Reporting, analyzing and correcting faults

The various methods most commonly used to implement a system for reporting, analyzing and correcting industrial plant failures are presented. These methods are used in the English-speaking world under the acronym FRACAS (Failure Reporting Analysis Corrective Action System), which will be used in the body of this article. The general principle of the FRACAS method was formally established by the U.S. Department of Defense in 1985 to provide managers with visibility and control over the reliability and maintainability of their weapon systems and associated computer programs throughout the entire life cycle (design, development, manufacturing, testing, operation and maintenance). It is characterized by a highly structured approach comprising steps organized in a retroactive closed loop. The specific steps of the FRACAS closed-loop method involve firstly, formally recording and documenting failures affecting equipment and software, followed by an in-depth analysis to understand the failure and its root causes. Next, corrective actions must be identified, applied and verified to prevent recurrence of the failure, thus minimizing maintenance costs. Today, following the development of quality-related methods and tools and Shewhart's work since the 1930s, multiple variants of FRACAS methods have emerged in different industrial sectors. In the first section of this article, the general approach of the problem-solving methods at the origin of the majority of FRACAS methods will be briefly described. Following a review of quality-related developments in goods, services and organizations since the 1930s, it will provide an inventory of the main methods and tools whose aim is to detect their malfunctions, investigate their causes, find corrective actions and evaluate their effectiveness once they have been implemented. Since causes can be of technical, human or organizational origin, this article will focus on the case of technical failures. The problem-solving methods developed by quality specialists Shewhart, Deming, Ishikawa (Deming-Shewhart-PDCA Wheel) and by Kepner and Tregoe will be briefly described. The principles of more recent methods developed by Japanese and American manufacturers (notably Toyota and Ford), such as KAIZEN, 6 SIGMA, A3 techniques, 8D and DMAIC, will be developed. For the analysis and search for the causes of industrial system failures, this section will also present the objectives of the tools most commonly used in the FRACAS approach: QQOQCCP, Paréto, fault tree, FMEA (failure modes, effects and criticality analysis), Ishikawa 5M diagram, control chart, control sheets, failure probability laws, the 5 WHYs, criticality matrix. This section will then describe the brainstorming, Delphi and Lewin methods for selecting corrective actions, and the main metrics available for evaluating their effectiveness....