Reliability Programs
FMEA/ FMECA
Reliability Predictions
Reliability Modeling
FRACAS
Reliability in Design
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Failure Reporting and
Corrective Action System
The Failure Reporting and Corrective Action
System (FRACAS) commonly referred to a
"Closed Loop Reporting
System", is instrumental in
understanding how an equipment or system is
actually performing in the field from a reliability
(and maintainability) perspective.
The benefits of implementing FRACAS can be
realized in a number of ways. A FRACAS can be of
great
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importance to a manufacturer with respect to the operation
and performance of a system. The manufacturer will see it in
terms of how well their equipment or systems are performing
in an operational environment. The information furnished
from the FRACAS will
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enable correlation to be made between predicted
reliability and maintainability (R&M) data
and actual performance R&M data. This
information will permit better informed decisions
for new designs and provide confidence over issues
associated with warranties etc.
For an organization operating a system or a
multiple of systems, an effective FRACAS, will
reveal when there are potential reliability (and
maintainability and logistical)
HOT SPOTS. For
example a small airline company operating a fleet
of several mid-size commercial jets, this
information could be used to
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determine the optimum operations and maintenance costs.
FRACAS Procedure
The purpose of a FRACAS procedure is to provide the
required method, guidelines and the responsibility for
implementing a Failure Reporting and Corrective Action
System (and Data Reporting and Corrective Action System
(DRACAS)) that would be required for a particular project or
program. The FRACAS could require the support from many team
members, who themselves are required to play an active role
in the FRACAS process.
FRACAS Responsibilities
The responsibilities of the keys players would be
detailed in the FRACAS procedure and could include the
following players for a given program or project:
Engineering Manager -
responsible for ensuring that program or project
requirements and objectives, regarding the failure
reporting system, are addressed. This could include,
ensuring that all the responsible parties fulfill
their obligations as detailed in the procedure.
Program/ Project Manager - is responsible
for ensuring the implementation of corrective actions
at the program level as a result of the evaluation and
identification of problems relating to R&M
issues.
Reliability and Maintainability Engineer -
is responsible for reviewing collected "Field Data"
for quality and completeness. In addition the engineer
will review and analysis all data from all sources to
identify any potential problems and trends.
System Maintainers - are responsible for the
actual collection of "Field Data". The System
Maintainer may be the organisation implementing the
FRACAS or the customer of the system/ product.
Production/ QA Staff - Would be responsible
for the collection of failure data during the
production phase. This phase could last for several
weeks to several years
Integration & Test Engineering - is
responsible for the timely collection of the required
R&M "Field Data" as detailed in the procedure,
during a test phase.
Subcontractors - are responsible for
implementing, as contractually required, a failure
reporting system that will address failures for the
equipment to which they are responsible for. They
will, upon completion of their own internal analysis
and evaluation, forward failure report to the
organisation maintaining the FRACAS. These failure
reports would provide details of an item's repair to
the component level.
Vendors - are responsible (where required)
for providing failure reports for their products.
These reports would be retained within a central
collection point.
FRACAS Procedure
A FRACAS and DRACAS could be implemented for a program
during the specified production, integration, test and field
deployment phases to allow for the collection and analyses
of reliability and maintainability data for the hardware
items. These items could be considered to be Line
Replaceable Units (LRUs) and Shop Replaceable Assemblies
(SRAs).
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Process
The FRACAS/DRACAS information would be collected
using a report format. Depending upon the
complexity of the system or systems and their
intended operational profile, this could be
achieved by using a simple form or may require a
more complex database. The person as detailed in
the FRACAS/ DRACAS process procedure will complete
the individual data element field. An example of a
process is given in the illustration to the LEFT.
Obviously depending upon many factors the actual
process would vary, for any particular system and
it's operational scenario.
Failure Identification
Upon detection of a system failure, which is
deemed to be a cause of a hardware failure the
FRACAS/DRACAS process would be implemented by
initiating the failure reporting sequence.
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Field Data Collection
The responsible person will collect the required
field data. This would vary depending upon program
requirements and the phase of the program itself.
This data will be collected to a level commensurate
to the level of maintenance performed in the field
(e.g. to the LRU or SRA level). The action of the
responsible person may include;
- Initiate the Failure Reporting
Sequence;
- Collect the Field Data as listed in
FRACAS FORM;
- Forward the failure report to the
Reliability Engineering Manager (This may be
done automatically using a database
utility).
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Supplementary Data
The subcontractors and vendors for units (LRU and SRA)
that will be repaired at their facilities will supply
supplementary failure data. The Reliability Engineer
will:
- Annotate the Failure Report with status that
"Awaiting Failure Data From The Vendor";
- Monitor the status for vendor failure data
submission;
- Upon receipt of vendor failure reports, enter
required data in to the database; and
- Review the failure data for possible and actual
problem trends.
Reliability & Maintainability
Evaluation
The after the collection "Field Data" elements the
Reliability Engineering would review each Failure Report for
the following:
- Field Data is complete, of sufficient detail and
quality;
- Determine if there are potential problems and/ or
unwarranted trends;
- Disposition and close out the Failure Report if no
action is required;
- Initiate a failure analysis, if required due to
potential problems or trends;
- Report potential problems and trends to the
Corrective Action (CA) team members;
- Annotate Failure Reports with CA disposition and
the CA log number;
- Monitor the timely response of and submission of
vendor failure reports;
- Monitor the status of all open Failure Reports;
and
- Preparing the FRACAS/ DRACAS data for inclusion
into the R&M Reports (if required and/ or detailed
in a R&M Plan).
To ensure that potential problems are identified and in
the event that appropriate actions may be initiated, the
Reliability Engineer will review all collected data. E.g. if
a failure report is raised for WRA xxx, a search will be
conducted to ascertain if other similar failure have
occurred to the item type in question. This problem review
activity will:
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Reliability
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Monitor the MTBF data in the case of
unwarranted failure patterns.
Establish possible common failure cause, e.g.
SRA, power module yyy
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Maintainability
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Monitor maintainability characteristics such
as, BIT effectiveness, accessibility, fault
diagnostics problems etc.
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Vendor
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Monitor vendor failure report for unwarranted
failure trends e.g. same CCA and/ or component,
No-Fault-Found (NFF) or No-Evidence-Of-Failure
(NEOF), indicates inadequacies in diagnostics
capability (BIT, test procedure etc.)
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Customer
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Focus on grey areas such as physical and
functional interfaces for modified between the
equipment and system
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Failure Analysis
Prior to issuing a corrective action a detailed
investigation into the cause of the failure trend maybe
warranted. The Reliability Engineer will consult with the
Reliability Engineering Manager, to obtain the required
engineering support and resources.
Disposition
The Reliability Engineer will disposition a Failure
Report with one of the following category types:
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No Action Required:
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- Original failure deemed not to of been
caused by H/W
- H/W failure occurs within a equipment,
which is not considered as part of the
primary configuration.
- No potential problem or unwarranted trend
identified
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Observation:
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- Follow the evaluating of a series of
failure the Reliability Engineer flags
potential problems
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Corrective Actions:
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- The evaluation of a Failure Report has
result in a Corrective Action been
issued.
- The Corrective Action is issued to
prevent the re-occurrence of a potential
problem. This can be a change in procedures,
design recommendations e.g. thermal changes,
OTS h/w changes etc.
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R&M Reports
The Failure Reports will be compiled into a R&M
Report, this would be detailed in the project/ program
R&M Plan or as supporting procedures. These would
normally be compiled and developed by the Reliability
Engineer. All Failure Reports that are satisfactory
dispositioned within the reporting period in question will
be included in the R&M Report submission.
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