Troubleshooting Flow Builders

Purpose

Guided flow builders turn the Methodology into field action.

They help the user move from a symptom to a disciplined first-check path: safety first, capture before changing, find the first bad movement, reverse-trace only failed conditions, trap intermittent ghosts, and learn from the result.

Featured Teaching Graphic

Reverse-Trace Logic Solving™ vs. Ghost Busting™ is part of the Field Handbook. Use the graphic as a quick visual guide to decide when to open the live PLC program and when to arm Ghost Busting™ from the HMI.

Preview of Reverse-Trace Logic Solving versus Ghost Busting comparison infographic

Open Reverse-Trace Logic Solving™

PLC / Logic / Sequence S.W.A.T. Pack

Live PLC Logic

Reverse-Trace Logic Solving™

Manual RUN-mode logic solving: chase only failed conditions backward to the driving OTE until the true culprit is found.

PLC I/O

PLC Input Not Responding

Prove the field signal, input card, live PLC status, tag reference, and intermittent drop window.

PLC I/O

PLC Output Not Energizing

Separate false logic from true logic with a dead field load, then trace the permission chain.

Sequence Logic

Sequence Step Not Advancing

Find the active step, blocked transition, failed condition, and whether the truth disappears.

Permissives

Permissive Chain Not Satisfied

Find the no vote in a run/enable/interlock chain without chasing every true condition.

HMI / PLC

HMI Command Not Reaching PLC

Confirm tag binding, communication, live PLC command state, and immediate reject logic.

Machine-to-Machine

Machine Handshake Fault

Track request, ready, busy, complete, fault, reset, ownership, and timing windows.

R.E.A.L. Flow

Conveyor Jam / Line Flow

Find the first bad movement before fixing only the visible pileup.

Ghost Busting™

Sensor False Trigger

Read-only first: isolate timing, target, environment, wiring, and false-event windows.

Drive S.W.A.T.

VFD Fault First Response

Record the fault before reset, then compare load, wiring, settings, heat, and motor condition.

Fluid Power

Hydraulic Cylinder Not Moving

Separate command, pressure, flow, valve shift, mechanical bind, and load-path issues.

Compressed Air

Pneumatic Cylinder Weak / Slow

Check air supply, FRL, leaks, flow controls, valves, load, and mechanical drag.

Motor Load

Motor Overload First Check

Do not keep resetting. Compare actual current, mechanical load, voltage, heat, and overload settings.

Change Window

It Worked Yesterday Worksheet

Capture what changed across people, product, machine, process, environment, energy, and timing.

Utilities / Fluid Power / Support Systems S.W.A.T. Pack

Logic tells the machine what to do. Motion proves whether it can do it. Utilities decide whether the machine has the power, flow, temperature control, and support to keep doing it.

Compressed Air

Compressed Air Pressure Drop / Leak

Prove pressure, flow, leaks, FRL condition, valve supply, and dynamic air loss before blaming cylinders or timing.

Hydraulic Power

Hydraulic Overheating / Foaming

Check oil level, heat rejection, aeration, cavitation, bypass heat, and hydraulic power loss.

Vacuum Transfer

Vacuum Pick-and-Place Failure

Separate cup, surface, vacuum level, motion profile, timing, and release path failures.

Lubrication

Lubrication Starvation / Contamination

Find the missing film, wrong lubricant, contamination source, or blocked delivery path before replacing parts again.

Cooling Water

Cooling Water Flow / Temperature Loss

Prove flow, heat transfer, pump health, restrictions, glycol effects, and temperature stability.

Dust Collection

Dust Collection / Baghouse DP / Airflow

Check differential pressure, fan health, ducts, filters, pulse cleaning, discharge, and air path truth.

Sensors / Instrumentation / False Signal S.W.A.T. Pack

A sensor does not prove reality. It reports what it believes it saw. Use these flows when a field signal is false, drifting, noisy, late, missing, or too quick for normal observation.

Sensors

Photoeye Alignment / Contamination

Separate real product detection from light, reflection, dust, surface change, timing, and false triggers.

Proximity

Prox Sensor Not Detecting

Check target material, distance, mounting, wiring, input state, and speed-related signal loss.

Position

Encoder Count Loss / Noise

Trace missed counts, speed noise, drift, mechanical slip, shielding, grounding, and feedback truth.

Analog

Analog Signal Drift / Noise

Compare field signal, raw value, scaling, HMI display, grounding, shielding, and real process condition.

Level

Level Sensor False Reading

Check foam, buildup, bridging, material behavior, scaling, and whether the sensor sees the real level.

Temperature

Temperature Sensor Drift / Failure

Determine whether the temperature reading is wrong or the heat path is actually changing.

Walt says: A sensor can be performing perfectly and still be perfectly wrong.

Product / Material / Quality / Process Change S.W.A.T. Pack

The machine may be doing exactly what it was designed to do — to a product that is no longer the same. Use these flows when product, material, supplier, packaging, quality, method, atmosphere, or line-balance changes may be driving the issue.

Product Change

Product Size / Shape / Weight Change

Compare good product to current product and prove whether the machine is still running the product it was built to run.

Material Variation

Material Thickness / Stiffness Variation

Check thickness, stiffness, curl, moisture, supplier lots, clearances, pressure, and tooling fit.

Web / Film

Packaging Film / Web Feed Trouble

Trace wrinkles, tears, stretch, registration, tracking, tension, roll condition, static, and atmosphere.

Labels / Adhesives

Label / Glue / Adhesive Application Failure

Compare pressure-sensitive, cold glue, and hot melt systems with label stock, ink, cut direction, humidity, and surface behavior.

Quality Drift

Reject Rate / Quality Drift

Use H.M.M.M.A.A.I.™ and Recipe / Health Log thinking to separate quality drift from random machine blame.

Line Balance

Upstream / Downstream Line Balance

Check whether the visible fault station is starving, backing up, being overfed, or fighting machine-to-machine timing.

Walt says: Before you blame the machine, prove the product is still the product the machine was built to run.

Field Capture / Worksheets

A manual tells the user what to look for. Field Form Builder™ helps capture it before it disappears.

Use Field Form Builder™ to create a custom form for R.E.A.L. events, H.M.M.M.A.A.I. investigations, Recipe / Health Logs, Q.C. lot-code reviews, Ghost Busting™ event reviews, Reverse-Trace worksheets, trials, and action plans.

Open Field Form Builder™

Operating Rules

R.E.A.L. firstReverse-trace failed conditionsRapid does not mean rushedRead-only firstCapture before changingOne controlled adjustmentHumans remain authoritative

Walt says: Don’t chase what’s working. Chase what’s stopping the rung from winning. If the truth disappears, trap the ghost.

Motion rule: Do not blame the PLC until the machine proves the motion. If the logic says go and the machine says no, follow the load, the motion, and the wear.