Failure Mode Effects Analysis (FMEA)

Also called: potential failure modes and effects analysis; failure modes, effects and criticality analysis
(FMECA).

Failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) is a step-by-step approach for identifying all possible failures in a
design, a manufacturing or assembly process, or a product or service.
“Failure modes” means the ways, or modes, in which something might fail. Failures are any errors or defects,
especially ones that affect the customer, and can be potential or actual.
“Effects analysis” refers to studying the consequences of those failures.
Failures are prioritized according to how serious their consequences are, how frequently they occur and how
easily they can be detected. The purpose of the FMEA is to take actions to eliminate or reduce failures, starting
with the highest-priority ones.
Failure modes and effects analysis also documents current knowledge and actions about the risks of failures, for
use in continuous improvement. FMEA is used during design to prevent failures. Later it’s used for control,
before and during ongoing operation of the process. Ideally, FMEA begins during the earliest conceptual stages
of design and continues throughout the life of the product or service.
Begun in the 1940s by the U.S. military, FMEA was further developed by the aerospace and automotive
industries. Several industries maintain formal FMEA standards.
What follows is an overview and reference. Before undertaking an FMEA process, learn more about standards
and specific methods in your organization and industry through other references and training.

When to Use FMEA

 When a process, product or service is being designed or redesigned, after quality function deployment.
 When an existing process, product or service is being applied in a new way.
 Before developing control plans for a new or modified process.
 When improvement goals are planned for an existing process, product or service.
 When analyzing failures of an existing process, product or service.
 Periodically throughout the life of the process, product or service

FMEA Procedure
1. Assemble a cross-functional team of people with diverse knowledge about the process, product or
service and customer needs. Functions often included are: design, manufacturing, quality, testing,
reliability, maintenance, purchasing (and suppliers), sales, marketing (and customers) and customer
service.
2. Identify the scope of the FMEA. Is it for concept, system, design, process or service? What are the
boundaries? How detailed should we be? Use flowcharts to identify the scope and to make sure every
team member understands it in detail. (From here on, we’ll use the word “scope” to mean the system,
design, process or service that is the subject of your FMEA.)
3. Fill in the identifying information at the top of your FMEA form. Figure 1 shows a typical format. The
remaining steps ask for information that will go into the columns of the form.
4. Identify the functions of your scope. Ask, “What is the purpose of this system, design, process or
service? What do our customers expect it to do?” Name it with a verb followed by a noun. Usually you
will break the scope into separate subsystems, items, parts, assemblies or process steps and identify the
function of each.
5. For each function, identify all the ways failure could happen. These are potential failure modes. If
necessary, go back and rewrite the function with more detail to be sure the failure modes show a loss of
that function.
 6. For each failure mode, identify all the consequences on the system, related systems, process, related
processes, product, service, customer or regulations. These are potential effects of failure. Ask, “What
does the customer experience because of this failure? What happens when this failure occurs?”
7. Determine how serious each effect is. This is the severity rating, or S. Severity is usually rated on a scale
from 1 to 10, where 1 is insignificant and 10 is catastrophic. If a failure mode has more than one effect,
write on the FMEA table only the highest severity rating for that failure mode.
8. For each failure mode, determine all the potential root causes. Use tools classified as cause analysis tool,
as well as the best knowledge and experience of the team. List all possible causes for each failure mode
on the FMEA form.
9. For each cause, determine the occurrence rating, or O. This rating estimates the probability of failure
occurring for that reason during the lifetime of your scope. Occurrence is usually rated on a scale from 1
to 10, where 1 is extremely unlikely and 10 is inevitable. On the FMEA table, list the occurrence rating
for each cause.
10. For each cause, identify current process controls. These are tests, procedures or mechanisms that you
now have in place to keep failures from reaching the customer. These controls might prevent the cause
from happening, reduce the likelihood that it will happen or detect failure after the cause has already
happened but before the customer is affected.
11. For each control, determine the detection rating, or D. This rating estimates how well the controls can
detect either the cause or its failure mode after they have happened but before the customer is affected.
Detection is usually rated on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 means the control is absolutely certain to
detect the problem and 10 means the control is certain not to detect the problem (or no control exists).
On the FMEA table, list the detection rating for each cause.
12. (Optional for most industries) Is this failure mode associated with a critical characteristic? (Critical
characteristics are measurements or indicators that reflect safety or compliance with government
regulations and need special controls.) If so, a column labeled “Classification” receives a Y or N to
show whether special controls are needed. Usually, critical characteristics have a severity of 9 or 10 and
occurrence and detection ratings above 3.
13. Calculate the risk priority number, or RPN, which equals S × O × D. Also calculate Criticality by
multiplying severity by occurrence, S × O. These numbers provide guidance for ranking potential
failures in the order they should be addressed.
14. Identify recommended actions. These actions may be design or process changes to lower severity or
occurrence. They may be additional controls to improve detection. Also note who is responsible for the
actions and target completion dates.
15. As actions are completed, note results and the date on the FMEA form. Also, note new S, O or D ratings
and new RPNs.

FMEA Example
A bank performed a process FMEA on their ATM system. Figure 1 shows part of it—the function “dispense
cash” and a few of the failure modes for that function. The optional “Classification” column was not used. Only
the headings are shown for the rightmost (action) columns.
Notice that RPN and criticality prioritize causes differently. According to the RPN, “machine jams” and “heavy
computer network traffic” are the first and second highest risks.
One high value for severity or occurrence times a detection rating of 10 generates a high RPN. Criticality does
not include the detection rating, so it rates highest the only cause with medium to high values for both severity
and occurrence: “out of cash.” The team should use their experience and judgment to determine appropriate
priorities for action.
PDPC FOR CHORNIC ILLNESS

PDPC FOR ROBOTIC TECHNOLOGY

(ONLY THE INTIAL STEP , FURTHER DEVELOP IT LIKE THE PREVIOUS PDPC)
HOUSE OF QUALITY FOR THE CAMERA
HOUSE OF QUALTIY FOR AIR TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY
FMEA FOR CAKE BAKING
FMEA FOR UNMANNED MACHINE
TWO MARKS

1. write any two applications of BPR in quality?

Business Process Reengineering (BPR) aims at cutting down enterprise costs and process redundancies, but
unlike other process management techniques, it does so on a much broader scale. Business Process
Reengineering (BPR) - also known as process innovation and core process redesign - attempts to restructure or
obliterate unproductive management layers, wipe out redundancies, and remodel processes differently.
Increased Operational Intelligence: BPMS helps improve the efficiency of your business processes by cutting
down on repetitive, mundane tasks, where most manual effort and time are spent unwantedly. BPMS also
provides insights on the bottlenecks of each process, that lets you make informed decisions to eliminate them,
thus driving operational intelligence.
Organizational Agility: Inflexible business processes make your organization get drowned into the ocean of
competition. Agility is the primary factor that contributes to the survival of any business. If your organization
fails to change rapidly, as per the demand, your customers will be game to shift their bases to your competitors.

2. what is robust design?

Robust product design is a concept from the teachings of Dr. Genichi Taguchi, a Japanese quality guru. It is
defined as reducing variation in a product without eliminating the causes of the variation. In other words,
making the product or process insensitive to variation. This variation (sometimes called noise) can come from a
variety of factors and can be classified into three main types: internal variation, external variation, and unit to
unit variation. Internal variation is due to deterioration such as the wear of a machine, and aging of materials.
External variation is from factor relating to environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity and dust.
Unit to Unit variation is variations between parts due to variations in material, processes and equipment.
Examples of robust design include umbrella fabric that will not deteriorate when exposed to varying
environments (external variation), food products that have long shelf lives (internal variation), and replacement
parts that will fit properly (unit to unit variation). The goal of robust design is to come up with a way to make
the final product consistent when the process is subject to a variety of "noise".

3. define bench marking

Companies use benchmarking as a way to compare key metrics to other businesses in the industry. This allows
companies to see how well they are performing and identify ways they can become more competitive in the industry. In
this lesson, we will look at the different types of benchmarking, the stages of benchmarking, and a real world example
Benchmarking is the practice of a business comparing key metrics of their operations to other similar companies
Governments -A state benchmarks its healthcare costs and indicators of health such as life expectancy against
other states in the same county.
Products-A solar module manufacturer benchmarks the conversion efficiency of its products against other solar
manufacturers on a global basis.

4. when do we use analytic hierarchy process (AHP)in HOQ Matrix

Complex or important decisions should not be based solely on instinct. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is a
mathematically rigorous, proven process for prioritization and complex decision-making.
AHP can help managers and developers combine all of this information and make informed decisions —
whether prioritizing customer needs, sorting product features, making budget decisions involving a variety of
tangible and intangible strategic goals, managing conflicting stakeholders, or selecting from hundreds of
alternative initiatives to be pursued.
By reducing complex decisions to a series of pair-wise comparisons, then synthesizing the results, AHP enables
decision-makers arrive at the best decision with a clear rationale for that decision.
AHP is now the recommended prioritization method specified by ISO 16355

5.when do you use POKA YOKE?

Poka yoke (pronounced POH KA YOKE) is a mistake proofing approach to eliminating errors or preventing errors that
was developed by the Japanese engineer Shigeo Shingo in the 1960s. The phrase “poka yoke” is derived from the
Japanese word that means “to avoid errors”
Charger and Connector

The above figure shows a charger and connector. All the three pins need to fit perfectly within the three slots
provided. This has to be monitored during production. And for that, the design phase of the product needs to be
executed perfectly as well. A slight error in the calculation of the slot-size or the pin-size can make the device
redundant or faulty.
Computer Monitor Cable

You must have dismantled your CPU a number of times. Have you noticed how all the cables and connectors fit
into their respective slots with the right precision and accuracy? This is because of mistake-proofing. While
manufacturing these cables, the operator needs to take care the right pins are secured in the insulator, and the
exact number of slots is drilled for perfect placement. If this is not done, the device will definitely not work.

6. WHAT IS THIRD PARTY AUDIT?

Third-Party Audits. A third-party audit occurs when a company has decided that they want to create a quality
management system (QMS) that conforms to a standard set of requirements, such as ISO 9001, and hire an independent
company to perform an audit to verify that the company has succeeded in this endeavor

7. DEFINE TEROTECHNOLOGY
Terotechnology is a practice that leverages management, engineering and financial expertise to optimize installation,
operations and upkeep of equipment. Terotechnology is derived from the Greek root word "tero" or "I care," which
is used with the term "technology" to refer to the study of the costs associated with an asset throughout its life
cycle from acquisition to disposal. The goals of this multidisciplinary approach are to reduce the different costs incurred
at the various stages of an asset's life and to develop methods that will help extend its life span. The discipline of
terotechnology may also be known as "life-cycle costing."
8. DEFINE OEE .WHAT ARE THE COMPONENTS OF THE SAME?
Overall equipment effectiveness is a measure of manufacturing operations performance and productivity,
expressed in a percentage. OEE indicates the degree to which a manufacturing plant is truly productive, and
serves as a general and inclusive measurement of how well a company's manufacturing operations are
performing.
In the simplest terms, OEE = availability x performance x quality.
 Availability is the percentage of time that a machine or other physical asset is expected to be available
for production. Equipment breakdowns, unavailable materials or other unplanned downtime reduces
availability.
 Performance is the percentage of the actual operational speed or the number of units produced in a
certain timeframe, compared to the designated or standard speed.
 Quality is the percentage of defect-free parts or products produced.
As one example, a machine that has 90% availability, performs at 95%, and has a good-product quality rate of
98%, will have an OEE of 83.79%.

9. WHAT IS RPN?
When performing a Process or Design FMEA, the Risk Priority Number (RPN) is a calculation to sort the risks
from highest to lowest.
The RPN is calculated by multiplying the three scoring columns: Severity, Occurrence and Detection.
RPN = Severity x Occurrence x Detection
For example, if the severity score is 6, the occurrence score is 4, and detection is 4, then the RPN would be 96.

10. COMPARE QS 9000 WITH TS 16949 QUALITY SYSTEM?

The key differences between QS-9000 and ISO/TS 16949 relate to the aspects of customer and employee satisfaction.
Customer Satisfaction
Both QS-9000 and ISO/TS 16949:1999 require a documented process for measuring customer satisfaction. This includes
the documentation of trends and the comparison of benchmark data.
ISO/TS 16949:2002, additionally specifies that companies should:
 Determine a method for monitoring customer perception as to whether requirements have been met,
 evaluate data continuously,
 demonstrate compliance with customer requirements & efficiency of process.
Employee motivation, Empowerment & Satisfaction
QS-9000 makes no reference to employee motivation whilst TS 16949:1999 requires that companies develop a process
for the measurement of employee satisfaction.
ISO/TS 16949:2002 additionally specifies that organizations:
 have a process for measuring satisfaction to achieve quality objectives & make continual improvements,
 promote quality awareness at all levels,
 make personnel aware of the relevance of their activities.