Definition
A bad actor is a specific asset (not a failure type) that generates a disproportionately high share of failures, maintenance cost, or downtime relative to comparable equipment. Identifying bad actors, typically via Pareto analysis of failure records, focuses root cause investigation where it has the largest impact.
Key facts
- Identifies a specific piece of equipment, not a recurring problem type: the unit of analysis is the asset itself.
- Typically identified using Pareto analysis of failure frequency, cost, or downtime across similar assets.
- A bad actor may have one dominant recurring issue (a repeat failure) or several different unrelated issues combining to drive its poor record.
- Targeting bad actors concentrates limited root cause analysis effort where the return is highest.
What does Bad actor reveal about failures?
A bad actor is identified by comparing failure frequency, cost, or downtime across a population of similar assets and finding the small number that account for a disproportionate share of the total, typically using Pareto analysis on maintenance history data.
How do teams use Bad actor in failure analysis?
A repeat failure is a specific recurring problem: the same failure mode happening again. A bad actor is the asset itself, which may be driving that poor record through one repeat failure or through several unrelated issues combined. An asset can be a bad actor without any single failure repeating, if it simply accumulates many different problems.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What characterizes an asset with a conspicuously high number of problems?
A bad actor: a specific asset generating a disproportionately high share of failures, cost, or downtime compared to similar equipment, typically identified through Pareto analysis of failure records.
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