Abstract:
Since a smooth manufacturing process and good product quality mainly depend on
machines and equipment, every effort should be applied to enhance the reliability of
working equipment and system. Even though plenty of researches have been done on
system reliability analysis techniques for enhancing productivity and maintenance action,
there is no enough study that shows its effect on product quality. Thus, this study aims to
investigate the effect of system reliability on product quality using a risk analysis method
that utilizes two methods namely, fault tree analysis and process failure mode effect
analysis for PVC pipe product which had the highest portion of scrap due to different
manufacturing failure reasons in case of Amhara pipe factory. Fault tree analysis is used
to structure the logical relation of the system; whereas Process Failure mode and effect
analysis is used to assess the risk of each operational step. A total of 56 operational
failure modes and 104 failure causes are conducted. Out of them 31 and 41 are
responsible for PVC product quality characteristics respectively which indicates that the
reliability of the system has a considerable effect on the product quality. Based on pareto
analysis, the RPN greater than 192 identified as 20% of causes.
The criteria used for selecting a control mechanism were: RPN greater than 192, critical,
product related failure mode and product effect contribution. Based on these criteria
Preventive, Condition based, and Corrective maintenance strategies were used. For
preventive maintenance action the four criteria were used. For condition-based
maintenance action product related failure modes and product effect contribution were
considered. For the corrective maintenance action, a failure mode having RPN greater
than 192, less critical and non-product related failure mode were considered.
The research has a great contribution to overcome quality related problem of the
company. In addition, the research is unique in method of combining FTA and PFMEA.
Key words: Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), Process Failure Mode and Effect Analysis
(PFMEA), Product Quality