Improving Product Reliability and Software Quality, 2nd Edition

7FMEA

7.1 Benefits of FMEA

The tool that is second only to Highly Accelerated Life Test (HALT) and Highly Accelerated Stress Screening (HASS) is failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA). FMEA is an extremely powerful tool that can be applied without expensive equipment. In the late 1960s, the practice of using FMEA as a way to improve product design began to surface. It is a systemized series of activities intended to discover potential failures and recommend corrective actions for design improvements. These potential failures would otherwise not be discovered until the product was fully developed. The most important result of the process is that it will reveal a shortcoming before it is unintentionally designed into the product. In that respect, it is exactly like HALT and HASS in that it precipitates or identifies things that need changing in the design before the design is finalized. FMEA, like HALT and HASS, should be an integral part of the design process.

The FMEA process supports the design process by:

• Objectively evaluating the design through a knowledgeable team
• Improving the design before the first prototype is built
• Identifying specific failure modes and their causes
• Assigning risk‐reducing actions that are tracked to closure

In addition, the output of the FMEA can provide inputs to other key tasks. These include:

• Test and troubleshooting documentation
• Service manuals
• Field replacement unit (FRU) identification

Successful implementation of FMEA will do the following: ...