ACTION STRATEGIES IN FAULT-DIAGNOSIS AT FLEXIBLE ADVANCED MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS

The strategies used by maintenance and repair personnel were recorded, documented, and analyzed in relation to their job experience, the problem complexity and their acquaintance with the problem. In a field study 69 interviews were recorded with 22 skilled mechanical and electrical maintenance workers and a content analysis was performed. The analysis of two coders showed a satisfactory reliability of the 15 categories. The most frequent strategies were (1) 'Historical information' (2) 'Least effort', (3) 'Reconstruction', and (4) 'Sensory check.' Job experience and acquaintance with the problem had a significant effect on strategies. Case-based strategies were most frequently used for routine failures. In novel situations, topographic search was used instead of symptomatic and case-based strategies. Rules for the design of an adaptive decision support system for performing failure diagnosis were developed on the basis of the analysis of user strategies.