Risk Assessment of Horizontal Wet Etching Equipment System in Manufacturing Plant Industry

Abstract

Maintenance is one of the important roles in the high technology manufacturing industry. It is related to the key performance factors of the company such as quality, productivity, and cost. To achieve these factors, a reliability plan should be implemented which helps to maximise production value by implementing successful asset maintenance. This research project aims to focus on the critical process equipment known as Horizontal Wet Etching Equipment (HWEE) used in the wet etching process. The components in the HWEE system were identified by referring to the process and instrumentation diagram (PID) of the equipment and were categorised in different modes. Data on mean time to repair (MTTR) and mean time between repairs (MTBF) were collected based on previous company records. The data were analysed using MAROS software. Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) was done to understand the risk of each of the components. The result shows that piping and gearbox have the highest RPN with 126 and 105, respectively. This study helps to identify critical components and is able to help the company to improve equipment reliability and reduce maintenance cost. Corrective action can be implemented to reduce the RPN for both components. Thus, it would help the industry to increase the key performance and become more competitive in the business environment.