Failure Modes Mapping |
I know this process is unknown to many people as I was for many years until I understood the process. I ask my myself the following questions:
1. How many companies have PM and PdM Maintenance Strategies which are not based on specific failure mode or modes?
2. How many companies struggle with reliability yet they are doing there best to improve with very little progress seen?
3. RCM is the best method to apply to any asset when determining the most effective maintenance strategy required for assets however it would take a very long time use it all assets. My recommendation is RCM should be applied to your most critical (top 10%) first. Use the Failure Modes Mapping in the interim. There are companies who have built their failure mode library based on the hundreds of RCMs they have applied. Failure Modes Mapping will get you close to the best strategy for now and many forever.
How many companies are satisfied with their current maintenance strategies? How many companies know their maintenance strategies address specific failure modes and their causes? A Failure Modes Driven Strategy is defined as a maintenance strategy (PM/PdM) focused on “prevention, mitigation or early detection of a specific failure mode or modes”.
A Failure Mode is the condition that exists that will cause something to fail A Functional Failure is the inability of an item (or the equipment containing it) to meet a specified performance standard or intended purpose. Example: Motor bearing is failing due to lack of lubrication. A Total Functional Failure would be the motor does not rotate and the motor fails to function.
All Failure Mode Analysis Methods (RCM, FMEA, FMECA, Failure Modes Mapping) are trying to accomplish the same thing and that is to ensure that you have identified all failure modes and the appropriate maintenance strategy assigned to each asset. In the next to paragraphs we will discuss Failure Modes Mapping as a tool to use to quickly identify a maintenance strategy.
Failure Modes Mapping primary purpose is to quickly design maintenance strategies for groups of assets. Failure Modes Mapping utilizes the most common failure modes in asset components to identify which PdM technologies could apply to the asset along with Quantitative Preventive Maintenance (QPM) inspections tasks that could be performed to identify a given defect or failure mode. This tool also identifies tasks that could be performed by task-qualified operators, sometimes referred to as “Basic Care”.
Note: RCM and FMEA should not discounted and should be used after the Failure Modes Mapping Process on an organization’s most critical equipment. Failure Modes Mapping is a tool used to rapidly identify the maintenance strategy for assets if failure modes have not been identified or addressed. A large percentage of companies use vendor recommended PM Strategies and most of these strategies do not address specific failure modes.
Please comment on this short description of Failure Modes Mapping. I have seen this process make a major impact to asset reliability at hundreds of sites world-wide . There are many people on LinkedIn who have used this process and would appreciate your comments.
The Author: Ricky Smith CMRP, CMRT, CRL
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