Eng93000 Engineering Management For A Assessment Answers

Answer:

Reliability Centred Maintenance Strategy

This is a report paper concerning the reliability centred maintenance strategy for a factory equipment used in the processing of dust. The dust being fed into this equipment is from another factory and is then loaded by the use of wheeled shovel into the hopper and then elevated by bucket elevator and conveyor to the system’s apex. The dust is then disseminated to the hoppers for storage by a huge conveyor of scraper chain. This report paper focuses on the maintenance strategy of the dust equipment. The strategy will be contributing to a factory reliability centred maintenance strategy. The figure below shows the reliability centred maintenance strategy which should be implemented by the factory for effective maintenance of the dust equipment (Abdulrohim, 2011).

The maintenance is eyed to the identification of the equipment in question, seeking to maximize the strategies of maintenance to reduce the failure of the equipment and maximize the availability and reliability of the equipment. The steps involved in the implementation of the reliability centred maintenance above are seven as shown in figure 1 above. These seven steps have been explained below in regard to the dust equipment (Dixey, 2010).

Step 1: Equipment selection for the purposes of maintenance

The initial step of maintenance in this strategy is the process of equipment selection that is to be maintained. The selected equipment should be critical in terms of its previous cost, previous costs of repair, and effects on the general operation of the machine. The parts of the equipment that can be selected for the purposes of maintenance include making machine extruder, making machine mixer, machine feed hopper, extract conveyor, dust hopper, scraper chain conveyor, bucket elevator, and large wheeled loading shovel (Kumar, 2013).

Step 2: Defining the function and boundaries of the systems containing the equipment selected

The equipment that is to be maintained belongs to a section of the machine which performs a critical function. The following are the systems in the dust equipment together with their boundaries and their functions. The inclined conveyor is a system made up of belt conveyor with idlers that are toughing and is driven using shaft mounted gearbox. Its function is to raise dust beneath the ground hopper (Shayer, 2010). The collection conveyor, machine feed conveyor and collection conveyor are belt conveyor possessing toughing idlers and are driven using shaft mounted gearbox. Their functions are to remove dust from the hopper.

The maintenance difficulty of these belts are easy and their complexities are low. The making machine mixer has a single shaft mixer with high blades of chrome steel. The function of the making machine mixer is to mix lime and dust water. The complexity of this system is very high and it is very difficult to maintain. The making machine extruder has a high chrome worms and liners and performs the function of extruding the dust products. The products from the machine extrusion are loaded onto bogies of the refractory kiln and processed by a kiln and dryer (Administration, 2014).

Step 3: Defining ways through which the system can fail

In this stage, the ways through which the system can fail are listed. Some of the parts of the dust equipment that can fail to operate as a result of effects of friction include shaft mounted gearbox, belt conveyors, rotating belt, bucket loader, and extract conveyor. The frictional effects can be brought as a result of the dust getting between the moving parts of the system. The making machine mixer can fail through wrong mixing ratio of dust water and lime  (Wang, 2012).

Step 4: Identification of the root sources of modes of failure

The identification of the root sources of the modes of failure on the dust equipment can be one by the experienced operators. This identification of the failure modes can be done in the factory can be done by reliability centred maintenance expert, experienced technicians, machine operators, and equipment experts. The root causes of failure modes on parts of the equipment like incline elevator, belt conveyor, extract conveyor, shaft mixer, wheel gearbox, and bucket loader can be caused by loosened belts, lack of lubrication on the rotating parts, and bearing failure (Smith, 2015).

Step 5: Assessment of impacts of failure

In this stage, the impacts of every mode of failure evaluated. There are numerous methods that can be utilized in giving the assessment of the failure effects so as to provide a systematic approach, these methods include risk-based inspection, fault tree analysis, hazard and operability studies, and effect, mode, failure and effects analysis. The question that the factory should evaluate include; do the mode of failure has implications for safety? And do the mode of failure will lead to partial or full operation outrage? The answer to the questions above is critical in the analysis of the failure modes for further analysis. Significantly, the modes of failure which are retained include specifically those that possess an actual probability of the occurring under realistic conditions of operation (Abdulrohim, 2011).

Step 6: Selection of the tactics of maintenance for every failure mode

In this stage, the most suitable tactic of maintenance for every mode of failure is evaluated. The selected maintenance tactic should be economically and technically feasible for the dust factory. The maintenance that id condition-based is selected when it is economically and technically feasible to identify the onset of the mode of failure. The used or time-based preventative maintenance is noticed when it is economically and technically feasible to minimize the failure risk using this technique.

In case of modes of failure which do not have conditions that are satisfactory or options for preventative maintenance, then a system's redesign should be done to modify or remove the modes of failure. The modes of failure that were not recognized as being significant in step 6, at this level, these modes are identified as a perfect candidate for a maintenance of run-to-failure schedule (Rausand, 2012).

Step 7: Implementation and regular review of the selected tactic of maintenance

Significantly, the methodology of reliability centred maintenance will only be beneficial if its recommendations of maintenance are put into practice. After doing this, it is critical that the recommendations are renewed and reviewed constantly as extra information is gotten (Kumar, 2013).

Conclusion

This is a report paper concerning the reliability centred maintenance strategy for a factory equipment used in the processing of dust. The seven steps involved in implementation of reliability centred maintenance strategy of the dust equipment include equipment selection for the analysis, definition of the functions and boundaries of the system that contain the equipment selected, definition of failure modes, identification of the root causes of failure modes, assessment of the effects of failure modes, selection of the tactic for maintenance, implementation and frequent review of the selected tactic maintenance.

References

Abdulrohim, A. (2011). RCM Concepts and Application. Colorado: International Journal of Industrial Engineering.

Administration, T. N. (2014). Reliability-Centered Maintenance Guide for Facilities and Collateral Equipment. New York: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Dixey, M. (2010). Putting Reliability at the Center of Maintenance. Michigan: Professional Engineering.

Kumar, D. (2013). FLM to Select Suitable Maintenance Strategy in Process Industries Using MISO Model. Perth: Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering.

Rausand, M. (2012). Reliability-Centered Maintenance Resources Planning. Michigan: Robotics and Computer Integrated Manufacturing.

Shayer, J. (2010). Development of Computer-Aided Maintenance Resources Planning. Paris: A Case of Multiple CNC Machining Centers.

Smith, M. (2015). Reliability-Centered Maintenance. Moscow: McGraw-Hill.

Wang, J. (2012). Selection of Optimum Maintenance Strategies Based on a Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process. London: International Journal of Production Economics.