Process Failure Risk Analysis
The assignment was completed by Abhishek Patil with the use of resources from 3D e-book: chapter
9, videos and PFRA templates created by Paul G. Ranky.
Contents
1. Introduction and Objectives
2. Methodologies Applied
3. Main Body of Project
3.1 PFRA Applied to A&P Eco-MHE
3.2 PFRA Sheet
3.3 Analysis of PFRA Result
3.4 Collaboration
3.5 Sustainable Greening
3.6 Risky Processes (Video)
3.7 Panorama Navigation Map
4. Summary
5. References
1. Introduction and Objectives of Project
A&P Eco – MHE concentrates on developing the product at the first rather than considering rework.
Quality assurance and constant improvements in terms of functional requirements and customer
satisfaction is the main concern of A&P Eco-MHE. The company produces sustainable and green
product which does not use non renewable sources of energy and designed to customer
requirements. A&P concentrates more on reducing the gap between producing a sustainable product
and a specific sustainable product that the customer demands. A&P will now concentrate on
reliability through detecting the flaws in the process by implementing Process Failure Risk Analysis
(PFRA) in coordination of the CORA and CIMpgr proposed by Prof Paul Ranky earlier. A&P strives
to design processes with minimum risk of failure with a focus on sustainability and green
manufacturing. PFRA is a team oriented problem solving method which strives hard to minimize risk
by performing failure risk analysis which is grounded by the fundamentals os Six sigma.
With these methods A&P Eco-MHE will be able to reduce CO2 emissions and produce better green
products for the market. The PFRA is applied during the planning phase and is updated with the use
of better technology and statistical analysis; in order have continuous improvement which the main
goal of A&P Eco-MHE with a green focus.
2. Methodologies Applied
PFRA Tool
Process Failure Risk Analysis is used to identify and minimize potential failure risks in the process as well as the components such as machines, assemblies, sub assemblies and the effects of these failures on the product and ultimately on the customers. PFRA is applied during the planning phase and upgraded during the life cycle and a historical data is documented which can be used in the future for analysis and further improvements.
The PFRA has a quantitative approach to determine and reduce potential failures in risk during the
planning stage. PFRA team focuses on engineering solutions which could help minimize process
failure rate, waste material, lead time and customer dissatisfaction. The analysis is based on ranking
potential risks on a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is the least severe and 10 is the most severe. The
severity is the ratting corresponding to the seriousness of the potential failure mode. Thus rating the
risks helps identify the most severe risk and eliminate it in order to reduce the failure rate.
PFRA helps identify problems the engineers face and then produce solutions through a set of skills.
One or more of the following help the team to produce solutions:
a. What could go wrong with the product or the processes involved when disassembling the product / or executing the process, like assembling the product, or one or more of its components?
b. How badly might it go wrong, and what could the financial loss be?
c. Which are the highest risk processes / operations when working on the product?
d. What needs to be done to prevent failures?
e. What tools and fixtures are required to prevent failures, and reduce the risk?
f. What education is needed for line management and operators to reduce, or prevent
failures?
Seven steps that MUST be followed before using PFRA tool:
1. Define scope, function and purpose
Define the system or sub-system, or any product, or process (including service) design to be analyzed.
2. Identify potential risks and failure modes, and their effects
By applying the PFRA technique during the process, and creating, or analysing the
existing BOM (Bill of Material) file, the team should be able to gradually deepen the
product, process or system design analysis and locate all potential failures at the earliest
possible stage.
3. Prioritize potential failures
All faults should be ranked and critical quality, or cost, or safety related faults should be
located and eliminated by the cross-functional team as early as possible.
4. Select and manage subsequent actions
In cases in which the risk of potential failures is high, following our basic TQM principles,
an immediate control plan must be devised and subsequent actions should be taken to
control the situation.
5. Observe and learn
PFRA created for a product or process should be recorded well and should be used in
future while creating a new PFRA sheet. Also it is imperative that the PFRA sheet should
be updated from time to time.
6. Document the process
As the team goes along, store the PFRA / DFRA contained information in a widely
accessible format (preferably, both electronically, such as our spreadsheet and
optionally on paper based media) for the current as well as for future Teams.
7. Enter the values into the PFRA / DFRA spreadsheet on a relative scale
The relative scale should be determined by the local PFRA / DFRA Team, as well as bythe local, customized standards they follow.
3. Main Body of Project
3.1 PFRA Applied to A&P Eco-MHE
The forklifts manufactured at A&P are automated Omni – directional forklifts. We provide a
wide range of customization and material handling solutions to customers globally. The
company uses mecanum wheels to give Omni directional mobility to a lift truck. This allows
normal forward and backward motions like the conventional wheel, but also provides sideways
motion and rotation about it center of gravity. The movement obtained due to mecanum wheels
is smooth and precise. The smooth operation of the mecanum wheel is highly driven by the
precise manufacturing of the pins and soft rubber rollers. Thus the manufacturing and
assembly of the pin and soft rubber are critical processes. The quality check process for the
pin is analyzed below in the PFRA sheet.
A&P Eco-MHE has a policy to satisfy customer defined quality and functional requirements
with a green and sustainable focus. To achieve this A&P along with the collaborating
companies has implemented this PFRA with a aim to minimize customer dissatisfaction and
financial loss for process related failures.
3.2 PFRA SPREADSHEET
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A&P PFRA_.xls Size : 104 Kb Type : xls |
3.3 Analysis of PFRA
Before the assembly of the mecanum wheel the procedure for accepting the
manufactured parts for assembly. There may be a possibility that the manufactured parts
are out of specification. The critical part here is the pin and if manufactured out of
specification can cause a risk to the assembly process of the wheel and may also affect
the roller during operation and may lead to failure of the wheel assembly. So it is
important to check the pin against the specifications in order to avoid risk to future
processes such as assembly and other parts of the assembly or complete failure of the
wheel during operation. Thus A&P focuses on the quality check of the pin before the
assembly of the pin into the wheel. The process involves the following steps:
1. Examine the surface roughness
2. Examine the length of the Pin
3. Examine the diameter of the Pin
4. Examine the internal/external threading of the Pin
5. Engage the male and female part
The PFRA sheet records the failure mode and effects for each of the above steps and
calculates the Risk Priority Number (RPN) associated with each failure. Higher the
RPN higher is the probability that the process will cause failure. By entering the rating
based on severity, failure and occurrence for failure modes and effects for the different
processes the PFRA generates the RPN.
The effects of these processes on the other processes and parts, ways to detect these
failures and recommended corrective actions can be entered in to the sheet for
analysis.
The PFRA spreadsheet for A&P Eco-MHE shows the RPN is high for the following
Examine Surface Roughness RPN=150
Examine the internal/external threading RPN = 210
As these sub processes can cause a lot of damage to company in terms of money, time, quality and reliability. So it is necessary to address these processes and find engineering solutions.
The team came up with the following analysis on the above stated process to reduce the risk of the pin to fail.
1. The pin is one of the most common component of the mecanum wheel to fail. The risk lies in the surface roughness and the internal/extrenal threading on the pin.
2. The surface roughness is critical as the pin is inside the roller. If the roller has irregularities then this can cause the the roller to get consumed faster which will eventually lead to failure of the wheel.
3. The threading on the pin has shearing forces acting on it continuously. If the threads fail the pin will fail at the joint.
Steps Taken To Prevent Failures:
1. Surface roughness depends upon the machining parameters and tools used for
cutting processes. High speed cutting tools will be incorporated. QCT a
collaborating company supplies the tools required for machining and will
provide quality tools to ensure the appropriate surface roughness.
2. The surface roughness of the pin is tested using Profilometers with sub micron
precision in order to avoid acceptance of under quality jobs.
3. Thread cutting is done under use of proper coolants and cutting tools.
4. The threads are measured against specifications by the use of functional
thread inspection gauges which have high precision.
5. The employees under machining and quality assurance department will
undergo rigorous training sessions.
Both the processes maybe affected due to machinery and tools used.
The collaborating companies which supply machinery and tools to A&P have documented
these critical risk factors. They have used their skills and knowledge to provide us with the
best solutions to these issues. A&P is investing a huge amount in training personnel on the
shop floor in order to reduce these risks.
3.4 Collaboration
A&P will work in co ordination with the collaborating companies so that the system does not fail
at any point of manufacturing. A centric information system will help A&P to communicate with
the collaborating companies in order to report the process failure risks. A&P along with the
collaborating companies will give extended training to the operators to avoid errors and
manufacture the parts to the specifications. This will not only reduce waste material but will also
reduce time losses due to re-machining and waiting time caused due to re – machining. The
QCT will help to provide the tools with better quality in order to avoid failure due poor cutting
operations. Sunnen Above & beyond honing along with Rexroth Bosch Group will provide
better machinery in order to avoid the failures found to be critical.
We will collaborate with each company by using the recommended specifications to make thetools and machinery precise in order to avoid process risk and product failure at later stage.
The other focus would be to implement the PFRA in the collaborating companies in order to
obtain more sustainability. This way PFRA will not only help the collaborating companies to
achieve sustainability but will also induce more sustainability into the processes of A&P Eco-MHE.
3.5 Sustainable Greening
A&P Eco-MHE produces forklifts which runs on electric motors. Thus sustainability is induced
within the product with a green focus. Implementation of CORA, statistical analysis and PFRA
tools help A&P obtain sustainability in the process optimum use of material and reducing the
CO2 emission directly. Constant improving process add to sustainability and reliability.
Conformance to Eco standards is certainly obtained with a product being emission free and
process which help reduce waste materials to the minimum.
A&P Eco-MHE believes that proactively improving business operations to produce a positive
impact on the environment not only delivers measurable cost saving but induces sustainability
over a long term.
3.6 Risky Processes (Videos)
Peter Rayson - Intell Enterprise:
Peter Rayson talks about his experience in the field of aerospace. He tells that in earlier days
manufacturing of an aircraft took almost 15 to 20 years because of traditional methodologies and
tools. In those days a lot of paper work and effort were invested in maintaining physical data. Today
due to advancement in technology and help of automation the product development life cycle
reduced to around 4 years. Modelling,simulations and digital tools used now a days have minimized
errors and failure rate of projects has decreased drastically.
Thus Peter is trying to link manual work being a possible risk due to errors.
He states that change now a days contribute to fact that change is necessary and it is important to
understand that it has to be induced. Change is continuous and the only way to deal with change is
to adapt to it as fast as possible in order to eliminate the frictions. It is important to Develop, maintain
and refresh so that changes can be affect positively. To handle large projects it is important to break
down the break down a goal into sub goals. Information is a key towards managing huge projects.
Computerized methods used in design and manufacturing of products has reduced the work in
progress time to a large extent.
Thus the second risk that he intends to specify is lack to adapt with changes which are inevitable
now a days.
Process Modeling case: Japanese Cake and Food Preparation
The video shows that following international standards of quality and this can be a big setback for
business. They fail to maintain sanitary ethics and customer satisfaction is strongly violated. They fail
to obey work ethics and obey the ground rules of not smoking during work. Working in such a
process will not bring customer satisfaction and quality.
Thus not following International standards of quality and hygiene ethics is a possible risk.
The preparation of ingredients for the street vendors can be viewed as a risky process. Given the
environment where these food stalls are set up, there is concern regarding the sanitation of the area.
Raw ingredients are exposed to this environment which definitely affects the quality of the final
product.
RAMF: Robotic sealing:
The video concentrates on a process of sealing a gasket. The video shows that robot arm is used to
do this process and safety is taken care.The robot has an application in mass production. A robot is
used in this process because the process will have a short process time and better precision as
compared to a human operator. The robot arm has the safety taken into consideration. Control and
monitoring for the material flow is provided. The material is mixed with right proportions which
produces a homogeneous mixture. The material at high temperatures is harmful for human beings
and is not exposed to human being at high temperatures.
The possible risk in this case is the material may have harmful effects on the environment in spite of
it not affecting human beings at lower temperatures.
The process included automation in order to reduce errors and avoid direct contact of the material
with the operator. But there is no safety if in case the pressure vessels fail and there is a leakage. So
there is no backup if the automation fails. This is a possible risk.
Sam Scott Interview:
Sam follows informal way of communication in order to obtain more productivity than that can be
obtained by formal communication. However this may lead to intentional or unintentional disobey of
some instructions. This is a case of flexible chain of command and there is chance that the
employees can overlook some instructions. This is one of the possible risk.
His organization gives instructions to the visitors to maintain sustainability which gives a clear picture
of how much sustainability has seeped into his organization. However there is no mention of how heis helping to reduce the CO2 emissions as all the boats run on gas and are a threat towards theenvironment. This is another possible risk.
US Mobilresearch Robots:
The video features 2 mobile robots one which can be used on rough flooring and the other which can
be used only on flat and smooth flooring. Both the robots can have commercial applications but are
mostly used where human access is hazardous. But the negative space in the design presents a risk
to the robot to be caught onto protruding objects and reduces the reliability of the robot.
The other risk I found to be note worth is in the operation of the robots. The robots are controlled by
humans and human errors can induce a risk of error and may lead to malfunctioning of the robot.
Vision Guided Robots
The robot arm is being used for picking and placing. The robot is equipted with high precision
cameras and drive control in order to pick moving objects. The robots produces 100% accuracy with
high speed. The robot arm is isolated from the environment and safety of human is considered. The
robot is applied in order to reduce the labor, achieve high efficiency and apply the humans to some
more productive process which cannot be accomplished by robots.
The risk in this process would be if the robot fails manual work would be difficult at such a high
speed of the conveyor belt hence would reduce the speed of the process.
These robots are sophisticated and highly automated. There is a risk that the employees would lack
knowledge of this highly advanced robot and the robot may malfunction due to lack of training and
experienced operators.
3.7 Panorama Navigation Map
This tool can be effectively used in order to obtain a overview of the whole system and describe
each process in detail in a manufacturing plant. Taking 360 degree videos of the A&P Eco – Material
handling equipments would help in train sessions of the employees and help them deliver with a
mark of quality. It can prove a vital way of training people to work in hazardous environments. It can
also be implemented in order to give customers an overview of the organization system through well
explanatory images and videos. This technology can also prove effective in order to implement
improvements and the related analysis. As it gives visual contents it produces a creative path for the
engineers to work on improvement techniques. This technology on implementation can help observe
the material flow and will surely help in the discrete event and continuous flow simulation.
The Panorama technology is a new technology where an environment can be surveyed thoroughly
by the help of 360 degree images instead of just a single photo. The system can help managers, and
other workers of any company find faults and define risk processes easily. This can be done by
taking 360 degree movable pictures of any place and studying it, from different angles, and not just
studying one situation but its environment where you can see what if going on to the right of the
process, to the left of the process, and even behind the process. The Panorama image will allow the
user to see what kinds of risks are involved and what can be done to prevent such a risk. Since the
panorama allows the user to zoom to the detailed picture they can get a better understanding of the
minute details which can help define a problem, and mainly the problems solutions.
A&P aims to utilize this technology in order to achieve its goal of least material handling and increase
the productivity in order to full fill the customer defined quality and functional requirements. The
Panorama image will allow the user to see what kinds of risks are involved and what can be done to
prevent such a risk. Since the panorama allows the user to zoom to the detailed picture they can get
a better understanding of the minute details which can help define a problem, and mainly the
problems solutions. This technology can be used to capture videos and images which can help get
suggestions from customers regarding their expectations and requirements in the product process.
This can influence the design team in order to design according to the customer requirements. This
technology can be used in order to maintain visual quality checks during the process.
4. Summary
This helped analyse risk factors with the help of PFRA spreadsheet. It also helps to
understand the sources of the risks factors and produce engineering solutions. The PFRA
spreadsheet also gives priorities to the risks and can help allocate priorities to the risks
that need most attention.
PFRA also gives a better opportunity to understand processes and the possible risks which can
cause threat to the process as well as other dependent processes. The PFRA tool is very helpful for
the TQM team in process evaluate the failure modes of the process and the product. PFRA helps to
identify risks at an early stage so that losses due to rework and waste are reduced to minimum. The
potential risks can be eliminated early during the design phase and improve the manufacturing
process. PFRA tool helps to improve process through an analytical, quantitative, open source
computational model to induce sustainability along with an increase in returns.
6. References
1. Paul G. Ranky, IE673 Total Quality Management eLearning Pack ID: IE673-Spring 2012 95-66
2. http://www.cimwareukandusa.com/All-Green/Ranky-GreenEngineering.html
3. http://www.cimwareukandusa.com/CIMpgr1.html.
5. http://www.boschrexroth.com
6. http://www.numinagroup.com/
