How far away is death? Close as changing a light bulb
TapRooT® Types of Failures
There are three types of equipment failures. They are:
- Failures that don’t require troubleshooting.
- Failures that just require troubleshooting.
- Failures that require troubleshooting and root cause analysis.
Let’s explain the three types.
Failures that Don’t Require Troubleshooting
The first type of failure is very simple (like a burned-out light bulb). It doesn’t require troubleshooting or root cause analysis. You just replace the bulb. You don’t need a book or troubleshooting tools to do that.
But what if the bulb keeps burning out every day? Then you have a problem. The frequency of the failure is too high. You need to find out the cause behind the repeat failures. It is time for troubleshooting.
Failures that Require Troubleshooting
If the failure is somewhat beyond the simple example (a burned-out bulb) but does not have serious consequences, the equipment troubleshooter may apply just the equipment troubleshooting techniques described in Chapter 4 of the book without applying the entire TapRooT®/Equifactor® process. This is the second type of failure.
Failures that Require Troubleshooting and Root Cause Analysis
Other examples of the need for troubleshooting techniques and root cause analysis are when failures have unacceptable consequences. For example:
- The failure is part of a significant environmental release.
- The failure leads to a serious injury or fatality.
- The failure causes major plant downtime.
- The failure causes unacceptable quality issues.
- The failure is expensive (equipment damage, repair costs, …).
- The failure keeps happening over and over again.
In these cases, management may want a thorough investigation of what happened, and the entire Equifactor® Troubleshooting and TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis processes will be applied. That’s the third type of failure.
From an article by System Improvements CEO and TapRooT® Co-creator Mark Paradies, The Equifactor® Equipment Failure Troubleshooting Process.
