CMRT Corrective Maintenance 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What does RCFA stand for in maintenance terminology?
- Rapid Corrective Failure Assessment
- Root Cause Failure Analysis (Correct answer)
- Reliability Centered Fault Analysis
- Recurring Component Failure Audit
Correct answer: Root Cause Failure Analysis
RCFA stands for Root Cause Failure Analysis, a structured process used to identify the underlying cause of an equipment failure.
Question 2: The Ishikawa (fishbone) diagram is used in corrective maintenance primarily to:
- Schedule preventive maintenance tasks
- Calculate equipment replacement cost
- Identify potential causes contributing to a failure (Correct answer)
- Track work order completion rates
Correct answer: Identify potential causes contributing to a failure
The Ishikawa diagram visually maps categories of potential causes (man, machine, method, material, environment) that may contribute to a specific failure effect.
Question 3: When conducting a 5-Why analysis, the analyst should continue asking 'why' until:
- Exactly five answers have been documented
- The cost of the failure is determined
- A physical or latent root cause is identified (Correct answer)
- Management approves continuation of the investigation
Correct answer: A physical or latent root cause is identified
The 5-Why technique stops when the team reaches a root cause—a physical or systemic factor that, if corrected, prevents recurrence.
Question 4: Which failure pattern describes equipment that begins failing more frequently after many years of reliable service?
- Infant mortality failure
- Random failure
- Step failure
- Wear-out failure (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Wear-out failure
Wear-out failure occurs when accumulated fatigue, corrosion, or material degradation causes the failure rate to increase as the equipment ages.
Question 5: After completing a corrective repair, the technician's FIRST action before releasing the equipment should be to:
- Notify the accounting department of repair costs
- Order replacement spare parts for the stockroom
- Update the preventive maintenance schedule
- Verify repair effectiveness through a functional test (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Verify repair effectiveness through a functional test
Functional testing confirms the repair resolved the problem and that the equipment operates within design specifications before it is returned to service.
Question 6: Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) is correctly calculated by:
- Dividing total uptime by total number of failures
- Dividing total repair time by the number of repairs performed (Correct answer)
- Multiplying mean time between failures by repair rate
- Subtracting downtime from total operating hours
Correct answer: Dividing total repair time by the number of repairs performed
MTTR = Total Repair Time ÷ Number of Repairs; it measures the average duration needed to restore a failed asset to operational status.
Question 7: A recurring bearing failure on a conveyor drive is BEST addressed by:
- Stocking more replacement bearings to speed up future repairs
- Increasing the frequency of corrective maintenance visits
- Investigating root causes such as lubrication adequacy, alignment, or overloading (Correct answer)
- Replacing the entire conveyor with a newer model
Correct answer: Investigating root causes such as lubrication adequacy, alignment, or overloading
Recurring failures signal an unresolved root cause; investigating lubrication, alignment, and loading conditions addresses the source rather than just the symptom.
CMRT Corrective Maintenance 2
What does RCFA stand for in maintenance terminology?