University of Sunderland

Faculty of Technology

EAT343 – Advanced Maintenance

Individual assessment

This assessment contributes 30% of the overall module mark.

The following learning outcomes will be assessed:

Knowledge:

Critical knowledge of asset management strategies and how they are applied to engineering
management activities.

Skills:

Identify and critically evaluate a range of asset management techniques for improved
equipment reliability and availability

Critically evaluate the operational parameters of production equipment and apply a range of
asset management techniques to improve equipment efficiency and effectiveness

Instructions

Your report must use a range of reference material (academic journals and books) and show
clear evidence of your thinking through detailed critical evaluation. Any sources you have used
to compile your reports such as journal articles, reference books, web pages, etc. must be
properly referenced in the Harvard style.

Your submission for this assignment should be in the form of one report, approximately 2500
words. Supplementary diagrams may be included if necessary, providing they are correctly
cross-referenced.

You are required to submit your work within the bounds of the University Infringement of
Assessment Regulations (see your Programme Guide). Plagiarism, paraphrasing and
downloading large amounts of information from external sources, will not be tolerated, and
will be dealt with severely. Although you should make full use of any source material, which
would normally be an occasional sentence and/or paragraph (referenced) followed by your own
critical analysis/evaluation. You will receive no marks for work that is not your own. Your
work may be subject to checks for originality which can include use of an electronic plagiarism
detection service.
Where you are asked to submit an individual piece of work, the work must be entirely your
own. The safety of your assessments is your responsibility. You must not permit another
student access to your work.

Submission Deadline 23:59 (11.59 pm) on 10th January 2022

Submission Location Online, via Canvas
Case study information:

Collido components is a medium size business, manufacturing steering column parts for an
automotive manufacturer. As such, it may be defined as a Tier 1 Supplier to the Automotive
OEM. The business has been in operation for 25 years, with some of the manufacturing
equipment still in place from the opening of the factory!

The Senior Management team at Collido wish to implement a medium to long term project
whereby the reliability of the production process is improved. At the moment, they are finding
it difficult to know where to begin this so have sought your help.

Further information:

Collido have established some initial aims which they wish to achieve and subsequently build
upon:

• To understand the correct maintenance strategy for their business.

• To be able to monitor and plan the production process more accurately.
• To manage each departments budget more efficiently.
• All employees to work in an environment where they feel safe and valued.

Task 1

As a consultant Engineer, it is your task to propose solutions which will help the business
satisfy the objectives listed above. As a result, you have been asked to compile a response to
the following questions:

a) Discuss the normal manufacturing techniques which need to be used by a successful

Tier 1 Automotive manufacturing supplier. (10 marks)

b) Using the information from part a) you are to identify a maintenance strategy which
may be incorporated into this type of manufacturing environment. As part of your
response, you must justify why this strategy would work and how it would help the
business meet the needs of the customer. (15 marks)

c) One aspect of any maintenance strategy is that of benchmarking and measuring the
effectiveness of activities. Discuss the importance and benefits of using a performance
indicator system. (15 marks)

d) As part of your response, you are to include an example of how a standard set of
indicators may work. Using the information in Figure 1, calculate the following:

• Availability (%)
• MTBF (mins)
• MTTR (mins) (15 marks)
 Time Running Failed Scheduled stop
00:00 - 01:00
01:00 - 02:00
02:00 - 03:00
03:00 - 04:00
04:00 - 05:00
05:00 - 06:00
06:00 - 07:00
07:00 - 08:00
08:00 - 09:00
09:00 - 10:00
10:00 - 11:00
M
11:00- 12:00
C
12:00 - 13:00
1
13:00 - 14:00
14:00 - 15:00
15:00 - 16:00
16:00 - 17:00
17:00 - 18:00
18:00 - 19:00
19:00 - 20:00
20:00 - 21:00
21:00 - 22:00
22:00- 23:00
23:00- 00:00

Figure 1. An overview of the operational times for MC1.

Task 2

One of the key areas of any maintenance strategy is the identification of critical processes and
their components. This would normally be part of any proactive maintenance plan. Moreover,
if a failure has occurred, implementing a corrective action to reduce the chance of it happening
again. These two key areas can be developed by implementing an improvement tool such as
FMEA or a problem-solving technique, such as RCA.
As part of your analysis you are to complete the following tasks:

a) Review both FMEA and RCA, discussing each method in depth. For both techniques,
you are to provide a response which reveals the following:
• The format and procedure for using each tool.
• Who takes part in the activity?
• What the outcome will be.
• What are the benefits?
(25 marks)
 b) The component shown in figure 2 is used as part of an automated part transfer
mechanism and it has been noticed this cylinder is not working at the correct stroke
length or with the required stroke speed. Demonstrate your understanding of the RCA
technique by applying that method to your investigation of the component shown. Your
solution should include a diagrammatic representation of your fault analysis.
(20 marks)

Figure 2 A pneumatic stainless steel double acting cylinder.

End of assessment

Guidance for students:

• Ensure your responses (where appropriate) include evidence of research.

• Where research has been carried out, use Harvard referencing style for citations.
• Clearly label your responses with headings e.g. Task 1a)
• Your submission should have a front sheet with your student details and title.
• Any diagrams are neat and well presented.
• Your submission is to be completed in MS Word or something similar.
Marking Criteria

90-100% 5 of the following points have been achieved

• Thorough understanding of all key points and distinguishing features and factors
• Reasons given for all decisions, all aspects understood, very clearly explained and
correct
• Well structured report, with clear identification of references and diagrams
• A clear structure used and good critical analysis
• Demonstration of thorough knowledge across substantive areas
• All issues/aspects addressed thoroughly and clearly

80-89% 4 of the following points have been achieved

• Thorough understanding of all key points and distinguishing features and factors
• Reasons given for all decisions, all aspects understood, very clearly explained and
correct
• Well-structured report, with clear identification of references and diagrams
• A clear structure used and good critical analysis
• Demonstration of thorough knowledge across substantive areas
• All issues/aspects addressed thoroughly and clearly

70-79% 3 of the following points have been achieved

• Thorough understanding of all key points and distinguishing features and factors
• Reasons given for all decisions, all aspects understood, very clearly explained and
correct
• Well-structured report, with clear identification of references and diagrams
• A clear structure used and good critical analysis
• Demonstration of thorough knowledge across substantive areas
• All issues/aspects addressed thoroughly and clearly

55-69%
• A good understanding of most key points and distinguishing features and factors
• Reasons given for most decisions, most aspects understood, clearly explained and
correct
• A structured report, with most references and diagrams identified.
• A clear structure used and evidence of critical analysis
• Demonstration of a good depth of knowledge across substantive areas
• Majority of issues/aspects addressed thoroughly and clearly

40-54%
• An understanding of most key points and distinguishing features and factors
• Reasons given for some decisions, most aspects understood, explained and correct
• A basic report structure, with some errors in referencing and labelling.
• A reasonable structure used and some evidence of reasonable critical analysis
• Evidence of some knowledge across substantive areas
 • Most issues/aspects addressed but some not addressed thoroughly or clearly

F – 39% or less
• Little evidence of understanding of the essential features and factors
• Reasons seldom given for decisions, few aspects understood, explained or correct
• The report lacks structure and numerous errors.
• A poor structure used and little evidence of any reasonable critical analysis
• Little evidence of knowledge or understanding across substantive areas
• Irrelevant, unrelated and muddled material.