Tip #101: The "Type of Failure" Field has Value

Lets say you are about to run the MTBF report for the first time. Odds are it is selecting all work orders with a CM worktype. What if a lot of this repair work did not involve a functional failure? Maybe the maintenance technicians just did an adjustment or painted the foundation. Thus when you run the MTBF this non-failure work would be included. The best way to avoid this problem is to add a field titled "Type of Failure" with choices of (1) Full functional failure, (2) Partial failure, (3) Potential failure, and (4) Defect.

And whenever the worktype of "CM" is chosen then this new field would be required. The Operations staff would normally know if there is full or partial failure. Otherwise a gatekeeper role could update this field.

An example of a potential failure would be.... the Operations manager is doing an end-of-shift walk-around and discovers an abnormal condition. A potential failure could have serious consequences if the situation worsened, resulting in economic impact based on repair, plus (lost) operational costs, public relations and worker safety impact. The observer would create a new work order with worktype=CM plus Type of Failure=Potential. Anyone could identify a potential failure. Management may also decide to publish results on regular basis highlighting the Potential Failure discoveries along with estimated cost avoidance. 

A defect might be a motor foundation requiring new paint, or, it could be a poorly written procedure. Defects might be separately tracked within the defect application.

Final Note: If a work order has a full or partial failure, this would drive the capture of failure mode data, at work order completion (to be entered by technician, supervisor or reliability engineer).