| dc.description.abstract | Equipment reliability is a more important issue in Africa because of meagre financial resources and lack of entrepreneurs well versed with the subject. The business entrepreneur is interested in profit, and the issue of equipment reliability, which affects his production output and hence profit needs to be addressed.
The research addresses the problems of equipment reliability in TV stations, focusing on television stations in Uganda. The background of private and public television in Uganda is given in the context of equipment reliability versus profit. The objectives of research are stated centring on reliability and justifying the importance of going into the research of equipment reliability in television stations.
The development of maintenance records are discussed from a historical perspective culminating in modern day methods of maintenance records gathering and storage. The different types of failure models for equipment are outlined. The interrelationship between reliability, observed failure rate and Mean Time between Failures (MTBF) is mathematically defined. Condition based maintenance as a modern method for reducing maintenance costs is outlined. Reliability figures from studio broadcast equipment are stated. The Pareto, Chi squared and two tailed t distribution methods of failure data analysis are mathematically and graphically described. The contribution of reliability analysis to engineering is outlined. The gap addressed by the research which is the use of questionnaires to generate maintenance records is stated. An overview of UTV and WBS is carried out and recent developments in TV broadcasting technology are outlined.
The geographical area where the research was done and time range of data that was collected is outlined. Methods of selection of equipment types that were assessed based on quality and quantity of data that was available are stated.
The challenges of maintenance in UTV and WBS are presented. The maintenance procedures and strategies in UTV and WBS are outlined Equipment failure costs are defined. The formats for tabulation of data in WBS and UTV are explained. The Mean Time between Failures and cost of spares per machine per year as reliability parameters in the research are mathematically defined. Finally the data obtained from Job cards in UTV and Questionnaires in WBS together with the calculated reliability and maintenance cost parameters are presented in a tabular form.
The UTV and WBS maintenance models are discussed. The MTBF and cost of spares per machine per year for each of the two stations is calculated proving that in both UTV and WBS video tape recorders are the least reliable and most expensive to maintain whereas video monitors are the most reliable and cheapest to maintain. Pareto analysis is carried out for failure rates versus spares costs for video cassette recorders to prove that in the case of UTV 19% of the total number of defects contributed 59% of the total spares cost whereas in WBS 46% of the total number of defects contributed 59% of the total spares cost. The cost of spares is plotted against the frequency of maintenance to determine one cost saving strategy. The hypothesis is tested to with the result that the alternative hypothesis is therefore upheld i.e. ‘broadcast equipment used by TV stations in Uganda are not maintained to the reliability standards of the equipment manufacturers.’ Finally research questions on the reliability for each category of equipment in Uganda, equipment purchase criteria, reduction of maintenance costs and ways of increasing broadcast equipment reliability are discussed.
The final recommendations are to improve maintenance management in Uganda by including proper specifications in procurement documents, ensuring proper environment of operation for equipment, instilling a maintenance culture in Ugandans, timely decommissioning of equipment, training and proper recruitment of maintenance personnel. | en_US |
