The problems that arise in companies are inevitable. These problems can occur at different levels, and can affect a particular team, a group of them or even the entire system.
For this reason, the Maintenance area is expected to quickly resolve equipment and / or system problems, and affect users as little as possible. But, you do not always know what is happening, this is something "acceptable", or should be.
Most importantly, there is the capacity and tools to use the resources and skills to logically determine the root cause of the problem and how to solve it. This process is called Troubleshooting.
development-system-troubleshooting-failure-analysisTroubleshooting is a way of dealing with the resolution of problems and anomalies of complex systems, in which the symptoms of a problem can have many possible causes. It is a logical and systematic search for the origin of a problem so that it can be solved, and thus the equipment or process can be put into operation again. Since knowledge and experience vary from person to person and company to company, everyone can benefit from implementing a good troubleshooting process.
On the other hand, advances in technology are so fast and the diversity of equipment, components and systems is so wide every day, that it is complex to know what is the solution for each incident that occurs quickly and accurately. The best thing to do is to follow a methodology to discover and identify problems in a systematic and logical way. An effective troubleshooting method requires the combination of an adequate knowledge of the equipment / system, a logical rule-out scheme for possible causes, and an orderly structured approach to the problem.
This work will develop the process, methodology and computational system for Troubleshooting. Illustrated for the case of problems at a Goodyear tire plant. The results achieved include, among others, the continuous availability of a database, improvements in the availability of equipment, in addition to deepening the technical knowledge of the maintenance personnel, and maintaining the know-how within the maintenance area and not in people.
INTRODUCTION
The management of Technical Communication is a key process in the Maintenance Engineering area, which strategically and tactically supports the maintenance service, providing technical information against specific requests and / or regarding solutions to device, component and system failures. or teams. Technical Communication is defined as the process of issuing and receiving information referring mainly to improvements, problem solving and reports regarding equipment and / or systems. Its objective is to support the maintenance service in the correction of anomalies and the solution of catastrophic failures of equipment and / or systems, generating for this, the information in documented form, to register and update the solution in the consultation systems and files of support that the company has.More specifically, some of its specific objectives are:
- Provide timely support with Technical Information required by maintenance technicians for their interventions on equipment / systems Access to files that allow maintenance technicians to analyze whether a specific fault has been solved and the solution is documented Report the issue promptly of the manufacturers' PIP (Safety Service Letter), PSP (Technical Service Letter) and General Service Letters Provide instructions on intervention modes, standards and safety procedures in the development of the different maintenance services Provide training and consultancies that are required for each of the jobs to be executed in the maintenance services. Focus the use of Troubleshooting to help find the root cause of equipment stoppages with greater precision.
Inserted in the Technical Communication process is the Troubleshooting process that is the focus of attention in this work, and that is a tool to discover and identify the problems presented by a team and / or system, in a systematic and logical way to determine the root cause of a problem, and thus the equipment or process can be put into operation again, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the maintenance area and obviously reducing maintenance costs and, above all, costs due to production losses.
In general, in the operational reality of the maintenance service of most companies, there is a considerable gap between the response time to a failure (and its solution) and the quality of the repair, for this reason, we have seen the need to develop a tool that provides the solution of a failure according to the type of machine / subsystem intervened in a logical and systematic way, with which among others it is intended:
- Improve response and solution times in the event of a failure Increase efficiency in the quality of fault repair Improve the availability of equipment and systems Maintain know-how within the company's maintenance process and not in people Indirectly produce training and training of area technicians, increasing their knowledge and expertise regarding the conduct of equipment / systems Improve the technicians' fault analysis capacity Maintain continuous improvement of the maintenance process (Ex: New detected failures not reported within the maintenance area) Constantly improve maintenance and inspection guidelines incorporating the critical activities detected by this process.Contribute significantly to the improvement of the costs of the maintenance area and the costs of production losses.
The work developed shows the steps of the Technical Communication and Troubleshooting process at level 2 using the Six-Sigma methodology and tool and the ISO 90012000 documentation standard, without considering roles and responsibilities, therefore, it can be quickly adapted to different realities of productive companies (mainly mining and industrial) that have maintenance services with a high demand.
The methodology to follow in the Troubleshooting process is also proposed, which has been classified into four fundamental steps, unlike what is found in some bibliographies where the proposed methodologies contain a greater number of steps that make the process inefficient and effective. root cause analysis process in the event of a catastrophic failure of equipment in the production line.
Finally, from the definition of the Trobleshooting process, the computational application developed in the study for the Goodyear Tire Plant - Chile is shown, as a project to support the factory maintenance management developed by the company IMA Mantenimiento during in 2011 and the first semester of 2012, with the participation of maintenance technicians from the different areas of the plant (both from Goodyear and IMA) and engineers from the IMA Maintenance Engineering area.
METHODOLOGY
A bibliographic review and an on-site investigation were carried out in different companies, mainly Mining, to observe how they carry out the Technical Communication process and the Troubleshooting process. Based on this information, the Technical Communication process was designed and later the Troubleshooting process at level 2, using the ISO 9001: 2000 documentation methodology, in order to have a clear knowledge of the tasks and activities, roles and responsibilities that they involve each process.
Using this information, the operational methodology associated with the Troubleshoting process is built, determining for the root cause analysis of a problem or anomaly of an equipment and / or system, based on the symptoms detected and observed by the maintenance technicians in a systematic way and logic with four states (steps). These states are as follows:
- Step 1: Define the problem according to equipment / system: The troubleshooting process requires the correct identification of the malfunction or symptoms that the equipment or system presents. A complete and accurate description of the equipment and / or system symptoms must be determined. Step 2: Identify the cause of the problem: At this stage the experience of the technicians is commonly used (and fundamental) to generate the possible causes of the symptoms. Determining the most probable cause is often a process of elimination - eliminating the possible causes of a problem, and then formulating an attack plan according to the recommendations that are documented in the Troubleshooting information system.Step 3: Correct the problem: Carry out the appropriate corrective maintenance to the equipment and / or system - repair or replace the defective component (s) found in the equipment / system, according to the recommendations and solutions provided by System Troubleshooting. Step 4: Check the solution: Finally, troubleshooting requires confirmation that the solution restores the product (equipment / system) or process to its working and production state. Then, document the solution found, if it is not found in the Troubleshooting information system in such a way as to continually update the system database.
Finally, we develop the computational tool associated with the process and methodology described above using Excel 2010 Visual Basic.
The methodology used for the elaboration of the Troubleshooting computer system was to carry out a finished study of the database corresponding to the equipment intervention record (corrective maintenance daily book), filled in by the technicians of each shift of the plant according to each area; identifying the failures corresponding to the different equipment / subsystems with their respective corrective action to mitigate the failure. Together with the Maintenance Engineering area and plant equipment maintenance experts, it is studied whether the action described by the technicians is the most viable for the solution, then resolution alternatives are sought assuming different cases and symptoms that can be present on equipment and / or systems.
Having identified the failures with their respective solution, and the different scenarios and symptoms that the equipment / system may present, we proceed to enter this in the Troubleshooting system database (prepared in Excel, given the resources it has today the plant) with an image that better represents what happened in the equipment or subsystem involved. It is important to highlight that the system has the equipment tree (at the level of sub-equipment and / or components) of the different machines in the plant (information prepared by the Maintenance Engineering department), so that the search can be perform segmented by division / area / team / sub team.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
A computer system is built for Troubleshooting associated with the process and methodology previously defined for the Goodyear Tire Plant - Chile. Over time, collecting data on fixed issues can become a valuable resource for the company implementing the Troubleshooting process and system. It can be referenced to deal with similar problems. It can be used to track recurring problems over time, which can help with a root cause analysis. Or it can be used to continue the troubleshooting process if it turns out that the problem was not really resolved after all.
Finally, to achieve the sustainability of the system over time (continuous improvement), a Troubleshooting bulletin was created, which is sent weekly via e-mail with the new failures detected and entered into the system database, with their respective solutions., to all the personnel of the maintenance engineering department and personnel of the productive areas for their knowledge, dissemination and publication.
In addition to containing the information on the new detected fault, its possible causes and solutions, the bulletin contains the following information: Numbering, Equipment, Area, Subsystem, Participants, Associated Security Issues (locks, padlocks, cards, etc.), and Steps to: How to do an effective Troubleshooting? .
CONCLUSION
In any system there will be the possibility of a failure, and being prepared to deal with it in a good way is essential for productive companies in such a way as not to interrupt service or production. The current trend of companies is to have maximum availability, and an interruption in the production process is undesirable. Since it is impossible to completely prevent this from happening, the best alternative is to have procedures that allow faults to be resolved quickly. This is the troubleshooting.
Troubleshooting is used in many fields such as engineering, systems administration, electronics, auto repair, and preventive medicine. Troubleshooting requires the identification of the fault (s) or symptoms within a system. So experience is commonly used to generate the possible causes of symptoms. Determining the most likely cause is often a process of elimination - eliminating potential causes of a problem. Finally, Troubleshooting requires confirmation that the solution restores the product or process to its working state.
It is important to mention that to carry out a good Troubleshooting process it is necessary to be orderly and use an adequate methodology (such as the one presented in this work), since otherwise you may end up investing a lot of time without obtaining satisfactory results.
The important contributions of the design and construction project of the Troubleshooting computational process and system can be summarized as:
- Have a computational tool to support the management of corrective maintenance in the attack on catastrophic failures Have a list of the most common failures, identified their symptoms and solutions Deliver modes of intervention, standards and security procedures in the development of the different maintenance services Constantly improve maintenance and inspection guidelines by incorporating the critical activities detected by this process Contribute significantly to the improvement of maintenance area costs and costs due to production losses Increase quality efficiency repair of faults Improve the availability of equipment and systems Maintain know-how within the company's maintenance process and not in people.Indirectly produce training and training of technicians in the area, raising their knowledge and expertise regarding the conduct of equipment / systems.
THANKS
In the first instance to Walmir Priosti (Goodyear SAIC Engineering Manager) for his unflappable credibility of the success of the idea and to the great participating team, described below: Víctor Espinoza Moya (Design and Project Leader), María José Cabrera (Project Engineer), Team of Technicians: David Rodríguez, Pablo Muñoz, Iván Flores, Jaime Muñoz, Emerson Pérez, Cristian Sánchez, Luis Peña, Rubén Silva, Jorge Quijada, John Pérez, Myriam Vega, Roberto Álvarez, among others.
REFERENCES
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