We’ve Got You: Use a CMMS for FRACAS Action

A Failure Reporting, Analysis, and Corrective Action (FRACAS) System is a system for reporting and analyzing failures, and then applying corrective actions to those failures.

You may have heard of fault tree analysis. Operational managers, maintenance directors, and reliability engineers use fault tree analysis to identify potential causes of equipment failures before actual breakdowns occur. As a result, FTA improves system reliability, enhances safety, and reduces extraneous costs associated with equipment downtime.

The FRACAS process is a closed-loop system comprising three distinct steps or stages.

• Failure Reporting: This stage attempts to standardize the process of reporting failures, including how to gather and record data about the failures.
• Analysis: This provides a framework for analyzing asset data to understand the failures.
• Corrective Actions: This stage provides a template for correcting issues that cause failures and ensuring the solutions last.

We’ll take a closer look at this closed-loop process in a moment, but first, let’s consider another form of failure analysis: Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA).

FMEA vs. FRACAS

Failure Modes and Effects Analysis is a systematic methodology for analyzing and understanding potential causes of operational failures. It is a proactive method for evaluating processes, identifying where they might fail, and then implementing preventive actions before those failures happen.

Another form of this is FMECA: Failure Modes and Effects Criticality Analysis. ISO 31000:2009: Risk Management Principles and Guidelines describe a criticality analysis as the process of assigning assets a criticality ranking based on their potential risks. Thus, FMECA refers to FMEA with the added step of criticality analysis.

Both FMEA and FMECA differ from FRACAS in one fundamental manner: FMEA/FMECA is carried out beforehand. The aim is to assess potential failures and then prevent them. FRACAS, on the other hand, is a system for reporting and analyzing failures after they happen (maybe based on failure codes and sensors), correcting them, and by so doing, preventing their recurrence.

FMEA/FMECA is applicable early in the product development process, likely in the design phase. The FRACAS process, meanwhile, is helpful throughout the product lifecycle.

Steps in the FRACAS system

Collect Data

This is the process of creating the failure report. This stage requires following a standardized reporting system to answer set questions.

These questions will differ based on your team or organization, but it’s usually a good idea to ensure you get the basics: What failed? When did the failure happen? What happened as a result of the failure?

Your industry compliance requirements can also influence your failure report. In any case, ensure you’re getting down information that helps solve the problem and allows for future tracking.

Analyze Failures

Once a manager has assigned the report to a maintenance team, team members can begin analysis. The analysis phase will also depend on your organization. Approaches here can include a Root Cause Analysis (RCA), Weibull analysis, Pareto charts, data analysis, and other forms.

You’ll also want to pay attention to specific metrics and KPIs you’ve been tracking. Such metrics include Mean Time To Repair (MTTR) and Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF).

Apply Corrective Actions

The next stage in implementing FRACAS is to apply your corrective maintenance. Then, based on the results of the analysis, the maintenance team will make the necessary changes and repairs to restore functionality.

For example, RCA might uncover improper installation of a machine part. Technicians can then go in and install the parts correctly.

Monitor Solutions

This is the validation phase. First, restart the machine to confirm that the solution works. Monitoring the asset to ensure the solution works and lasts is also a good idea.

Close Out Task

Once confirmed, close out the task or work order in your FRACAS system.

“FRACAS provides a disciplined closed-loop process for solving reliability and maintainability issues at the design, development, production, and fielding phases of the life cycle of a system. It is an essential element of every reliability program.”
DAU

Why Use FRACAS?

Helps Ensure Compliance

Whatever your industry, you’ll be subject to regulatory expectations from overseeing bodies. While these regulations vary, FRACAS can help you comply with many industry standards.

FRACAS originated from the MIL-STD-2155 standard, which offers broad guidelines for reliability programs. A FRACAS also complies with the ISO standardization process, which can help you meet ISO-9001 and ISO/TS16949 standards.

Improves Asset Availability

FRACAS, when used as part of a robust maintenance program or RCM (reliability-centered maintenance), can help you improve asset performance. In addition, this system can lead to other forms of continuous improvement, like reliability growth and collecting reliability data for continual effective and efficient reliability analysis.

Using it alongside preventive maintenance management initiatives, you’ll see more lasting solutions for your assets. In addition, this approach should reduce breakdowns and downtime in the long run, leading to cost savings.

Increases Customer Satisfaction

Improved asset availability and reliability mean you’re more likely to meet up with production and delivery schedules.

In addition, products are less subject to quality problems. Increasing equipment maintainability can ensure your good standing with customers who can trust both your punctuality and the quality of your products.

How a CMMS Helps with FRACAS

Implementing new processes can be challenging, especially when you have established ways to do things in your facility. The good thing is that, in this case, software can make things much easier for you. Let’s look at some ways how.

Facilitates Reporting

A CMMS can make your failure reporting easier. You can use the app to establish a standardized reporting system, listing out specific questions to answer and details to record. This way, factory workers know to follow a standard process when collecting failure data. This standardized reporting approach is step one in a proper FRACAS system.

Simplifies Work Order Management System

When you receive a failure report, you need to assign the task to a maintenance worker. A good CMMS can simplify this for you by allowing you to create and assign digital work orders. Assigned workers receive notifications via their smartphone’s CMMS app, along with the failure report, which already has all the necessary data.

Optimizes Data Analysis

Another essential step in the FRACAS workflow is analyzing data. With a good CMMS, you can track your failure data and the results of your corrective actions. In addition, CMMS optimizes root cause analysis, which helps you identify what is at the heart of equipment problems.

This way, you know exactly how to optimize your corrective actions. You can also monitor the success and sustainability of your corrective actions by constantly recording and analyzing data at intervals. MaintainX is a CMMS that provides a reporting module that allows you to generate insights from your data over time.

Get MaintainX to Run Your FRACAS

Are you looking to simplify your incident reporting, optimize your work order management, and generate insights from your data? MaintainX’s EAM features include automated and repeatable work orders, instant chat, and a reporting module to streamline your operations.

MaintainX enables manufacturing teams to share crucial data points, enhance team communication, and glean insights from user-friendly advanced reporting. Our work order software consistently receives high marks for usability, comprehensiveness, and value on third-party review sites.

But don’t take anyone else’s word for it—try MaintainX for yourself.