AFE Maintenance Planning & Reliability Engineering 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which type of maintenance work order should receive the highest scheduling priority in a facilities maintenance program?
- Routine preventive maintenance tasks
- Safety-related and emergency corrective work (Correct answer)
- Cosmetic and aesthetic improvement requests
- Long-range capital improvement projects
Correct answer: Safety-related and emergency corrective work
Safety-related and emergency corrective work must be prioritized above all other maintenance activities to protect personnel, assets, and regulatory compliance.
Question 2: What does the term 'maintainability' refer to in reliability engineering?
- The probability that a system will operate without failure
- The ease and speed with which a system can be restored to operating condition after a failure (Correct answer)
- The scheduled downtime reserved for planned maintenance
- The ratio of maintenance costs to asset replacement value
Correct answer: The ease and speed with which a system can be restored to operating condition after a failure
Maintainability is the probability that a failed system can be restored to an operational state within a given time under specified conditions, often quantified by MTTR.
Question 3: In a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS), the primary purpose of an asset hierarchy is to:
- Automate purchase order generation
- Organize assets by location and system for efficient planning and reporting (Correct answer)
- Calculate depreciation schedules automatically
- Track warranty expiration dates only
Correct answer: Organize assets by location and system for efficient planning and reporting
An asset hierarchy in a CMMS organizes equipment by site, building, system, and component, enabling efficient work order routing, cost roll-up, and performance reporting.
Question 4: Which lubrication practice best reduces the risk of cross-contamination between incompatible greases?
- Using a single universal grease for all equipment
- Color-coding grease guns and fittings by lubricant type (Correct answer)
- Applying grease only during scheduled shutdowns
- Storing all lubricants in a common centralized drum
Correct answer: Color-coding grease guns and fittings by lubricant type
Color-coding grease guns and fittings by lubricant type is an industry best practice that prevents technicians from accidentally mixing incompatible greases.
Question 5: The 'bathtub curve' in reliability engineering describes:
- Maintenance cost accumulation over time
- The failure rate pattern showing infant mortality, useful life, and wear-out phases (Correct answer)
- Equipment depreciation as a function of operating hours
- The shape of a planned maintenance schedule over a fiscal year
Correct answer: The failure rate pattern showing infant mortality, useful life, and wear-out phases
The bathtub curve illustrates three failure rate phases: high early (infant mortality), low and constant (useful life), and increasing (wear-out), guiding maintenance strategy selection.
Question 6: What is the purpose of a backlog in a maintenance management program?
- To track equipment that has been decommissioned
- To serve as a managed queue of approved work awaiting scheduling and resources (Correct answer)
- To document all completed work orders for audit purposes
- To identify assets that exceed their useful life
Correct answer: To serve as a managed queue of approved work awaiting scheduling and resources
A maintenance backlog is an organized list of approved, pending work orders that have not yet been scheduled, helping planners match work to available labor and materials.
Question 7: Vibration analysis is most effective for detecting which type of mechanical problem in rotating equipment?
- Corrosion inside pressure vessels
- Electrical insulation breakdown in motors
- Imbalance, misalignment, and bearing wear (Correct answer)
- Refrigerant leaks in HVAC systems
Correct answer: Imbalance, misalignment, and bearing wear
Vibration analysis excels at detecting mechanical issues in rotating machinery such as rotor imbalance, shaft misalignment, looseness, and bearing degradation.
AFE Maintenance Planning & Reliability Engineering 2
Which type of maintenance work order should receive the highest scheduling priority in a facilities maintenance program?