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There are many different documentation tools for root cause analysis.

Some of the most common are:

  • Fishbone diagram
  • 5 – why
  • Cause-and-effect diagram

IDCON suggest using a cause-and-effect diagram, the key reasons we like this method are:

  • The cause-and-effect diagram helps the problem solver(s) to "divide and conquer" the problem. It allows the problem solver(s) to focus on one ‘branch’ of the diagram at a time. Humans are very poor at thinking at many things at one time (that is why you are driving your car, you turn down the volume of the radio when you are trying to find an unknown street sign or exit)
  • The cause-and-effect diagram is the only way to explain and research the cause and effect relationship in an even chain. The other diagrams don’t do this well.

Next month: spare parts classification

Career opportunity

IDCON is seeking a senior maintenance management consultant. You would work worldwide to coach our clients in improving reliability and maintenance work systems. This position is located in Raleigh, NC.

We are looking for someone with maintenance management experience from the heavy process industry such as oil and gas and mining. You must be able to travel two-three weeks a month. E-mail a cover letter and resume to jobs@idcon.com with the subject line ‘Senior Consultant’

Special events

IDCON participates in conference worldwide. Here are some of our upcoming events
PaperCon 2013 April 27 to May 1. On April 30, Christer Idhammar will be presenting ‘ODR Mill Application Update: What’s Been Tried, Who’s Succeeded, What’s Failed, and Why’ as part of PaperCon’s special one day OpEx Reliability Workshop.

The OpEx Reliability Workshop, a one-day event taking place during PaperCon, is designed for mill maintenance and reliability teams interested in bringing the latest techniques and best practices back to their mill. Sessions topics include: ‘Improving the Maintenance and Reliability Function’, ‘Advances in Asset Management’, and ‘T Maintenance Work Force Structuring’ and ‘Education’, plus a special joint session with RPTA focusing on ‘Operator-Driven Reliability’.