Failure Mode and Effects Analysis

FMEAs have been used in the aerospace and automotive industry for decades. People knowledgeable about the process examine and record the ways that it can fail to perform then rank using a 1-10 scale how frequently that failure would occur, how difficult it would be to detect, and how severe it would be. These three factors are multiplied and the resulting number is called the Risk Priority Number (RPN). This number is used to prioritize the failure modes so that corrective actions can be taken to reduce the frequency, and severity and/or improve the detectability. There are four main types of FMEAs:

Design — used when designing equipment. Failure mode is how the equipment can fail to perform its design intent assuming it is not broken. Corrective actions are to the equipment.
Process — used to analyze a process to use equipment. Failure mode is how the process can fail to meet internal and external customer needs assuming the equipment functions as designed. Corrective actions are to the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and possibly to the equipment.
Product — used when designing a new product. Failure mode is how the product can fail to meet the final customers’ needs assuming it is manufactured as designed. Corrective action is to the product design.
Equipment — used when trying to improve equipment reliability. Failure mode is the how equipment subsystems cease to function according to the design intent. Corrective action can be to equipment design or preventative maintenance practices.

The benefits of doing an FMEA on an existing or new process are:

Identifying ways the process can fail
Prioritizing these failures for corrective and preventive action or redesign before the failures occur
Higher system reliability once countermeasures are implemented

At ROI we use a propriatary modification of FMEA that we have found greatly enhances their efficiency and ease of use. This new tool is referred to as Product Planning and Analysis (PPA).

Home | How ROI Can Help You | More About BPE | Resources | About ROI

Affiliated with
IBPE Logo