Firms that ignore failures in the early stages of development suffer from high costs, rework, delays, and loss of quality. Additionally, repeat issues undermine safety, operating efficiency, and market reputation.

The best news is that there’s a Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) technique, which decreases mistakes and minimizes risks for the company. So, each manager must know this method and how it should be implemented.

Curious about what FMEA is and how it can minimize process failures? Just read on to learn more!

What is FMEA?

FMEA is a technique used to anticipate potential failures in processes and products within an organization. Its chief aim is to prevent problems, thereby reducing adverse effects and maintaining the organization’s continuity of operation.

For instance, when used for maintenance and production planning, FMEA enables the analysis of key equipment that cannot endure unplanned downtime. Through the identification of potential failures in these assets, the organization can take preventive measures.

By doing so, management is able to prevent losses in the form of production line interruptions, delivery delays and customer dissatisfaction.

For this, FMEA operates through the assessment of three key factors:

• effect : denotes the effects that a failure will cause, i.e., loss of productivity or issues related to product quality;
• cause : is the reason for this mistake, and can relate to component wear, human mistake or design issues;
• detection : entails the techniques employed to detect such failures prior to inflicting massive damage.

What are the types of FMEA?

Analysis of Failure Mode and Effects is applied in many different fields. As a result, it is divided into different categories based on its purpose.

Note:

• Product FMEA : examines possible product failures from production to delivery to the client, guaranteeing quality and reliability;
• Process FMEA : detects mistakes in production planning and execution in order to maximize operations and minimize delays;
• Systems FMEA : evaluates failures in the corporation’s worldwide functions, making sure processes and goals are accomplished;
• Service FMEA : analyzes mistakes in manufacturing and assembly processes, minimizing waste and optimizing workplace safety;
• Software FMEA : identifies failures in technological remedies, maximizing the efficiency, safety and reliability of systems.

How does the methodology minimize failures?

Through organizing failure analysis, FMEA offers a whole picture of procedures. As a result, it helps the business to analyze processes, identify flaws, and put continuous improvement initiatives into place.

This method avoids nonconformities that may cause rework, waste of materials, and delays in deliveries. Therefore, the approach enhances the reliability of procedures, reducing adverse effects on the company’s reputation.

In addition, FMEA optimizes operational expenses. By removing errors at the initial stages of product or service design, businesses minimize costs due to late corrections, recalls, and contractual penalties.

How can FMEA be used?

You now know more about FMEA. Let’s get into how FMEA can be utilized within your business.

Look at the step-by-step approach!

Team setup

An effective strategy needs a multidisciplinary team comprising specialists from fields like engineering, production, quality, and operations.

Such diversity of expertise gives good insight into possible risks and their effects to ensure all potential failures are correctly identified and evaluated.

Scope definition

This is done by identifying the product, process, or system, and its function, borders, and interactions with other systems.

This is a precautionary measure that ensures the team concentrates its efforts on the most essential areas and does not waste time and resources on less important issues.

Identification of failure modes

With the scope clearly defined, the team moves on to identifying potential failure modes. This is the time to list all the errors that could occur in each system component or process step.

For this step to be successful, it’s crucial to employ methods founded on hands-on experience, historical analysis of failure, and technical expertise. This manner, every error mapped will be a starting point for risk evaluation and creating countermeasures.

Analysis of the consequences of failures

Once the modes of failure are itemized, the team should assess the effect each can have on the process, product, and customers. This includes factors like safety, performance, conformance to standards, and effects on customer satisfaction.

The more specific this evaluation, the better it will be to rank errors to be dealt with at once. Knowing the impacts of every failure enables management to focus its activities to avoid problems that may jeopardize its operations and reputation.

Risk Priority Number (RPN) Calculation

Identifying and evaluating the consequences of failures, the team provides scores for three primary criteria.

They are:

• severity : consequence of the failure should it happen, evaluating the possible harm to safety, performance and reliability;
• occurrence : likelihood that the error will happen, taking into consideration such factors as the history of similar issues and process weaknesses;
• detection : capacity to detect the failure prior to it causing damage , taking into account controls and monitoring that are in place.

These three parameters are ranked between 1 and 10, and the Risk Priority Number (RPN) is determined by multiplying them. Using this information, failures are prioritized based on criticality so that most effort is directed towards those with the highest risk.

Development and execution of corrective measures

Using the computed RPNs, the team formulates an action plan to address the most significant risks.

Corrective measures might comprise:

• product design enhancements to remove or mitigate failure modes;
• modifications to manufacturing processes in order to reduce the probability of failures occurring;
• institution of new inspection and monitoring practices to enhance detection of problems.

The implementation of these steps should be followed by frequent review to determine their effectiveness. Where required, refinements can be made to guarantee that hazards are continuously minimized.