Capturing failure history over the life of equipment

Abstract

A complete summary of the operating history for a piece of equipment is valuable for the overall reliability of that equipment. The effective operation of equipment and processes is crucial for companies to succeed. Often equipment failure history is fragmented and doesn't provide a clear picture of the specific problems or what actions were taken to reduce the probability of failure. This paper explains how simple, widely available software tools coupled with principles of visual communication, systems thinking and the cause-and-effect principle allow organizations to easily create a visual map of equipment information and history in a single coherent and concise document to improve the results of any failure prevention program.