4 STEPS TO SYSTEMATIC TROUBLESHOOTING

Changing the culture - Troubleshooting made easy

Greetings!

In this maintenance tip you will be introduced to the 4 Steps to Systematic troubleshooting. The troubleshooting of equipment failures in order to identify the root cause seems to be an art that is being lost by today’s generation. The process is not hard to understand or follow but must be engrained into your maintenance organization’s culture. The identification of root cause is paramount to solving repetitive equipment problems.

The 4 STEPS TO SYSTEMATIC TROUBLESHOOTING are:

1. Identify the problem (ex. Hydraulic pump failed)

2. Identify the correction (replace hydraulic pump)

3. Identify the root cause. The question needs to be asked, “what causes a hydraulic pump to fail?” All of the potential failures must be listed. By listing all known failures one can identify which failure is actually the root cause of the pump failure.
a. Failure due do to normal wear (what is the history of past pump failures and does the history show a pattern of wear) The question needs to be asked, “does the pump operate at full pressure and flow most of the time”?
b. Premature failure due to contamination (internal inspection is required) Look for scratches to the internal surfaces of the pump.
c. Premature failure due to suction strainer or filter partially plugged. Look for anything in the strainer or filter.

4. What is the prevention? One must determine how this failure can be prevented or identified far enough in advance in order to prepare for pump change out before a total pump failure occurs. These four easy steps should be used when one of two things occur.

The failure is occurring on a frequent basis.

The failure took over 8 hours to repair (this hour number can be adjusted as you see necessary)
Posting the findings of these equipment problems is key to sharing experiences amongst your maintenance staff. Changing the reactive culture of your maintenance staff is difficult and takes time to change. By following the recommended steps above one can begin to see a serious change in how your staff approaches an equipment problem.

Contact Information

Ricky Smith
843-762-3168
MAXZOR (Maximizing Total Plant Performance)
http://www.maxzor.com