The end or the beginning?

While searching for an appropriate starting point to discuss this topic I came across the following quotations:

‘Success is not final, Failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts

Winston Churchill

‘We learn from failure, not success’

Bram Stoker

Failure is a word no one wants to hear and yet failure so often can be the catalyst or starting point for something great to happen or be discovered. Nevertheless, at the time or point of failure, it is normally disastrous, bringing with it a series of consequences that need to be resolved and dealt with.

From a practical element, often when something fails it impacts our lives. Maybe a vehicle failure made us late for an appointment. Perhaps a power failure where we are plunged into darkness without warning. What about a failure with our satellite in the middle of a huge sporting event. Those types of failures of course are not directly attributed to us as we are simply the victims. However when it comes to personal failure then we have a different scenario. Something we have done wrong has not only impacted ourselves but for others and even worse when we are hauled over the coals for something that was directly our fault. Failure in its various guises can be disastrous and the consequences sometimes we will just have to live with.

Equipment Failure

When it comes to equipment failure, in many cases it falls into similar categories. The equipment can just fail and leaves all of us as victims running around trying to resolve the issue. Other times of course the equipment fails because someone has done something wrong. Incorrect lubrication, incorrectly fitted parts, sloppy maintenance, incorrect settings, the list goes on.

Equipment failure refers to any event in which any equipment cannot accomplish its intended purpose or task such as:

• Equipment not working
• Equipment not performing
• Equipment not meeting target expectations

The result or consequence of equipment failure is downtime which is the time when the machine should be running but does not run and this includes two main types of loss:

• The loss comes from sudden and unexpected machine failures or breakdowns.
  • This is an obvious cause of loss that negatively impacts organizations with production loss and unnecessary maintenance costs.
• The loss comes from incorrect setup and adjustments.
  • This is a careless loss, which has similar repercussions for the organization and perhaps for the technician responsible.

In every circumstance equipment, failure means no output.

Are you being successful in defeating failure in your organization?

Is equipment failure impacting your production output?

Are you missing critical customer delivery timelines?

Is your product quality being compromised?

Maintenance Objectives

Whichever way we look at equipment failure, we are looking at potentially disastrous and damaging consequences for everyone involved.

• The Organisation with lost profits
• The Technician for poor work performance
• The Customer who may suffer from delayed deliveries

The objective of maintenance is to minimize equipment failure but when this does not happen, production reliability, costs, and profits, just to mention a few, all become things of the past.

There are a number of primary goals that we need to work towards:

• Minimize Equipment Failure

This can be achieved by planning activities and work tasks to minimize potential failure and to replace components before they break. Overhauls and equipment cleaning should be done regularly.

• Eliminate Machinery Functional Failure

Total breakdown or an inability to meet specified performance. Proactive maintenance with a proven, effective, and sound maintenance management system needs to be in place.

• Improve Product Performance

Specification and capabilities must first be defined.  Physical conditions can be monitored and identified that may suggest imminent failure.

• Continuous Monitoring

Every industrial installation comprises distinct types of machinery according to its purpose and each installation will build its own history by dealing with and maintaining assets. Over a period of time and use machines will produce signs and can actually give warning signs that something is wrong. The machines need to be regularly monitored and the signs need to be acted upon.

Cost Implications

When machinery fails it generates costs with spare parts, labor man-hours, and eventually production downtime.

Consequences

Maintenance needs are often dictated not by the frequency of failure but by the nature of its consequences. The following table illustrates types of failure relating to safety, operations, non-operation, and unknown failures and highlights the consequences and then the potential solutions that can come with a scheduled maintenance program.

If you are striving to improve the effectiveness of your organization or your maintenance function then welcome to The Destructive Force of Failure, where we will discuss and learn about tools and methods that you can use to control and limit the impact of Destructive Failure in your organization, which is vital to your ongoing productivity and profitability.

For more information email us at info@strobe-al.co.za or visit www.strobe-al.co.za