Parts - Failures by Part
Part # - Inventory part number.
Quan - Quantity of parts needed to make up piece of equipment.
Description - Part description.
Amount - Cost of part.
MTBF - Mean-time-between-failure (average time) in days.
Downtime - Downtime by WO
Fail Code - Name of Fail Code.
Count - How many times this fail code has occured on work orders for this piece of equipment.
Description - Work order Problem Description.
Amount - Total cost of work order.
MTBF - Mean-time-between-failure (average time) in days.
Equipment Part Failure Report
Use this handy report to see which parts are more likely to fail.
Failure Codes
Code - Enter a Failure Code. Use the Lookup to select previously created codes.
Description - Enter a decription for the failure code.
Failure Causes
Cause # - Press Enter key to generate the next available Cause #, or enter the desired Cause # to view or edit (a lookup is available).
Desc - The description of the Cause code.
Under Troubles that have this Cause:
Trouble - The associated trouble #. A Browse button is available. Tie Causes to Troubles in Troubleshooting Data Entry (found on Equipment Menu).
Description - The Trouble description.
Keyword - The equipment keyword associated with this Trouble.
Suggested Correction - Enter what the possible corrections are for this Cause.
Click Save to save a new record or to keep changes.
Action Codes
Code - Enter an Action Code. Use the Lookup to select previously created Actions.
Description - Enter a description for the action code.
Troubleshooting Menu
See the Troubleshooting section in this manual.
Failure Analysis Reports
Several reports are available. Click on the desired option. You can also create your own reports using the MAPCON Report Generator.
Failure Analysis Graphs
Several graphs are available. Click on the desired option. You can also create your own graphs using the Graphic Reporter Generator.
Re-Build Failure Database
Run this option after first setting the software switch to indicate if Failure Analysis will be based on Failure Codes or work order Types. When this routine is finished, log out and login and start using the Failure Analysis Module.
Failure Analysis Notes
To get the most out of this feature, the following fields should be used consistently on a regular basis:
Date/Time Submitted - These fields already have a default value filled in on every system.
OS Date/Time - The Out of Service date and time should be filled in. If they are not, then Failure Analysis will use the Date/Time Submitted to make the time calculation.
RS Date/Time - The Return to Service Date and Time should be entered. If they are not, then Failure Analysis will use the Completion Date to make the time calculation (the time is then calculated using Noon for everything). This is not recommended because someone may complete a work order 2 or 3 days after making the repair, but the machine may have only been off-line for a few hours. This will skew the results.
Failure Code - If the software switch for Use Work Order Types is turned off, Mapcon only tracks the Failure Codes. If the Fail Code is not filled in, then that work order will be Not be included in the Failure Analysis calculation.
Cause Code - Although not required for time calculations, this is great for determining the Root Cause of the failure.
If you are truly serious about tracking Failure Analysis and want the best data possible, all of the above fields should be made required (red) on both the Work Order Completion window and on the After the Fact window. If the field is Red, and the WO should not be considered for Failure Analysis, create a dummy Failure Code to indicate No Value that users know to choose in that situation.
The Date Installed (entered on Equipment Data Entry) is also something that should be present, although not 100% required to have. The advantage is to give the system a starting point to perform the calculations, since they are based on time. If the installation date is not present, the first Submitted Date of the first completed work order is used. This can be changed in the Failure database if desired.
The Failure database record is keyed by the Equipment #. When the Re-Build process is run in the beginning, all active Equipment (status of IN service) are put into this failure database. The record can get large very quickly.
Caution: Standard 16-bit Mapcon systems may run into the 64K barrier that limits the size of any one record at 64,000 characters. To avoid this occurence, upgrade to the 32-bit Module. Side Note: New Mapcon v4.0 and v4.1 installations (after November 2003) are all 32-bit. Upgraded systems from a previous version may be either 16-bit, or 32-bit if the 32-bit Module was purchased and installed prior to moving to version 4.0. Contact your knowledgeable Mapcon Support Representative for more details or to help determine which version you have.
Failure Analysis Theory
Failure analysis is only for work orders against equipment. It doesn't make sense for locations and/or cost centers. Work Orders against Routes have not been included as they will likely have little effect on the overall picture since they are PM based and not actual Repairs.
Failure analysis is based on some basic formulas. Keep in mind, all of this is a function of time, so as start dates and other things change, so will the results. Also, try to think of these calculations for a group of equipment (such as a line, or a motor) instead of individual pieces of equipment, then things tend to make a little more sense.
For more info, see the good book by the Purdue University expert, Dr. Matthew P. Stephens, "Productivity and Reliability-Based Maintenance Management".
FAILURE RATE (for a group of equipment):
The basic calculation behind most of failure analysis is the Failure Rate. This is represented as the Alpha symbol. In this section, it will be called FR. An equipment's failure rate is the number of failures over the number of item hours tested. That is:
FR = # of Failures / # of item hours tested
For example, let's say your are looking at 7 pieces of equipment over an 80 hour period of time. During this time, there were 3 failures:
Eqp #1 at 15 hours
Eqp #4 at 35 hours
Eqp #5 at 60 hours
The failure rate for this group of equipment would be:
FR = 3 / 15+35+60+ (4*80) = .007
Keep in mind, 4 pieces of equipment did not fail, hence the 4*80.
Another important part of all this is the Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF), which is a function of failure rate.
MTBF is always expressed in hours.
MTBF = 1 / FR
In our example, MTBF = 1 / 0.007 = 143 hours.
There is also MDT (Mean Down Time), which is the average total time to return equipment to operation. Mapcon has been tracking this since its beginning. Now, 20 years later, we can really take advantage of it.
Continuing with our example, let's say the MDT for those three failures is 2.5 hours.
We can then calculate the availability of the equipment:
Availability = MTBF / (MTBF + MDT)
In our example, Availability = 143 / (143 + 2.5) = 143 / 145.5 = .9828 (or 98.28%)
Another formula is Reliability.
Reliability = 1 - FR
In our example, Reliability = 1 - 0.007 = 0.993
This information is provided for both the individual equipment items and for combinations of equipment items. We decided to keep the individual calculations as symbolics and provide the others as a report.
The FAILURE RATE for individual equipment is basically the same formula:
FR = # of Failures / # of item hours tested
In this case, however, the time span may be several months, or even years. And, there must be a starting point for it all. A start date is provided on the failure anlaysis screen (which should be the equipment install/start date). This gives a point of reference to the system on how to calculate the above formulae, which is now expressed as:
FR = # of Failures from start date to the current date /
(FailDate1-StartDate) + (FailDate2-FailDate1) + (FailDate3-FailDate2)....
In our module, there are three failure rates: one for each failure (FAIL_FAILURE_RATE), one for each part (PART_FAILURE_RATE), and one for the equipment as a whole (EQP_FAIL_RATE). We want to point out that the equipment failure rate (Symoblic EQP_FAIL_RATE) is
NOT taking the average of all the failure rates for each failure,
but rather it is a recalculation of all the fail dates using the above formula.
These are two completely different values.
A side note on MTBF: Each manufacturer should provide a failure rate for each piece of equipment or part they make.
From the manufacturer's failure rate, it can be determined how often that piece of equipment should fail. A field is available so the user can show the MFGs failure rate, and then be able to compare it to the actual failure rate that Mapcon calculates.