Risk Management

Question 1

Reasons for failure (6)

Answer 1

1. design
2. facility
3. people
4. supplier
5. customer
6. environmental

Question 2

ways of measuring failure (3)

Answer 2

1. failure rates (how often failure occurs)
2. reliability (the chance of failure)
3. availability (amount of available useful operating time)

Question 3

bath-tub curve

Answer 3

a curve that describes the failure probability of a product, service, or process that indicates relatively high probabilities of failure at the beginning and at the end of the life cycle

Question 4

bath tub stages (3)

Answer 4

1. infant mortality: early failure occur caused by defective parts or improper use
2. normal life: failure rate is low, caused by normal random factors
3. wear-out: failure rate increases as the part approaches the end of its working life and failure is caused by the ageing and deterioration of parts

Question 5

failure detection (3)

Answer 5

1. in-process checks: employees check that the service is acceptable during the process itself
2. machine diagnostic checks: a machine is tested by putting it through a prescribed sequence of actives designed to expose any failures or potential failures
3. point-of-departure interviews: at the end of service, staff may check that the service has been satisfactory or to solicit opinions about products or services

Question 6

failure analysis (3)

Answer 6

1. accident investigation
2. failure mode and effect analysis (step by step approach to identifying all possible failures in a design)
3. fault-tree analysis (works backwards to identify all possible causes and origin)

Question 7

fail-safeing

Answer 7

building in devices that make it difficult to make the mistakes that could lead to failure

Question 8

maintenance (3)

Answer 8

1. run to breakdown
2. preventive
3. condition based (perform maintenance only when required)

Question 9

reliability-centred maintenance

Answer 9

an approach to maintenance management that uses different types of maintenance for different parts of a process depending on their pattern of failure