A quantitative graphical analysis to support maintenance

Abstract

This paper proposes a logical support tool for maintenance management decision-making. This tool is called GAMM (Graphical Analysis for Maintenance Management) and it is a method to visualize and analyze equipment dependability data in a graphical form. The method helps for a quick and clear analysis and interpretation of equipment maintenance (corrective and preventive) and operational stoppages. Then, opportunities can be identified to improve both operations and maintenance management (short-medium term) and potential investments (medium-long term). The method allows an easy visualization of parameters like: number of corrective actions between preventive maintenance, accumulation of failures in short periods of time, duration of maintenance activities and sequence of stops of short duration. In addition, this tool allows identifying, a priori, anomalous behavior of equipment, whether derived from its own functioning, maintenance activities, from misuse, or even as a result of equipment designs errors. In this method we use a nonparametric estimator of the reliability function as a basis for the analysis. This estimator takes into account equipment historical data (total or partial) and can provide valuable insights to the analyst even with few available data.