Collecting Failure Data: A Practical Approach
How to collect the failure data needed to drive improved plant performance.
The first step to any reliability improvement program is to define what data or information will be required to drive defect elimination. In the previous posts, the following topics were discussed;
All of the topics discussed what data is required and how to structure the data to implement a reliability engineering program or defect elimination process. Understanding the what, when and why set up and is required to setup a reliability engineering […]
In the petroleum, natural gas and petrochemical industries, great attention is being paid to safety, reliability, and maintainability of equipment. This is true in any industry and as such the learnings and information found within 
ISO 14224 – Equipment Taxonomy 
Why is that some organization seem to break the reactive cycle and others don’t? After all most organizations have a PM program and some form of a planning and scheduling program right? The key difference between those that do is their ability to use their failure data and systematically eliminate defects and issues from the processes and equipment. This doesn’t mean adding a new PM everytime some fails, which just won’t work.
Ever wonder how some of the worst industrial disasters occur? It is usually the result of multiple failures. Failure of the primary system and failure of the protective systems. Ensuring the protective system(s) are not in a failed state should be of utmost importance to any organization. But how often should we test the protective systems to ensure the required availability?