Failure Analytics of Defects in Mechanical Engineering Parts Using Root Cause Analysis: Case Study

The paper is devoted to creating a methodological approach to apply root cause analysis for solving the specific materials science task. The case study determined the causes of the destruction of the elements of the exhaust tract of the gas pumping unit. Root cause analysis was used as a systematic process to identify and address the underlying causes of problems or incidents rather than just addressing their symptoms. In the first step of defining the problem, a destroyed element of the exhaust tract of the gas pumping unit was chosen to discover the causes of its failure. In the second step of collecting the data, the failure analytics of a destroyed element was carried out. In the third step, a mnemonic called 6Ms of production was used to identify as many causal factors as possible. In the fourth step, causal factors were analyzed in detail, and the root causes were determined. In the fifth step, the recommendations for implementing solutions to the abovementioned problem were given.