To ensure that their products and services are of the highest quality, many organisations are turning to advanced quality management methodologies like FRACAS, or Failure Reporting, Analysis, and Corrective Action System.
By systematically identifying and addressing potential failures, organisations can improve the quality and reliability of their products and services, reduce costs associated with rework and warranty claims, and improve customer satisfaction.
To support the FRACAS methodology, many businesses are turning to Intelligent Maintenance Management Platforms (IMMPs). IMMPs help organisations manage their maintenance and repair operations, from scheduling preventive maintenance tasks to tracking equipment downtime and repair history.
In this article, we’ll explore how to use an IMMP to support FRACAS methodology, and how this powerful combination can help organisations achieve their quality goals.
Implementing a preventive maintenance schedule
One of the key components of FRACAS methodology is identifying potential failures before they occur. By implementing a preventive maintenance schedule in an IMMP, businesses can proactively maintain their equipment and reduce the likelihood of failures. With an IMMP, you can schedule maintenance tasks based on manufacturer recommendations or your own experience, and track the completion of those tasks. This helps you identify any trends or patterns that may indicate potential failures, so you can take corrective action before they occur.
For example, if you have a piece of equipment that is prone to overheating, you can schedule regular maintenance tasks to clean the cooling fins, check the coolant levels, and replace any worn or damaged components. By completing these tasks proactively, you can prevent the equipment from overheating and potentially causing a failure. This reduces the likelihood of unplanned downtime, improves equipment reliability, and ultimately leads to higher quality deliverables.
Record failure data
When failures do occur, it’s essential to capture as much data as possible to identify the root cause of the issue. IMMPs allow to record detailed failure data, including the date and time of the failure, the affected equipment, the nature of the failure, and any other relevant information. This data can then be used to analyse trends and identify common failure modes, which can inform corrective actions.
For example, if you have a piece of equipment that has failed multiple times due to a specific component, you can use the data recorded in an IMMP to identify the frequency and severity of the failures. This data can then be used to prioritise your corrective actions and focus on addressing the root cause of the issue. By addressing the root cause, you can prevent similar failures from occurring in the future, improve equipment reliability, and ultimately improve the quality of your assets and services.
Analyse failure data
Once you have recorded failure data in your IMMP, you can use the platform to analyse that data and identify patterns or trends. An IMMP like Infraspeak provides a range of indicators and reports related to corrective and preventive maintenance, asset history, measurements, building activity, etc. With this information, you can prioritise your corrective actions and focus on addressing the most critical issues first.
For example, an IMMP will give you access to crucial metrics like mean time between failures (MTBF) and mean time to repair (MTTR) and help you finetune this asset data by comparing it with other pieces of equipment or locations from the same type, work orders of differing priorities, and the most frequent work order areas. This information can then be used to prioritise your corrective actions. By prioritising your corrective actions based on data analysis, you can improve the effectiveness of your FRACAS methodology.
Plan corrective actions
When a failure or issue is identified, it’s essential to develop a plan to address the root cause of the issue. IMMPs can help you plan corrective actions by allowing users to assign tasks, track progress, and set deadlines. With an IMMP, you can create a corrective action plan, assign tasks to specific individuals or teams, and set deadlines for completion. This helps ensure that corrective actions are taken promptly and effectively, reducing the chances of similar failures occurring in the future.
Track corrective actions
Once corrective actions have been implemented, it’s essential to track their effectiveness and ensure that they are addressing the root cause of the issue. An IMMP can help your maintenance teams track corrective actions by allowing users to record the results of those actions, monitor the equipment’s performance, and update the preventive maintenance schedule as needed.
IMMP is, undoubtedly, an effective tool for supporting the FRACAS methodology. By implementing preventive maintenance schedules, recording failure data, analysing that data, and planning and tracking corrective actions, businesses can reduce the frequency and severity of failures and assure SLA compliance. Whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise, using an IMMP to support FRACAS methodology can help you stay competitive in today’s rapidly evolving industry.
With an IMMP, the forementioned actions can be enhanced by the use of several integrations, like Analytics platforms, PowerBI and BMS, for example. FRACAS methodology is, then, fully supported when using an Intelligent Maintenance Management Platform to keep track of your operations.
