Fuzzy fault tree analysis as a mechanism for technical support to small/medium electroplaters on a quasi online/real-time basis

Technical support to small/medium electroplaters (SMEs) can be provided either by an electroplating department of a large company (ELC) or by a technology center designed for this purpose. In this work, a full cycle of the technical consultation process is presented, including mainly diagnostic knowledge base (DKB) enrichment, fuzzy fault tree analysis (FTA), application of a simple expert system for pre-filtering alternative solutions to the problem, fuzzy multicriteria analysis (MCA), and technology transfer. The utility-applicability of this computer aided integrated scheme (designed/developed to work on a quasi online/real-time basis) is proved by analysing a real industrial problem referring to the appearance of defected products in chrome electroplating. The system, after (i) excluding a significant number of alternative causes (suggested by fuzzy FTA) through filtering and (ii) rejecting the initially proposed cause (suggested by fuzzy MCA) of ´anodes corrosion´, determined (by re-running the fuzzy MCA algorithm) successfully the really responsible cause of ´insufficient agitation´. The system can be easily extended to include all electrochemical processes, on condition of the availability of proper data for the DKB enrichment.