Level: Intermediate
Tanya Davis, Senior Biometrician, Zoetis
Pharmaceutical research and development involves the use of many different types of equipment to measure the critical quality attributes of new drug formulas. As with any equipment that is used regularly, repairs and maintenance are needed to keep instruments operating properly. Recurrence analysis, within the Reliability and Survival menu in JMP, is an effective technique for determining repair rates and trending over time. Recurrence analysis allows for the cost of the associated repair to be tracked; the cost of future repairs is compared with the cost of replacement to determine the best strategy to move forward. Text exploration with word clouds, added to recurrence analyses, enhances the information gained as words and phrases documented in work order verbiage are dynamically linked to recurrence trends over the life of the equipment. The results of the combined analyses allow for data-driven maintenance planning as well as sound justification for instrument replacement.
