ABSTRACT

GEARBOX RCFA IN THE FOOD INDUSTRY: LEARNING LESSONS AND ON LINE VIBRATION MEASUREMENT SYSTEM ADVANTAGES.

RCFA (Root Cause Failure Analysis) plays an important role in the process of continuous improvement of industrial plant reliability. This methodology is often used to find the root cause of plant catastrophic events, such as serious accidents to critical assets and people. 

In other cases, and particularly in leading organizations, it is used consistently as a systematic, continuous improvement tool that encourages plant reliability managers and their team, to be proactive and identify appropriate technical solutions. This methodology if well implemented can deliver strong advantages to organizations in terms of plant productivity performances and loss prevention. 

This paper describes a case study regarding a major mechanical damage of a critical blender of a food industry plant, a multi-stage gearbox is investigated by adopting the RCFA methodology. The main steps carried out will be reviewed with particular reference to the difficulties encountered during this project and the different strategies adopted.

The results of the analysis and the identified corrective actions will be presented, these will also include the use of Twise® Site, an innovative online vibration measuring system for this critical rotating machinery.

BIO

Domenico Pascazio graduated from the Politecnico of Bari in mechanical engineering and joined ISE in 2008. He has held the position of Technical Services Engineer for several years in the Reliability & Maintenance Consulting and PdM & Condition Monitoring departments, gaining extensive experience in the area of maintenance management and predictive maintenance. He is currently Business Development Manager for the Milan office, and follows the technical-commercial aspects for the Northern Italian and foreign markets regarding the development of new opportunities and the consolidation of existing customers. Since 2023, Domenico Pascazio is officially a member of ISE board of directors. 

Sandro Berchiolli graduated from the University of Pisa in electrical engineering and co-founded ISE in 1997, he is also Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the WIVA Network, three companies dedicated to the development of machinery, products and technical services.
The companies of the network, ISE, CRC and ORADOC deliver a wide and long-standing technical knowledge in different industrial fields with engineering studies, manufacturing ability, fully customized products and highly performing services.
ISE provides Reliability & Maintenance Consulting, PdM & Condition Monitoring services as well as advanced hardware and software solutions for Predictive Maintenance and equipment testing in all industrial sectors.