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Defect elimination

Fix it forever.
Stop forever fixing.

 

Even when you set out to improve the reliability of your plant you’ll continue to experience failures in your plant. We know from experience that some 80% of failures that occur in a plant have occurred before. That’s where defect elimination comes in.

What happens in most organisations that deal with repeat failures? We plan for these failures. We write job plans. We hold extra spares. And when the failure happens we can fix it fast. We get better and better at fixing failures.

That’s great, right?

Maybe. Chances are that you could be a lot greater if instead of fixing that failure over and over again you actually fixed the source of the failure. If you fixed the defect that is causing that failure.

Reliability Academy logo displayed on course objective slide—online training for maintenance and reliability professionals

50% of performance problems in power industry were associated with maintenance

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in 80% of in-flight engine shutdowns maintenance was a contributing factor

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You will get nowhere on the Road to Reliability™
without Defect Elimination

Industrial maintenance technician using diagnostic equipment during inspection—visual used in Reliability Academy training for asset-intensive industries

Research done by Winston Ledet whilst working for Dupont in the 1990s has shown that when you implement Planning & Scheduling, Preventive Maintenance and Defect Elimination you can reduce your downtime by 90%.

About 30% of that reduction in downtime is because of Planning & Scheduling and Preventive Maintenance. And about 60% is the result of Defect Elimination.

Simply put, you’ll never become a Reliable Plant if you don’t get rid of those defects that keep generating failures.

You will always be fighting fires and working in a reactive environment unless you get rid of those defects.

Implementing Planning & Scheduling on its own is not enough. Implementing Preventive Maintenance on its own is not enough. Even implementing both is not enough.

You need to start applying Root Cause Analysis and establish a Defect Elimination culture to make big strides in improving your reliability.


Online training courses that teach your team
how to implement Defect Elimination & Root Cause Analysis

Defect Elimination &
Root Cause Analysis

Large commercial aircraft undergoing preventive maintenance—hero image for Reliability Academy training on aviation and asset reliability

Learn the powerful principles of Defect Elimination and Root Cause Analysis and how both are essential on your journey to higher reliability.

We offer a suite of courses on Defect Elimination & Root Cause Analysis tailored for those leading an implementation (DE100), practitioners like reliability engineers or supervisors (DE200), managers (DE300), and frontline staff like Operators and Technicians (DE400).

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Defect Elimination improves
plant reliability more than anything else

Root Cause Analysis & Defect Elimination: Why you can’t do without

  Erik Hupjé – 15 min read
  Listen to audio
  Watch Video
  Download PDF

With the Road to Reliability™ Framework you can reduce your downtime by 90%. And although you need all 4 Essential Elements to succeed the majority of your downtime reduction will come through Defect Elimination.

In this article, I will explain in detail why you need to apply Root Cause Analysis and establish a Defect Elimination culture to succeed in your journey to a Reliable Plant.

Tell me why
Digital interface highlighting problem solving, data analysis, and process mapping—visual used in Reliability Academy’s maintenance and reliability engineering training
Engineering and maintenance team collaborating over planning documents—representing strategic maintenance planning in Reliability Academy training

What effective Defect Elimination looks like

  Erik Hupjé – 15 min read
  Listen to audio
  Watch Video
  Download PDF

With the Road to Reliability™ Framework you can reduce your downtime by 90%. And although you need all 4 Essential Elements to succeed, the majority of your downtime reduction will come through Defect Elimination.

In this article, I will explain in detail why you need to apply Root Cause Analysis and establish a Defect Elimination culture to succeed in your journey to a Reliable Plant.

And it works.

Show me how
 

How to implement Defect Elimination

  Erik Hupjé – 15 min read
  Listen to audio
  Watch Video
  Download PDF

Knowing that Root Cause Analysis and Defect Elimination are critical to your reliability success is one thing. Implementing them successfully and sustaining the change in the long run is a very different story.

In this article, I will give you a detailed step-by-step implementation guide that addresses both RC techniques as well as building a Defect Elimination culture.

Show me how

Two maintenance technicians inspecting industrial equipment—representing hands-on training and practical reliability skills taught by Reliability Academy

A collection of short, to-the-point and practical posts on all aspects of maintenance & reliability.

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Download our eBook now and learn the
Road to Reliability™ Framework™

We believe in your people and empowering them to drive maintenance improvement in your business.

 
Cover of the Road to Reliability Framework eBook—free downloadable guide from Reliability Academy outlining a 4-step approach to reduce unplanned downtime by 90%