Maintenance Strategy Selection Based on FMEA/FMECA Approach Using Time Dependent Failure Probability

Maintenance strategies are one of the key aspects determining the availability of a production system and its maintenance cost. For complex machines with multiple components, each of which can have several failure modes, maintenance strategy selection based on a failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) approach is particularly suitable. The combination of failure probability and failure effect of each component allows an evaluation of different maintenance actions. The aim of this publication is to introduce a new aspect of the approach, allowing failure probabilities of components to be time dependent. This in turn can lead to different ideal maintenance strategies over time, based on the expected wear of a component.