If there was only one tool that could make a significant change to your business that would have to be the FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis). Period.

Ask yourself these questions. How many times have you seen products being rushed through the development stages to deliver quickly to the market? How many processes have been put together without consideration of quality, health & safety, performance etc.?

Speed can be our ally or the greatest enemy.

FMEA is one of a kind risk management tool that can be applied to any process (PFMEA) or design (DFMEA). It supports lean manufacturing, NPI and quality assurance.

To better understand the significance of the FMEA think of military, aerospace and automotive. All these business sectors utilised this methodology years ago. Technology advances and yet no one considers dropping FMEA.

You can launch FMEA in just 5 days in any business.

Get buy-in from the team (day 1)

There are plenty of FMEA examples online. You can find complete case studies or watch videos. People often don’t realise how important is to act “before” not “after” the event. However, bear in mind that FMEA requires a resource, commitment and discipline. If Top Management will not support (I mean SUPPORT) the idea at this stage than you will be better off stopping here. Seriously. Without backing from the MGM, the project will eventually fail (with your name on the front page).

Train the team (day 2)

FMEA is simple to run. The form may look “large” at first, but once you kick off the session, it will just go. Here are some tips to get you going:

Item/Function – For design FMEA make a list of all parts that build the product. The sequence of steps (functions) is used for process FMEA.

Failure mode – how the part (product) or process fails to meet the specification or function

Potential effects of failure – what will happen if the component or process fails (how the fault manifests itself?)

Potential Causes – what may have caused the failure? There may be more that one cause! You need to consider all.

Current controls – do we have any controls in place to detect the problem? What are these?

RPN (Risk Priority Number) – severity x occurrence x detection. If you want to get results quicker use “1 to 5” scale. A typical mistake is to use often recommended “1 to 10” grading system. That leads to never-ending debate that frustrates the team and prolongs the project. What is the real difference between 7 and 8???

Choose the project(s) (day 3)

Unless everyone is clear on process or design project that should be taken to FMEA workshop, it is recommended to run the question through the team. All proposals should be taken into account. There are no silly ideas. At the end of the session, prioritisation shall clarify next steps.

Word of warning – if the team is new to the FMEA start with a relatively simple project. People will learn quicker on how to use it. Easy wins will guarantee continuous interest. The timescale for completion will be reasonable too.

Run FMEA session (day 4)

Stick to the scope. Avoid drifting off the main topic and minimise unnecessary discussion.

Have the right people in the room. FMEA is a team orientated methodology. Ensure that relevant stakeholders participate in the workshop. Do you remember when I said earlier the backing from the top management is crucial? Unfortunately very often everyone is excited with the idea of FMEA, but then somehow people don’t show up. This is where you should escalate the issue. Running the FMEA workshop with only half of the team is counterproductive and creates unnecessary precedence.

Simplify the scoring system. Scale from 1 to 5 is more than adequate to the most of FMEA projects.

Focus on the risk. Risk scoring has to be a team effort. It should never be done in isolation by the facilitator or just a few colleagues. Risk level will determine future actions, and therefore everyone should be on the same page.

Re-evaluate the risk (day 5)

Once actions have been applied to eliminate or minimise the risk of failure, it is time for a re-evaluation. This is the moment of truth. Have we made the difference? Make sure that the results are communicated across the business. The more publicity the project gains the more powerful the FMEA will become.

Time to kick off with the FMEA

If you need something to start with, please visit the Premium Library where I have uploaded a FREE FMEA template. If you have any questions or need support, please leave the comment below and drop me an email via the contact page. Good luck!