Lifespan of an FMEA

Abstract

Carl and Fred discuss a reader question about what is called a “living FMEA.” Is this a good idea? How is it done?

Key Points

Join Carl and Fred as they discuss whether to update FMEAs with test and field information on an ongoing basis.

Topics include:

• An updated FMEA needs to begin with a good quality FMEA, as baseline
• There is little value in updating a poor-quality FMEA
• Using FMEA to avoid repetition of problems
• You can update an FMEA from test and field failures
• FMEA needs to visually highlight the most critical problems
• Guidance: you don’t need to do FMEAs on everything
• Field lessons learned is important input to FMEAs, field problems can be potential failure modes
• FMEA is not the only tool; need to know when it is used and it’s limitations
• Generic FMEAs are used as input to new FMEAs, not copy-pasted
• Past FMEAs are used as input to new FMEA, helping to ensure past failures do not repeat
• Avoid a numbers game when assessing risk scales
• Consider use “living FMEA” or generic FMEA when dealing with variants of a design or process

Enjoy an episode of Speaking of Reliability. Where you can join friends as they discuss reliability topics. Join us as we discuss topics ranging from design for reliability techniques to field data analysis approaches.

SOR 921 Lifespan of an FMEACarl S. Carlson

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