Continuous Improvement with Six-Sigma Alarm Rationalization

The Practical Solutions

Measure & Analyze

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After defining the focus area and setting a clear target, you collect and analyze data to find the root causes of alarm flooding. By measuring the frequency of alarms and analyzing the root causes, you can identify ways to improve the current situation. Yokogawa provides dedicated data archiving and analysis environments that are designed to manage critical plant information more efficiently and effectively.

Data types	Solutions	Functions
Control system events including alarms	Exaplog event analysis package	Data collection, archiving, display, analysis, reporting
Process data	Exaquantum plant information management system (PIMS)	Data collection, archiving, display
Field instrument events including alarms	Plant Resource Manager (PRM)	Data collection, archiving, display, diagnosis

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Exaplog Event Analysis

Exaplog collects and stores alarms and other types of DCS event messages occurring over a long period of time, and then makes the types of statistical reports that are recommended in EEMUA Publication No.191 for the quantitative identification of the root causes of alarm occurrence. A reported event message automatically generates an audit trail that can help in evaluating alarm performance, identifying the root causes of alarm occurrence, and devising countermeasures.