“Evaluate what you want – because what gets measured, gets produced.” James A. Belasco
Years ago, many FMEAs did not recommend actions to improve product designs or testing. They identified risk, which is important; but missed opportunities to actually improve product designs and test plans. In this article, I will outline how to evaluate an individual Design FMEA or Process FMEA against the FMEA Quality Objective for test improvements.
What is meant by “test improvement”?
The concept is to take specific action to add new tests and/or revise current tests, in order to address high detection risk.
Why is it an objective of FMEA to improve the tests?
When FMEA procedure identifies failure modes, effects and causes, it is a value-added step to go further and determine what can be done to improve the likelihood that testing will discover the failure mode and associated cause, and thereby reduce detection risk.
One of the reasons FMEA can improve tests is because the FMEA team is made up of a cross-functional team. The team includes experts in product testing and other skills. It is a natural extension of the risk identification to recommend actions to reduce risk, by improving both product designs and tests.
What is the FMEA Quality Objective related to test improvements?
FMEA Quality Objective 10: The FMEA drives actions to improve Test Plan (for Design FMEAs) or Process Control Plan (for Process FMEAs) as a secondary objective.
How can you assess how well an FMEA meets the Quality Objective for Test Improvements?
Review the FMEA Recommended Actions. See how many of them improve the product tests (for Design FMEAs) or the process control plan (for Process FMEAs). See if they were implemented.
What is an example of assessing Quality Objective # 10?
As an example, we’ll use an excerpt from a fictitious Design FMEA on a bicycle handbrake to assess Quality Objective 10.
Based on the excerpt of the handbrake DFMEA, here is an example of the evaluation of FMEA Quality Objective # 10: Design Improvements.
Tip
Recommended Actions that track existing testing, such as “run test #ABC” are not test improvement actions. When evaluating how well the FMEA improves the test plan, look for actions that improve current tests or recommend new tests that increase the likelihood that the tests will discover failure modes and corresponding causes.
Summary
Design FMEA should improve the test plan and Process FMEAs should improve the Process Control Plan. Proper evaluation of this quality objective will help to realize the potential of FMEAs to accomplish this objective.
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