Chapter 17 – Flashcards

1) The Orlando Utilities Commission uses a computerized maintenance management program and devotes significant dollar and labor resources to power plant maintenance, because the costs of unexpected failure are incredibly high. T/F

2) Maintenance includes all activities involved in keeping a system's equipment in working order. T/F

3) Reliability is the probability that a machine part or product will function properly for a specified time regardless of conditions. T/F

4) The objective of maintenance and reliability is to maintain the capability of the system. T/F

5) Which of the following statements about maintenance at the Orlando Utilities Commission is FALSE? A) There are at least two types of preventive maintenance, including an annual maintenance and a less frequent overhaul schedule. B) Its preventive maintenance program has earned the company top rankings and its competitive advantage. C) Each power-generating unit is taken off-line every three years for a complete overhaul. D) Each of its power-generating units is taken off-line for maintenance every one to three weeks. E) Costs associated with breakdowns are several times higher than costs arising from preventive maintenance.

6) The objective of maintenance and reliability is to: A) ensure that breakdowns do not affect the quality of the products. B) ensure that no breakdowns will ever occur. C) ensure that preventive maintenance costs are kept as low as possible. D) maintain the capability of the system. E) ensure that maintenance employees are fully utilized.

7) What is the probability that a product will function properly for a specified time under stated conditions? A) functionality B) maintenance C) durability D) reliability E) fitness for use

8) Which of the following is a reliability tactic? A) improving individual components B) increasing repair speed C) providing redundancy D) A and C E) A, B, and C

9) ________ consists of all activities involved in keeping a system's equipment in working order.

10) ________ is the probability that a machine part or product will function properly for a specified time under stated conditions.

12) Identify the two reliability tactics and the two maintenance tactics.

13) Define reliability.

14) Define maintenance.

1) Preventive maintenance is reactive. T/F

2) Preventive maintenance is nothing more than keeping the equipment and machinery running. T/F

3) Preventive maintenance implies that we can determine when a system needs service or will need repair. T/F

4) Infant mortality refers to the high failure rate often encountered in the very early stages of the lifetime of a product. T/F

5) The MTBF distributions of products, machines, or processes that have "settled in," or gone beyond the infant mortality phase, often follow the normal distribution T/F

6) Recording the maintenance history of processes, machines, or equipment is important for preventive maintenance, but largely irrelevant for breakdown maintenance. T/F

7) The "full cost view of maintenance" results in more firms choosing a policy of breakdown maintenance, when compared to the "traditional view of maintenance." T/FF

8) Small standard deviations in the MTBF distribution of a machine tend to support a policy of breakdown maintenance for that machine. T/F

9) When identifying the optimal maintenance policy, the cost of inventory maintained to compensate for the downtime is a cost often ignored. T/F

10) An optimal maintenance policy strikes a balance between the costs of breakdown and preventive maintenance so that the total cost of maintenance is at a minimum. T/F

11) While breakdowns occur randomly, their frequency is somewhat predictable through such tools as the product failure rate, MTBF, and the breakdown costs model. T/F

12) The normal distribution is an appropriate model of: A) the high initial failure rates of product, machine, or processes. B) system reliability where components are connected in series. C) system reliability where components are connected in parallel. D) the MTBF distribution of products, machines, or processes that have "settled in." E) the full cost view of maintenance.

13) Infant mortality refers to which one of the following examples? A) high frequency on the left side of the MTBF distribution B) failure of items used in the nursery ward of a hospital C) failure of products with a very short life cycle D) market failure of brand new products E) high failure rate often encountered in the very early stages of the lifetime of a product

14) Which one of the following statements about maintenance is TRUE? A) The optimal degree of preventive maintenance is associated with zero breakdowns. B) Breakdown maintenance is proactive. C) Preventive maintenance is reactive. D) Preventive maintenance is for emergency repairs. E) Human resources are a major component of effective maintenance management.

15) What is the process that involves repair on an emergency or priority basis? A) breakdown maintenance B) emergency maintenance C) failure maintenance D) preventive maintenance E) priority maintenance

16) As a firm's maintenance commitment increases: A) the breakdown maintenance costs increase, and the preventive maintenance costs decrease. B) both the breakdown maintenance costs and the preventive maintenance costs decrease. C) the breakdown maintenance costs decrease, and the preventive maintenance costs increase. D) both the breakdown maintenance costs and the preventive maintenance costs increase. E) None of the above is true.

17) An oil change is to ________ maintenance as repair of a broken alternator is to ________ maintenance. A) preventive; breakdown B) breakdown; preventive C) preventive; preventive D) breakdown; breakdown E) preventive; infant mortality

18) Suppose that the introduction of a preventive maintenance program is deemed cost effective. Which of the following is most likely true if the cost to actually perform preventive maintenance is very expensive? A) high standard deviation in MTBF B) low standard deviation in MTBF C) low cost to repair D) Repairs carry little non-monetary consequences. E) The system never fails.

19) A manager is comparing the total maintenance (preventive plus breakdown) cost curves for two scenarios. The graphs have maintenance commitment on the x-axis and costs on the y-axis. Scenario A includes the direct breakdown maintenance costs, while Scenario B includes the "full" (direct and indirect) breakdown maintenance costs. Which of the following should the manager notice when going from Scenario A to Scenario B? A) Total cost is decreased. B) Optimal point is moved to the left. C) Optimal point is moved to the right. D) Preventative maintenance cost slope is increased. E) None of the above

20) As far as maintenance costs are concerned: A) for low levels of maintenance commitment, breakdown maintenance costs exceed preventive maintenance costs. B) for low levels of maintenance commitment, preventive maintenance costs exceed breakdown maintenance costs. C) for high levels of maintenance commitment, breakdown maintenance costs exceed preventive maintenance costs. D) preventive maintenance is always more economical than breakdown maintenance. E) breakdown maintenance is always more economical than preventive maintenance when the "full cost of breakdowns" is taken into consideration.

21) Which one of the following is NOT necessary to identify the optimal maintenance policy? A) historical data on maintenance costs B) cost of performing the analysis C) breakdown probabilities D) breakdown occurrences E) repair times

25) When depot service is compared to operator maintenance: A) operator maintenance is slower than depot service. B) competence is higher, but costs may also be higher, with depot service. C) depot service is often the weak link in the chain because of the lack of specific training. D) depot service occurs on-site, while operator maintenance occurs off-site. E) depot service is better for systems connected in parallel, while operator maintenance is preferred for systems connected in series.

26) Which of the following increases as repairs move from the maintenance department to the depot service? A) cost B) replacement time C) competence D) operator ownership E) A, B, and C

27) Autonomous maintenance occurs when: A) employees are empowered to observe, check, adjust, clean, and notify. B) a remote computer system signals the need for breakdown maintenance. C) a remote computer system signals the need for preventative maintenance. D) employees perform their own breakdown maintenance. E) none of the above

28) ________ is a plan that involves routine inspections, servicing, and keeping facilities in good repair to prevent failure.

29) ________ is the failure rate early in the life of a product or process.

30) The ________ takes into account such costs as deteriorated customer relations and lost sales.

31) Why is it that many cases of infant mortality of products are not due to product failure?

32) What is breakdown maintenance?

33) Explain why a small standard deviation of the MTBF distribution makes a product, machine, or process a good candidate for preventive maintenance while a large standard deviation does not.

34) Why is it that many cost curves associated with maintenance rarely consider the full cost of a breakdown?

35) Is there an optimal amount of preventive maintenance? What caution should be exercised before calculating this optimal amount?

36) How do many electronic firms deal with infant mortality in their products?