Failure mode and effects analysis

Popa Shimon Petru

Politechnica University of Bucharest
Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Technology
MSc Advanced Technologies in Automotive Electronics

Abstract In a modern society, making decisions is an essential

aspect for reaching the desired goals of the enterprise. Among the
engineering tools used for making decisions, we distinguish the
Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), which helps to
identify, analyze and prioritize failure modes which can affect a
system, a product or a process.
Index TermsFMEA, quality, safety, process, RPN, failure,
design.

I. INTRODUCTION
Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) was one of the
first systematic techniques for failure analysis. It was
developed by reliability engineers in the late 1940s to study
problems that might arise from malfunctions of military
systems. An FMEA is often the first step of a system reliability
study. It involves reviewing as many components, assemblies,
and subsystems as possible to identify failure modes, and their
causes and effects.
For each component, the failure modes and their resulting
effects on the rest of the system are recorded in a specific
FMEA worksheet. There are numerous variations of such
worksheets. An FMEA is mainly a qualitative analysis.[3]
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. [2]
The Failure Mode and Effects Analysis is one of the
inductive methods used for the evaluation of system reliability
and security.[6]
Most of the time, the analysis is characterized as consisting
of two sub-analyses, the first being the failure modes and
effects analysis (FMEA), and the second, the criticality
analysis (CA).[2] Successful development of an FMEA
requires that the analyst include all significant failure modes
for each contributing element or part in the system. FMEAs
can be performed at the system, subsystem, assembly,
subassembly or part level.

The FMECA should be a living document during

development of a hardware design. It should be scheduled and
completed concurrently with the design. If completed in a
timely manner, the FMECA can help guide design decisions.
The usefulness of the FMECA as a design tool and in the
decision-making process is dependent on the effectiveness and
timeliness with which design problems are identified.
Timeliness is probably the most important consideration. In the
extreme case, the FMECA would be of little value to the design
decision process if the analysis is performed after the hardware
is built.
While the FMECA identifies all part failure modes, its
primary benefit is the early identification of all critical and
catastrophic subsystem or system failure modes so they can be
eliminated or minimized through design modification at the
earliest point in the development effort; therefore, the FMECA
should be performed at the system level as soon as preliminary
design information is available and extended to the lower
levels as the detail design progresses.[3]
II. HISTORY
Procedures for conducting FMECA were described in US
Armed Forces Military documents MIL-P-1629 (1949). By the
early 1960s, contractors for the U.S. NASA were using
variations of FMECA or FMEA under a variety of names.
NASA programs using FMEA variants included Apollo,
Viking, Voyager, Magellan, Galileo, and Skylab.[9]
The automotive industry began to use FMEA by the middle
of 1970s, when The Ford Motor Company introduced FMEA
to the automotive industry for safety and regulatory
consideration after the Pinto affair.[3]
III.

CURRENT STATUS OF RESEARCH ON FMEA

The concept of quality has a lot of meanings and is being

analyzed in many disciplines such as technical, economic and
even philosophy.
Quality approach must meet five governing principles[5]:

1. Responsibility. This concept requires the involvement of

all members of the enterprise in the quality approach and
respect for them, their desire for training, communication and
information. At the same time, it should be set relevant and
clear targets , which will aim the adhesion of the involved
members. Staff must have the opportunity to progress and to be
recognized his merits.
2. Compliance. This principle implies the 3 steps:
identifying customer needs

transforming
those
needs
into
product
specifications
achievement products according to these
specifications
3. Prevention. The basic principle is that prevention is
better than work on corrective actions;
4. Measurement. This principle supposed identifying areas
for improvement, then define specific indicators and for the
significant ones, we must take improvement measures.
5.Excellence. The principle of excellence is permanent
guideline approach of obtaining progress, that when the
priciple zero defects is applied , the identified errors are the
resources for improvement.

early development. It is based on a functional breakdown of a

system. This type may also be used for Software evaluation.
2. Design:
Concept Design / Hardware: analysis of systems or
subsystems in the early design concept stages to
analyse the failure mechanisms and lower level
functional failures, specially to different concept
solutions in more detail. It may be used in trade-off
studies.
Detailed Design / Hardware: analysis of products
prior to production. These are the most detailed
FMEAs and used to identify any possible hardware
failure mode up to the lowest part level. Any Failure
effect Severity, failure Prevention, Failure Detection
and Diagnostics may be fully analysed in this FMEA.
3. Process: analysis of manufacturing and assembly
processes. Both quality and reliability may be affected
from process faults. The input for this FMEA is amongst
others a work process / task Breakdown.
V. PROCESS FMEA

IV. TYPES OF FMEA

FMEA should be used in different situations , like[2]:
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.
Therefore we identify a list of three types of FMEA
analyses[3]:
1. Functional: before design solutions are provided (or
only on high level) functions can be evaluated on potential
functional failure effects. General Mitigations ("design to"
requirements) can be proposed to limit consequence of
functional failures or limit the probability of occurrence in this

The basic steps for performing an Failure Mode and Effects

Analysis (FMEA) or Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality
Analysis (FMECA) include[4]:
1.

2.

3.

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.
Identify the scope of the FMEA. Is it for concept,
system, design, process or service. To identify the
scope we will use flowcharts.
Fill in the identifying information at the top of your
FMEA form. This figure shows a typical format. The
remaining steps ask for information that will go into
the columns of the form:

Figure 1

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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 date.
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.
Example[2]:
A bank performed a process FMEA on their ATM system.
The figure above shows part of itthe 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.

operating time and identifies the portion of the items

unreliability that can be attributed to each potential failure
mode. For each failure mode, they also rate the probability that
it will result in system failure. The team then uses these factors
to calculate a quantitative criticality value for each potential
failure and for each item.

VI. RISK EVALUATION METHODS

A typical failure modes and effects analysis incorporates
some method to evaluate the risk associated with the potential
problems identified through the analysis. The two most
common methods, Risk Priority Numbers and Criticality
Analysis, are described next.[1]
A. Risk Priority Numbers
To use the Risk Priority Number (RPN) method to assess
risk, the analysis team must:
Rate the severity of each effect of failure

Rate the likelihood of occurrence for each cause

of failure
Rate the likelihood of prior detection for each
cause of failure (i.e. the likelihood of detecting the
problem before it reaches the end user or
customer)
Calculate the RPN by obtaining the product of the
three ratings:

RPN =Severity x Occurrence x Detection

The RPN can then be used to compare issues within the
analysis and to prioritize problems for corrective action.
B. Criticality Analysis
There are two types of criticality analysis: qualitative and
quantitative.
To use qualitative criticality analysis to evaluate risk and
prioritize corrective actions, the analysis team must a) rate the
severity of the potential effects of failure and b) rate the
likelihood of occurrence for each potential failure mode. It is
then possible to compare failure modes via a Criticality Matrix,
which identifies severity on the horizontal axis and occurrence
on the vertical axis.
To use quantitative criticality analysis, the analysis team
considers the reliability/unreliability for each item at a given

VII. TIMING AND ADVANTAGES

A. Timing
The FMEA should be updated whenever [3]:
A new cycle begins (new product/process);

Changes are made to the operating conditions;

A change is made in the design;

New regulations are instituted;

Customer feedback indicates a problem;

B. Advantages

Improve the quality, reliability and safety of a

product/process;
Improve company image and competitiveness;

Increase user satisfaction;

Reduce system development time and cost;

Collect information to reduce future failures,

capture engineering knowledge;
Reduce the potential for warranty concerns;

Early identification and elimination of potential

failure modes;
Emphasize problem prevention;

Minimize late changes and associated cost;

Catalyst for teamwork and idea exchange between

functions;
Reduce the possibility of same kind of failure in
future;
Reduce impact on company profit margin;

Improve production yield;

Maximises profit.

VIII. CONCLUSIONS
FMEA analysis is a flexible process that can be adapted to
meet the particular needs of the industry and/or the
organization. This paper shows the importance of the Failure
mode and effects analysis technique. It provides several
benefits, especially regarding the reduction of manufacturing
costs and times, the improvement of product quality and the
companys competitiveness and image. The best results of an
FMEA are obtained when it is applied in the beginning stages
of development of the concept for the system, product or
process.
In summary, FMEA permits the proactive identification of
possible failures in complex processes and provides a basis for
continuous improvement. With the increasing complexity of
processes, FMEA offers tools for predicting failure and for
implementing changes to prevent such failures from occurring
in the future .

REFERENCES
[1] http://www.weibull.com/basics/fmea.htm
[2] http://asq.org/learn-about-quality/process-analysistools/overview/fmea.html
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Failure_mode_and_effects_analysis
[4] FOC_2015_Quality_tools.pdf
[5] Research on the application of the Failure Mode and Effects
Analysis for for the manufacturing of automotive parts, Ing.
Neagoe Bogdan Sorin
[6] WEB-BASED
METHODOLOGY
FOR
THE
MANAGEMENT OF FMEA PROJECTS, Ing. Neagoe Bogdan
Sorin, Ing Martinescu Ionel
[7] http://www.reliasoft.com/newsletter/3q2002/fmea.htm
[8] Application of Failure Mode and Effect Analysis in a Radiology
Department, Eavan Thornton, MD
[9] Failure Modes, Effects, and Criticality Analysis (FMECA)
(PDF). National Aeronautics and Space Administration JPL.
PDAD1307. Retrieved 2010-03-13

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