Does anyone have a list of reason for failure codes or know of any good web sites to find some list of these codes. We currently use RFO codes but feel the list needs to expand.
Thank you,
Tom Jones

I do not know of a good listing for failure codes, but would be very interested in a listing also.

Do you not think that the majority of codes...at least a good portion of the codes...would come from a FMEA of all your most critical assets? I am trying to kick off development (should read re-development) of our failure and cause codes for our equipment in the near future. One of my primary goals is to have a set of fault codes that are the same as the alarms the operators call maintenance for...or plant vocabulary may be a better way to describe it. An operator will call and say that a piece of equipment or system had a "cycle time out" or "drive fault such and such". Our goal is to enable the history to be built around how we communicate the faults. Once an operator calls with the fault or alarm that was triggered by the control system, we respond to the call, troubleshoot and repair. The Maintenance technician will then enter which alarm was triggered by the system, enter the cause code for that alarm, enter the action code for what action was taken to return to normal operating state, and then fill out a text field for the corrective actions which include: what troubleshooting steps he has taken, what caused the failure to occur (to the best of his ability) and what in his opinion needs to happen to avoid this problem re-occurring in the future. This, in our opinion, results in a history being generated that is quite useful for triggering reliability analysis and for future reference if this fault occurs in the future with someone that may not be as familiar with the system. If a technician responds to a call for "x" alarm and has difficulty troubleshooting, then he may query the work order history for that fault and be able to see what has occurred in the past and what was done to correct the problem in the past.

Of course there are many fault codes for failures that do not result in an alarm being generated and a listing would be interesting to review.

I have attached an article I wrote on Failure codes a while back that may give you some food for thought.

freedoc_Equipment_Failure_Codes.doc (67 Kb, 175 downloads)

quote:

We currently use RFO codes but feel the list needs to expand.

May I suggest a good old fashioned brainstorming session with your subject matter experts: the maintenance supervisor(s), Maintenance technicians and Planner. Make the list yours, not only with failure codes, but corrective action codes.

I consulted for a major drug manufacturer, and they had quite a list of failure codes they used in the Maximo CMMS. Allows some good analysis to take place (FRACAS).

Regards,

Lyndiana

When expanding the list make sure that it does not get that long that different users describe a the same failure by two different codes because they are so many that more than one seems to define the failure.

I like the idea of the brainstorming, get the planners, supervisors and the most experienced of the technicians of each crew/trade. Then re-check to avoid duplicate codes.