Dependent failures occur when an adverse event in a production process triggers subsequent breakdowns. They differ from independent faults, which are contained. Any business can experience dependent failures, which can impact production and back-office functions.
A dependent failure is some type of adverse event that occurs within a production process, with the event being triggered by a problem early in the process. With this type of activity, some type of breakdown serves as the start of subsequent breakdowns further down the line in the usual operational process. Depending on the nature of the event that initiated the sequence, there may be more than one dependent failure that occurs as a result.
There are several events that can trigger a dependent failure. For example, an assembly malfunction involving equipment failure at some point along the line could result in a temporary shutdown of parts of the remaining sections of that line. This can lead to a general assembly breakdown that causes production to stop for a period of time, which in turn can affect the company’s ability to produce enough goods to meet backlog orders from customers. Until the initial operational event is resolved and any subsequent issues caused by that event are corrected, the business will continue to lose money and time.
The nature of a dependent fault is slightly different from what is known as an independent fault. With the former, the occurrence of the malfunction has a ripple effect that creates problems later in the process. By contrast, a standalone glitch is somewhat contained, with the effects focused primarily on that single event and process, without causing any real or measurable hardship for the rest of the operation. Typically, a single failure presents a minor operational hurdle for a company to overcome, as the rest of the operation can continue without slowing down or decreasing the efficiency of the overall operation. With a dependent fault, there is the potential for a single event to slow down or even shut down other phases of the operation that require the impacted tasks to complete before further processing is possible.
Every type of business has the potential to experience dependent failure. While the term is most commonly associated with machine and equipment breakdowns in a manufacturing setting, the general concept can also translate to the operation of a back office setting. This means that if certain back office functions are disrupted for a period of time, other functions may also become slow or unable to occur until the original event is corrected and normal operations are restored.
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