The Materials Investigation Group at Bluescope Steel's Port Kembla Steelworks has carried out diagnosis of failure mechanisms for 40 years, with problems emerging with new equipment, and regrettably, from time to time, the same lessons having to be relearned. Throughout this period there has been an ongoing focus on archiving the findings of all metallurgical failure investigations. Hard copy archives have been maintained since at least 1964, database indexing since 1995 and electronic document storage commencing in the new millennium. Such E-Technology communication innovations provide the opportunity to enhance and significantly transform knowledge sharing interactions. However, there is also an accompanying risk of consigning the failure analysis lessons of the past to the paper-recycling bin. Of late it is notable that corporate governance concerns are leading boards to require greater identification of business risks, including major equipment failures. This paper seeks to address some of the methods that have been employed in an effort to engage engineers in the benefits of failure analysis of equipment problems, as well as retention of the corporate memory of equipment failure issues; and succession planning in the failure analysis field
