Inside FMEA

Using Process FMEAs to Identify and Control Special Process Characteristics

[This is a companion article to “Using Design FMEAs to Identify Special Product Characteristics.” These two articles should be read in sequence.]

Identification and application of special product and process characteristics help to focus assembly and manufacturing processes on the most important areas, in order to achieve the right outcomes.

“Science is the process that takes us from confusion to understanding” – Brian Greene

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Using Design FMEAs to Identify Special Product Characteristics

One of the most important principles in reliability engineering and management is the differentiation between the vital few and the trivial many. The application of special product characteristics uses that principle.

“The whole of science is nothing more than the refinement of thinking.” – Albert Einstein

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Auditing FMEAs using quality objectives

In last month’s article we discussed the most common FMEA mistakes and how to convert them into quality objectives. This month we will focus on how to audit FMEAs, using the FMEA quality objectives as a guideline.

“Twice and thrice over, as they say, good is it to repeat and review what is good.” Plato

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The Most Common FMEA Mistakes

“Good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from poor judgment.” Will Rogers

Much is learned by observing the mistakes companies have made in doing FMEAs. Based on the experience of over 2,000 FMEAs and working with many companies in a wide variety of applications, certain common mistakes show up repeatedly. In this article, I’ll share ten common FMEA mistakes and how to convert them into quality objectives.

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Stay Focused on Areas of Concern

“It is not possible for minds degraded by a host of trivial concerns to ever rise to anything great.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau

One of the most important elements of excellent FMEAs is to stay focused on areas of concern. What does this mean and how should it be applied?

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What strategies can reduce detection risk in an FMEA?

“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” Sun Tzu

The Oxford English dictionary defines “detection” as “discovery (of what is unknown or hidden); finding out.”

Reference the article Understanding FMEA Detection – Part 1 which discusses how Detection is defined and applied in FMEA.

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What strategies can be used to reduce occurrence risk in an FMEA?

“Luck is not chance, it’s toil; fortune’s expensive smile is earned.”
Emily Dickinson

The Oxford English dictionary defines “occurrence” as “the fact or frequency of something happening.”

Reference the article Understanding FMEA Occurrence Risk – Part 1 which discusses how Occurrence is defined and applied in FMEA.

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What strategies can be used to reduce severity risk in an FMEA?

“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.”
Winston Churchill

strategy

The Oxford English dictionary defines “strategy” as “a plan of action or policy designed to achieve a major or overall aim.”

Reference the article Understanding FMEA Severity Risk – Part 1 which discusses how Severity is defined and applied in FMEA.

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Selecting Which FMEAs to Do

FMEAs take time and cost money. They should be done when a certain level of risk can be effectively addressed by the FMEA procedure. Preliminary Risk Assessment is a procedure that uses company-determined criteria to select which FMEAs to do.

“The key is to schedule your priorities.” ― Steven Covey

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