Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)

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georgeclerk

You don't need time travel to spot the problems before a solution is implemented.

When things go badly wrong, it's easy to say with hindsight, "We should have known that would happen."And, with a little foresight, perhaps, problems could have been avoided if only someone had asked "What Could Go Wrong?"

By looking at all the things that could possibly go wrong at design stage, you can cheaply solve problems that would otherwise take vast effort and expense to correct, if left until the solution has been deployed in the field. Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) helps you do this.

More than this, FMEA provides a useful approach for reviewing existing processes or systems, so that problems with these can be identified and eliminated.

Understanding FMEA

FMEA was originally known as Failure Mode, Effects, and Criticality Analysis (FMECA), and was first published in 1949 by the U.S. Department of Defense. FMEA grew out of systems engineering, and is a widely-used tool for quality control. It builds on tools like Risk Analysis   and Cause and Effect Analysis   to try to predict failures before they happen. Originally used in product development, it is also effective in improving the design of business processes and systems.

When using FMEA, you start by looking in detail at the proposed solution (see the tip box below) and then you identify systematically all of the points where it could fail. Once these potential failures have been identified, you rate the potential consequences of each according to:...