W3_Afra_Pareto Analysis

1.      Problem Recognition 

Working in Project Risk Register and update it should be one of the critical work for each phase process from the owner’s perspective. 

To looking at causes of any problem, decision maker shall use a creative way to do that such as Pareto analysis because it helps stimulate thinking and organize thoughts which also known as 80/20 rule -assumes that the large majority of problems (80%) are determined by a few important causes (20%). 

In this blog, I’ll use Pareto analysis to identify the problem and create a plan to improve the efficiency for a steam turbine ST-050 which was 90% efficient, and because of some reasons/issues, it becomes 60% efficient.

Figure 1 - 4 steps in performing a Pareto Analysis

2.      Feasible alternatives

To improve the efficiency of ST-050 I need to determine the main causes of the problem and take recovery actions rather than go through each issue separately because there are more than 30 problems that recorded.

The figure below shows the ST-050 performance for first 4 months (Feb to May) before applying any improvement, the figure clearly shows how the production of the steam turbine (MW) was decreased each month.  

Figure 2: ST-050 Performance for first 4 months

Based on the performance shown, corrective action was required. In this case, Pareto analysis was conducted to determine the root cause analysis. Once root causes are found, the issue with the highest impact can be addressed to improve the ST-050 performance.

3.      Development of the outcome of Alternative

To implement Pareto, all type of problems, a frequency of occurrence, the production loss for each problem needs to be collected. Then, a list will be produced for all problem from the major problem to the least problem. 

The list of 10 main problems that reduced the efficiency of ST-050 is Blade losses, First stages of the turbine, Last stage of the LP, Fan losses downstream, Fluid flow, valves, Piping, Casing, Rotors, and Bearings.

4.      Selection Criteria

 The major problems that cause 85% of all the loss will be listed in Pareto Chart. The rest of the problems are minor and affecting the performance by 15%.

5.      Analysis and comparison of the Alternative

Below Table shows 10 types of major problems that reduce the efficiency of ST-050.

Table 1: Major problems that reduce the efficiency of ST-050.

The Pareto chart for the previous table is shown below.

Figure 3: Pareto Chart for Major problems that reduce the efficiency of ST-050.

6.      Selection of the preferred Alternative

According to Figure 3 above, the ranks of the first 5 problems (from the major to least problem) will be Blade losses, Fluid flow, Fan losses downstream, Piping and Last stage of the LP which contributed to 85% of the total issue. The suggested way is to find the most effective solution for those top 5 problems to recover the performance of the ST-050.

7.      Performance Monitoring and the Post Evaluation of result

Even if the problem has been solved, monitoring the frequency and occurrence of each problem is really required so we can understand how effective the solution we did. 

In my coming blogs, I’ll work again to categorized these problems into groups and use other tools and techniques to identify the root cause of each problem and to make an improvement plan to solve each group of problems separately. 

References: 

1.      GUILD OF PROJECT CONTROLS COMPENDIUM and REFERENCE (CaR) | Project Controls - planning, scheduling, cost management and forensic analysis (Planning Planet). (2017). Planningplanet.com. Retrieved 20 November 2017, from http://www.planningplanet.com/guild/gpccar/risk-opportunity-monitoring-and-control

2.      Pareto Chart in Excel. (2017). Excel-easy.com. Retrieved 20 November 2017, from http://www.excel-easy.com/examples/pareto-chart.html

3.      Pareto Analysis Diagram including an example and template | ToolsHero. (2017). ToolsHero. Retrieved 20 November 2017, from https://www.toolshero.com/problem-solving/pareto-analysis/