What’s Good and Bad about Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) – Template Included
Eldon Kao
Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a great tool for improving system reliability and reducing incidents of defects within a process. During the DMAIC process the FMEA can be employed to refine the focus of a six sigma project, rank contributing factors to root causes, and to identify corrective and preventive actions. The idea is to create a list of process steps and determine all potential failure modes associated with that step. These are then ranked in terms of Severity, Occurrence, and Detection which are multiplied to represent the Risk Priority Number (RPN). The resulting RPN is then used to prioritize efforts in regards to which problems to solve. The key to optimizing the use of any tool is to be aware its benefits and limitations. So here are a few in regards to FMEA:
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