Impact of PFMEA Implementation with Fuzzy Approach on Improving Overall Equipment Effectiveness in the Sugar Industry

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the implementation of the PFMEA on the improvement of the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) in a sugar factory. First, the average Overall Equipment Effectiveness in the production process in eight consecutive working weeks was extracted as a pre-test. Then, the types of potential failures in the production process were identified and the three parameters of the severity of the failures, the probability of occurrence of the failures and the probability of failures detection for each failure mode were extracted in linguistic variable and determined by group discussion and by collective agreement and multiplied by corresponding numerical values These three parameters in each other, the number of priority numbers for each failure, was calculated. In the next step, 24 priority failures were identified by the severity-occurrence matrix and risk ranking table. Then, appropriate strategies for reducing the effects or eliminating prioritized failures were identified and implemented, corrective actions and necessary interventions were planned over a period of eight weeks. During the implementation of the interventions and at the end of each week, the Overall Equipment Effectiveness was calculated as a post-test. At the end of the study, the relationship between the risk priority number (RPN) and OEE was studied in the form of the Pearson correlation.