Under: Articles, Equipment Risk and Reliability in Downhole Applications, on Risk & Safety

« Be Audit Ready: How to Ensure Your Maintenance Program Can Stand Up to Regulators
Is There a Direct Correlation Between Reliability & Safety? »

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Articles by Doug Lehr, P.E., Founder and Principal, Integris Technology
in the Equipment Risk and Reliability in Downhole Applications series

Join Accendo

Receive information and updates about articles and many other resources offered by Accendo Reliability by becoming a member.

It’s free and only takes a minute.

Join Today

Recent Articles

  • How to Reduce Maintenance Cost The Right Way
  • Significance Over Success. Innovation Over Change. Anticipation Over Agility
  • Maintenance Planning and Scheduling for World Class Reliability and Maintenance Performance
  • Self-Discipline Part 1
  • Is Safety Training Helpful?

© 2023 FMS Reliability · Privacy Policy · Terms of Service · Cookies Policy

This site uses cookies to give you a better experience, analyze site traffic, and gain insight to products or offers that may interest you. By continuing, you consent to the use of cookies. Learn how we use cookies, how they work, and how to set your browser preferences by reading our Cookies Policy.