Reliability culture at La Silla Paranal Observatory

Sergio Gonzalez

doi:10.1117/12.856397

29 July 2010 Reliability culture at La Silla Paranal Observatory

Sergio Gonzalez

Proceedings Volume 7737, Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems III; 77371M (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.856397
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2010, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

The Maintenance Department at the La Silla - Paranal Observatory has been an important base to keep the operations of the observatory at a good level of reliability and availability. Several strategies have been implemented and improved in order to cover these requirements and keep the system and equipment working properly when it is required. For that reason, one of the latest improvements has been the introduction of the concept of reliability, which implies that we don't simply speak about reliability concepts. It involves much more than that. It involves the use of technologies, data collecting, data analysis, decision making, committees concentrated in analysis of failure modes and how they can be eliminated, aligning the results with the requirements of our internal partners and establishing steps to achieve success. Some of these steps have already been implemented: data collection, use of technologies, analysis of data, development of priority tools, committees dedicated to analyze data and people dedicated to reliability analysis. This has permitted us to optimize our process, analyze where we can improve, avoid functional failures, reduce the failures range in several systems and subsystems; all this has had a positive impact in terms of results for our Observatory. All these tools are part of the reliability culture that allows our system to operate with a high level of reliability and availability.

Citation Download Citation

Sergio Gonzalez "Reliability culture at La Silla Paranal Observatory", Proc. SPIE 7737, Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems III, 77371M (29 July 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.856397

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KEYWORDS

Reliability

Failure analysis

Observatories

Statistical analysis

Lanthanum

Computing systems

Data analysis

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