In order to remain competitive in the global market businesses are under ever increasing pressure to ramp up production rates whilst simultaneously improving cost effectiveness to allow continued profitable growth. This requirement is particularly challenging in high value manufacturing which is characterised by expensive product and manufacturing systems and relatively low production volume. This thesis introduces a method for the design of robust and reliable manufacturing processes through the prevention of identified potential failure modes that is based on the principles of the existing Failure Mode Avoidance framework used for automotive system design. The tools and techniques that exist in the literature are reviewed in order to understand the best practice, and subsequently a Manufacturing Failure Mode Avoidance framework is designed. This framework is demonstrated through two unique case studies conducted in a real life manufacturing environment in order to validate its appropriateness to provide robust countermeasures to failure which will allow right first time manufacture. The outcomes of the implementations are discussed, conclusions drawn and opportunities for further research are provided.

The aim of this study was to analyze all business processes, to create a process map, analysis of risks in each process, their evaluation and to design solutions. The theoretical part describes methods of the practical analysis. These methods are flowcharts and FMEA.

Many academic institutions are tasked with trying to improve the usability of their online educational support technologies such as ePortfolios, intelligent websites, and other interface technology to make them as efficient as possible to meet the requirements of their end users. This is particularly important for the academic institutions during times and situations when they may not have a live human presence available to respond to various inquiries from their end users about the technology. The challenges of an academic institution in making its ePortfolios viable can cost itself, its end users, as well as its other stakeholders, money, time, and confidence in the technology. This study is about usability testing for improving the user-interface for ePortfolios. This is a qualitative study using the think-aloud protocol (TAP) for data collection and failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) for data analysis.

An increase emphasis has been placed on the automotive industry to develop advanced technology vehicles which meet increasing strict government regulations and standards for emissions and fuel economy while maintaining the safety, performance, and consumer appeal of the vehicle. In response to these requirements, hybrid and electric vehicle technologies have become more complex as the necessity for vehicles with an overall better environmental impact. Modern engineers must understand the current methods used to analyze and evaluate risk with the new hybrid technologies to ensure the continued customer satisfaction and safety while meeting new government and agency standards. The primary goal of this work is to maintain consistent definitions, standards, and protocols for risk analysis using design failure modes and effects analysis. Throughout the entire automotive sector there exist standards for risk analysis and methods for analysis, however these models can be difficult to relate to the atmosphere under which educational competitions occur. The motor system case study within this work aims to allow the process for DFMEA to be simple and easily implemented and understood when it is appropriate to start. After defining the model, an electric motor system for hybrid vehicle is analyzed for mechanical and inverter system risks. The end result being a 32% reduction in motor system risk due to recommended actions for mitigating top motor systems risks for future motor system design and implementation, all to meet customer requirements. This work aims to provide an additional tool that when implemented will accelerate the next generation of automotive engineers. / Master of Science

No / As part of the multidisciplinary safeguarding team, children’s nurses should have a clear understanding of child protection processes and how they have sometimes lacked a systematic approach. Methods of detecting threats to patient safety in high-risk clinical care can also be employed to analyse child protection processes. This article outlines one tool, known as failure mode and effects analysis, which can be used in a framework that takes into account human factors that can influence an individual’s performance. It discusses how this tool can be used to identify and reduce the potential for failure in the serious case review process, in particular by not attributing blame.

This thesis deals with the reliability analysis of a fuel pump driver circuit (FPDC), which regulates the amount of fuel pumped to a turbojet engine. Reliability analysis in such critical circuits has great importance since unexpected failures may cause serious financial loss and even human death. In this study, two types of reliability analysis are used: &ldquo / Worst Case Circuit Tolerance Analysis&rdquo / (WCCTA) and &ldquo / Failure Modes and Effects Analysis&rdquo / (FMEA). WCCTA involves the analysis of the circuit operation under varying parameters in their tolerance bands. These parameters include the resistances of the resistors, operating temperature and voltage input value. The operation of FPDC is checked and the most critical parameters are determined in the worst case conditions. While performing WCCTA, a method that guarantees the exact worst case conditions is used rather than probabilistic methods like Monte Carlo analysis. The results showed that the parameter variations do not affect the circuit operation unfavorably / operating temperature, voltage input variation and tolerance bands for the resistances are fairly compatible with the circuit operation. FMEA is implemented according to the short circuit and open circuit failures of all the electronic components used in FPDC. The components whose failure has catastrophic effect on the circuit operation have been determined and some preventive actions have been offered for some catastrophic failures.

This master's thesis deals with the issue of risk management in the selected company, which focuses mainly on production of technical fabrics. The theoretical basis of the thesis includes the definition of basic concepts related to risk management, identification, analysis and evaluation, as well as the precise procedures established according to the relevant ISO standards issued by the Office for Technical Standardization, Metrology and State Testing. The following section describes the current situation in the company, including introducing a process that identifies and identifies risks. These are then evaluated by the FMEA analysis and measures are proposed to reduce, possibly eliminate the risks.

The presented doctoral thesis is focused on solving reliability of operation and optimization of maintenance of rotary machines. In the theoretical part, the RCM method is analyzed in detail including several available modifications of this method. Furthermore, the most commonly used methods of technical diagnostics are presented. The practical part is focused on the design of a new methodology based on the RCM method.

There is much dialogue in the global aviation industry about Safety Management Systems (SMS) and how it should be integrated across all domains of the industry including aircraft design, production, flight operations, overhaul and maintenance, suppliers, service providers, airports, and so forth (Johnson, 2012). Regulators have made significant progress in recent years to implement ICAO’s SMS into airlines, albeit as a required or recommended practice. More recently the regulators are seeking to implement SMS into the aircraft manufacturing and aircraft maintenance domains. This research reviewed regulatory publications from multiple countries to assess the technical makeup of SMS, and understand what regulators are requiring, or recommending, and when. It was found that global regulators accept the ICAO published definition of SMS, but different regulators have varying approaches regarding implementation. However, they are consistent in initially targeting airlines for SMS implementation. SMS comments range from “The best thing since sliced bread” to “Worst thing since the creation of the FAA; I don’t need anyone telling me what’s safe when I already know it; waste of time and money”. This investigation experimented with field tests to connect the engineering, production and airline domains into one ICAO SMS model. Results indicate that because the different domains are risk-specific, the application of one safety risk management model to all domains is not viable. The SMS model applies to airlines because airlines’ primary risk is about operational safety. Aircraft production and maintenance is about production risk – therefore the risk model must be centric to process risk. Field test 3 tailored the ICAO SMS risk architecture to assess and mitigate process risk as applicable to the aircraft manufacturing and maintenance. Although the SMS architecture was usable, the content and focus was significantly adjusted to be production process-risk centric, to the point where the term “SMS’ was deemed out of place. The resulting model was therefore named Production Risk Management System (PRMS). Following the emergence of PRMS from field tests, this investigation reviewed industry, research and regulatory arguments for and against SMS in the airline industry, and correlated those arguments with the benefits and non-benefits of PRMS for the manufacturing and aircraft maintenance domains. The researcher advocates PRMS as a viable model that meets ICAO SMS-like architecture for aircraft production and maintenance. Methods were identified for developing and implementing PRMS, and for evaluating its ROI. If and when “SMS” is truly mandated in these domains, the researcher proposes PRMS as a viable model that should be considered. Furthermore, the researcher proposes that PRMS can be an effective production risk management system that can enhance the organization’s existing QMS, regardless of “SMS” regulations.

There is much dialogue in the global aviation industry about Safety Management Systems (SMS) and how it should be integrated across all domains of the industry including aircraft design, production, flight operations, overhaul and maintenance, suppliers, service providers, airports, and so forth (Johnson, 2012). Regulators have made significant progress in recent years to implement ICAO’s SMS into airlines, albeit as a required or recommended practice. More recently the regulators are seeking to implement SMS into the aircraft manufacturing and aircraft maintenance domains. This research reviewed regulatory publications from multiple countries to assess the technical makeup of SMS, and understand what regulators are requiring, or recommending, and when. It was found that global regulators accept the ICAO published definition of SMS, but different regulators have varying approaches regarding implementation. However, they are consistent in initially targeting airlines for SMS implementation. SMS comments range from “The best thing since sliced bread” to “Worst thing since the creation of the FAA; I don’t need anyone telling me what’s safe when I already know it; waste of time and money”. This investigation experimented with field tests to connect the engineering, production and airline domains into one ICAO SMS model. Results indicate that because the different domains are risk-specific, the application of one safety risk management model to all domains is not viable. The SMS model applies to airlines because airlines’ primary risk is about operational safety. Aircraft production and maintenance is about production risk – therefore the risk model must be centric to process risk. Field test 3 tailored the ICAO SMS risk architecture to assess and mitigate process risk as applicable to the aircraft manufacturing and maintenance. Although the SMS architecture was usable, the content and focus was significantly adjusted to be production process-risk centric, to the point where the term “SMS’ was deemed out of place. The resulting model was therefore named Production Risk Management System (PRMS). Following the emergence of PRMS from field tests, this investigation reviewed industry, research and regulatory arguments for and against SMS in the airline industry, and correlated those arguments with the benefits and non-benefits of PRMS for the manufacturing and aircraft maintenance domains. The researcher advocates PRMS as a viable model that meets ICAO SMS-like architecture for aircraft production and maintenance. Methods were identified for developing and implementing PRMS, and for evaluating its ROI. If and when “SMS” is truly mandated in these domains, the researcher proposes PRMS as a viable model that should be considered. Furthermore, the researcher proposes that PRMS can be an effective production risk management system that can enhance the organization’s existing QMS, regardless of “SMS” regulations.