Abstract:
Failure Modes and Effect Analysis (FMEA) is a fundamental reliability analysis tool used in
industrial systems with many interacting components for failure modes identification and prioritization with the
ultimate goal of eliminating the failure modes causal factors. It entails identifying equipment failure modes
using a structured approach. The ability to perform effective failure modes identification and accurate
procedure for failure elimination is critical for effective maintenance management. This paper aims to identify
and prioritise critical recurrent and potential failures in corn milling plants using selected control parameters
through the application of FMEA for purposes of improving critical milling plant sub systems reliability.
Past research on corn milling plant case studies show that these industries experience frequent shutdowns and
lack of equipment optimization resulting to high operations and maintenance costs. This research evaluated a
corn milling plant’s critical sub-systems failure modes and established that corn milling plants have priority
sub-systems with critical failure modes whose failure consequence caused prolonged downtime and high
downtime cost. Moreover, it was established that ‘run to failure’ (RTF) was critical and required close
condition monitoring. This condition forced the milling plant maintenance team to apply failure based
maintenance policy, a reactive corrective measure which was applied after sub-system failure to solve the
failure occurrence. This crisis maintenance approach did not optimize maintenance function but instead led to
failure effect characterized by unplanned prolonged downtime and hence correspondingly high down time cost.
This paper presents a frame work for corn milling plant failure modes identification and prioritization for
purposes of failure elimination to enhance milling plant equipment availability.
