How To Troubleshooting And Repairing

A complete guide to troubleshooting for maintenance and tips for improving your troubleshooting skills to drag your whole operation.

Troubleshooting for maintenance can be both an art and a science. The problem is, while art can be beautiful, information technology isn't known for its efficiency. When taken to the next level, troubleshooting tin ditch the trial-and-mistake moniker and get a purely scientific endeavor. This helps technicians notice the right problems and solutions more quickly. When troubleshooting is done correctly, your whole maintenance operation can overcome backlog, lost product, and compliance issues much more efficiently.

Allow'south take a look at what troubleshooting actually is, why it matters to maintenance professionals, and how your team can fine-melody its approach.

What is troubleshooting?

Systems pause down—that's merely a fact of life. Whether information technology's a conveyer belt or an industrial drill, we've all run across a piece of equipment that is unresponsive, faulty, or acting abnormally for seemingly no reason at all. It can exist downright frustrating.

Troubleshooting is the process of identifying what is wrong with these faulty systems when the problem is not immediately obvious. Troubleshooting normally follows a systematic, 4-step arroyo; identify the trouble, program a response, exam the solution, and resolve the trouble. Steps one to three are often repeated multiple times before a resolution is reached.

Think nigh it this fashion: When a conveyor belt breaks down, you may endeavor a few different methods to fix information technology. First, you lot identify which part of the conveyor belt isn't working. One time you've identified the trouble surface area, you lot programme a response and examination it, such equally realigning or lubricating a function. If this fails to fix the trouble, you might replace the office, which makes the conveyor belt work again. This is troubleshooting.

How is troubleshooting ordinarily done in maintenance?

Stop us if you've heard this story before. An asset breaks down and no one knows why. Y'all talk to the operator, read some manuals, and check your notes almost the asset. Y'all try a couple of things to become the machine up and working again with no luck. Earlier you lot can endeavour a third or fourth possible solution, you get called away to some other emergency, with the asset nonetheless out of commission.

This is often how the procedure happens when troubleshooting for maintenance, especially when a facility relies on paper records or Excel spreadsheets. The process is based on collecting equally much data every bit possible from as many sources as possible to identify the most likely cause of the breakdown. You tin never become wrong when you assemble data, but it's the fashion that information is gathered that can turn troubleshooting from a necessity to a nightmare.

Why does troubleshooting matter in maintenance?

Unexpected equipment failure is the entire reason troubleshooting exists. If assets never broke down without any articulate signs of imminent failure, there would exist no need to troubleshoot the problem. But we know that's just non the case.

Nugget failure doesn't ever follow a predictable design. Yes, maintenance teams can use preventive maintenance and condition-based maintenance to reduce the likelihood of unplanned downtime. Yet, y'all can never eliminate it entirely. What yous tin can practise is put processes in identify to reduce failure as much as possible and fix it equally soon every bit possible when it does occur. This is where stiff troubleshooting techniques come in handy.

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Because troubleshooting will always be office of the maintenance equation, humans will also e'er accept a office. Maintenance technology does not erase the need for a human affect in troubleshooting; information technology just makes the process much more efficient. When troubleshooting isn't refined, it could atomic number 82 to time wasted tracking down information, a substantial loss of production, an unsafe working environment, and more than frequent failures. In short, knowing some troubleshooting all-time practices could exist the difference between an overwhelming backlog and a stable maintenance plan.

Tips on troubleshooting for maintenance

The post-obit are just a few ways your operation can better its troubleshooting abilities to conquer anarchy and take control of its maintenance.

Quantify nugget operation and understand how to utilize the results

It probably goes without saying, just the more than deeply you know an asset, the amend equipped you'll be to diagnose a problem. Years of working with a sure asset tin can assist you recognize when it'south not working quite right. Just exceptional troubleshooting isn't just well-nigh knowing the normal sounds, speeds, or odours of a detail machine. Instead, it's about knowing how to analyze nugget performance at a deeper level, which is where advanced reporting factors in.

Get all-time practices for tracking and using asset data

When operators and technicians rely solely on their own past experience with a piece of equipment, information technology leaves with them with huge gaps in knowledge that hurt the troubleshooting procedure. For example, it leaves also much room for recency bias to impact controlling, which means that technicians are most likely to endeavor the concluding thing that fixed a item problem without considering other options or delving further into the root cause. Also, if troubleshooting relies on the proprietary knowledge of a few technicians, it ways repairs will have to wait until those detail personnel are available.

Maintenance staff should have the know-how to acquit an in-depth analysis of an nugget'southward performance. For example, technicians should understand how to run reports and sympathise KPIs for critical equipment, such equally hateful time between failure and overall equipment effectiveness. If using condition-based maintenance, the maintenance team should likewise know the P-F curve for each asset and what different sensor readings mean. When technicians are equipped with a deeper understanding of an asset, information technology volition be easier for them to pinpoint where a problem occurred and how to fix it, both in the brusque and long-term.

Create in-depth asset histories

Information is the fuel that powers exceptional troubleshooting for maintenance. Knowing how a particular asset has worked and failed for hundreds of others is a good identify to start a repair. That's why manuals are a useful tool when troubleshooting. All the same, each nugget, facility, and operation is unlike, which means asset failure doesn't always follow the script. Detailed notes on an asset'southward history tin can open upward a dead end and lead you to a solution much more apace.

A detailed asset history tin can give you an border in troubleshooting in a diversity of ways. It offers a simple method for cantankerous-referencing symptoms of the current outcome with elements of past problems. For example, a technician tin run across if a sure type of fabric was being handled by a auto or if at that place were whatsoever early warning signs identified for a previous failure. The more a present state of affairs aligns with a past scenario, the more likely it is to need the same fix. Solutions can exist prioritized this way, leading to fewer misses, less downtime, fewer unnecessary spare parts beingness used, and more.

When troubleshooting is washed correctly, your whole maintenance operation can overcome backlog, lost product, and compliance problems much more than efficiently.

When creating detailed nugget histories to help with troubleshooting (every bit well every bit preventive maintenance), it's of import to include as much information every bit possible. Make sure to record the time and dates of whatever notable deportment taken on an asset or piece of equipment. This tin include breakdowns, PMs, inspections, role replacement, product schedules, and aberrant behaviour, such as smoke or unusual sounds. Next, document the steps taken during maintenance, including PMs or repairs. Lastly, highlight the successful solution and what was needed to reach information technology, such as necessary parts, labour and rubber equipment. Brand sure to add whatsoever relevant metrics and reports to the asset history likewise.

One fashion to capture all this data in one identify is to create a well-built equipment maintenance log, similar this i:

Download your own equipment maintenance log template here

Use root cause assay and failure codes

Effective troubleshooting for maintenance starts with eliminating ambiguity and short-term solutions. Finding the root of an issue speedily, solving it finer and ensuring it stays solved is a winning formula. Root cause assay and failure codes are a couple of tools that will help yous achieve this goal.

Root crusade analysis is a technique that allows you to pinpoint the reason behind a failure. The method consists of asking "why" until you get to the centre of the problem. For instance:

Why did the equipment fail?: Because a bearing wore out
Why did the bearing clothing out?: Considering a coupling was misaligned
Why was the coupling misaligned?: Because it was non serviced recently.
Why was the coupling not serviced?: Because maintenance was not scheduled.
Why was maintenance not scheduled?: Because nosotros weren't sure how often information technology should be scheduled.

Blast your next root cause analysis with this RCA template

This process has two benefits when troubleshooting for maintenance. First, it allows you lot to identify the immediate cause of failure and set up information technology speedily. 2d, it leads you to the core of the upshot and a long-term solution. In the example above, it'south clear a improve preventive maintenance plan is required to amend nugget management and reduce unplanned reanimation.

Failure codes provide a consequent method to describe why an nugget failed. Failure codes are built on iii actions: List all possible issues, all possible causes, and all possible solutions. This process records cardinal aspects of a failure according to predefined categories, like misalignment or corrosion.

Failure codes are useful when troubleshooting for maintenance considering technicians can immediately run into common failure codes, determine the best solution, and implement it speedily. Failure codes can also exist used to uncover a mutual problem among a group of assets and determine a long-term solution.

Create awesome failure codes with this free FMEA template

Build detailed task lists

Exceptional troubleshooting requires solid planning and foresight. Clear processes provide a blueprint for technicians so they tin quickly place problems and implement more constructive solutions. Creating detailed chore lists is one style to bolster your planning and avoid headaches down the route.

A chore list outlines a serial of tasks that need to be completed to finish a larger task. They ensure crucial steps aren't missed when performing inspections, audits or PMs. For example, the larger job may be conducting a routine inspection of your facility's defibrillators. This job is broken downwards into a list of smaller tasks, such as "Verify battery installation," and "Audit exterior components for cracks."

Maintenance engineering science does non erase the need for a man bear upon in troubleshooting; it simply makes the process much more efficient.

Detailed task lists are extremely of import when troubleshooting for maintenance. They act as a guide when testing possible solutions and so technicians tin can either fix the event or disqualify a diagnosis as quickly every bit possible. The more than explicit the job list, the more thorough the chore and the less likely a technician is to brand a mistake. Comprehensive task lists can likewise offer valuable data when failure occurs. They provide insight into the type of work recently done on an nugget so y'all can make up one's mind whether any actions were missed and if this was the source of the trouble.

There are a few best practices for edifice detailed task lists. First, include all individual actions that make upwardly a task. For example, instead of instructing someone to "Inspect the cooling fan," include the steps that comprise that inspection, such as "Check for any visible cracks," and "Audit for loose parts." Organize all steps in the order they should be done. Lastly, include whatsoever additional information that may be helpful in completing the tasks, including necessary supplies, resources (ie. manuals), and PPE.

Example of a preventive maintenance checklist

Build earth-grade PM checklists with this gratuitous template

Make additional information accessible

Nosotros've said it earlier and we'll say it over again; swell troubleshooting is often the outcome of great information. However, if that information is hard to admission, you lot volition lose any advantage it provides. That is why it is crucial for your operation to non simply create a big resource center, only to also make this it highly accessible. This will elevate your troubleshooting abilities and get your assets back online faster when unplanned reanimation occurs.

Allow's outset with the elements of a great information hub. We've talked about the importance of reports, asset histories, failure codes and task lists when troubleshooting for maintenance. Some other primal resources include diagrams, standard operating procedures (SOPs), training videos, and manuals. These should all be included and organized by asset. If a technician hits a dead-end when troubleshooting an consequence, these tools tin can offering a solution that may have been missed in the initial analysis.

Now that you've gathered all your documents together, it's time to brand them easily attainable to the whole maintenance team. If resources are trapped in a file cabinet, on a spreadsheet, or in a unmarried person'south mind, they don't practice a lot of good for the technician. They can be lost, misplaced and difficult to find—not to mention the inefficiency involved with needing to walk from an asset to the office just to grab a manual. Ane way to get effectually this obstruction is to create a digital knowledge hub with maintenance software. By making all your resource bachelor through a mobile device, technicians tin access any tool they need to troubleshoot a trouble. Instead of sifting through paper files to find an asset history or diagram, they can access that same information anywhere, anytime.

Everything you demand to know near maintenance metrics

Using maintenance software for troubleshooting

If it sounds like a lot of work to gather, organize, analyze and circulate all the information needed to exist successful at troubleshooting, you're not incorrect. Without the proper tools, this procedure can be a heavy lift for overwhelmed maintenance teams. Maintenance software is 1 tool that can help ease the load every pace of the style. A digital platform, such equally a CMMS, takes care of crunching the numbers, organizing information and making information technology available wherever and whenever, so you can focus on using that information to make bully decisions and troubleshoot more than effectively.

For example, when building a detailed nugget history, it'southward important to document every encounter with a slice of equipment. This is a lot of piece of work for a technician rushing from i job to another and difficult to keep runway of afterwards the fact. An investment in maintenance software volition help yous navigate these roadblocks. It does this by allowing technicians to use a predetermined set of questions to make and call back notes in real-time with a few clicks.

The same goes for failure codes. The key to using them finer is proper organization and accessibility. Without those two key ingredients, failure codes become more of a hindrance than a aid. One way to attain this is to use maintenance software. A digital platform can organize failure codes better than any filing chiffonier or Excel spreadsheet and make it like shooting fish in a barrel for technicians to quickly sort them and identify the relevant ones from the site of the breakup.

The bottom line

Troubleshooting will e'er exist in maintenance. Yous volition never be 100 percentage certain 100 percent of the time when diagnosing the cause of failure. What you can do is have steps toward a more efficient troubleshooting process to ensure equipment is repaired quickly and effectively. By combining a skillful agreement of maintenance metrics with detailed asset histories, failure codes, job lists, and other asset resources, and making all this information accessible, you tin motility your troubleshooting across trial and error to a more scientific arroyo.

Source: https://www.fiixsoftware.com/blog/troubleshooting-for-maintenance-best-practices-and-top-tips/

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