FMEA and FMECA

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 FMEA and FMECA Information
FMEA - If you are wanting to find out more about Failure Mode
and Effects Analysis (FMEA) or FMECA, then you have come to
the right place.

Our goal is to provide useful resources for reliability engineers,

quality engineers, design engineers, or anyone else who may be
interested in learning more about FMEA or FMECA.

This site will provide you with a good introduction to FMEA /

FMECA. Spend a few minutes looking around our site to find out
just what a FMEA is, a little bit about the different types(Concept,
Design, and Process), some of the benefits from this type of
analysis, and much more. We also have FMEA examples and
helpful presentations, books and reference guides, plus some good information on FMEA software, and
links to some of the major software vendors.
 What is a FMEA?
Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) or FMECA is an analysis technique which facilitates the
identification of potential problems in the design or process by examining the effects of lower level failures.
Recommended actions or compensating provisions are made to reduce the likelihood of the problem
occurring, and mitigate the risk, if in fact, it does occur.

The FMEA team determines, by failure mode analysis, the effect of each failure and identifies single failure
points that are critical. It may also rank each failure according to the criticality of a failure effect and its
probability of occurring. The FMECA is the result of two steps:
· Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA)
· Criticality Analysis (CA).
FMECA is just FMEA with Criticality Analysis. There are many different flavors of FMEA. There are
Conceptual or Functional FMEAs, Design FMEAs, and Process FMEAs. Sometimes during a design
FMEA the analysis will look at a combination of functions and hardware. Sometimes it will include just
hardware, and sometimes the analyst will take a detailed look at the system down to a piece-part level,
especially when critical functions or hardware are involved.

Here is a list of some of the more common FMEA acronyms:

FMECA - Failure Mode, Effects, and Criticality Analysis.

FMEA - Failure Mode and Effects Analysis.
CFMEA – Concept FMEA
DFMEA – Design FMEA
PFMEA – Process FMEA

Here is a list of some of the more common FMEA Definitions:

Mil-Std-1629A Related FMEA Definitions

Compensating Provision: Actions available or that can be taken to negate or reduce the effect of a
failure on a system.
Criticality: a measure of the frequency of occurrence of an effect. May be based on qualitative judgment
or may be based on failure rate data
Detection Method: The method by which a failure can be discovered by the system operator under
normal system operation or by a maintenance crew carrying out a specific diagnostic action.
End Effect: The consequence a failure mode has upon the operation, function or status at the highest
indenture level.
Failure Cause: The physical or chemical processes, design defects, quality defects, part misapplication
or other processes which are the basic reason for failure or which can initiate the physical process by
which deterioration proceeds to failure. (Past)
Failure Effect: The consequence of a failure mode has upon the operation, function or status of a system
or equipment. (Future)
Failure Mode: The way in which a failure is observed, describes the way the failure occurs, and its
impact on equipment operation. (Present)
Indenture Levels: The levels which identify or describe the relative complexity of an assembly or function.
Local Effect: The consequence a failure mode has on the operation, function or status of the specific
item being analyzed.
Mission Phase Operational Mode: The statement of the mission phase and mode of operation of the
system or equipment in which the failure occurs.
Next Higher Level Effect: The consequence a failure mode has on the operation, functions, or status of
the items in the next higher indenture level above the specific item begin analyzed.
Severity: Considers the worst possible consequence of a failure classified by the degree of injury,
property damage, system damage and mission loss that could occur (Mil-Std-1629A FMECA severities).

Mil-Std-1629 FMEA / FMECA

Severity Levels
Category I - Catastrophic: A failure which may cause death or weapon system loss (i.e., aircraft, tank, missile, ship,
etc...)
Category II - Critical: A failure which may cause severe injury, major property damage, or major system damage
which will result in mission loss.
Category III - Marginal: A failure which may cause minor injury, minor property damage, or minor system damage
which will result in delay or loss of availability or mission degradation.
Category IV - Minor: A failure not serious enough to cause injury, property damage or system damage, but which will
result in unscheduled maintenance or repair.

Single Point Failure: The failure of an item which can result in the failure of the system and is not
compensated for by redundancy or alternative operational procedure.

Other Related FMEA Definitions

Risk Priority Number (RPN) - Provides an alternate evaluation approach to Criticality Analysis. The risk
priority number provides a qualitative numerical estimate of design risk. RPN is defined as the product of
three independently assessed factors: Severity(S), Occurrence (O) and Detection (D).
RPN = (S) * (O) * (D)
Severity (S) - Severity is a numerical subjective estimate of how severe the customer (next user) or end
user will perceive the EFFECT of a failure.
Occurrence (O) - Occurrence or sometimes termed LIKELIHOOD, is a numerical subjective estimate of
the LIKELIHOOD that the cause, if it occurs, will produce the failure mode and its particular effect.

Detection (D) - Detection is sometimes termed EFFECTIVENESS. It is a numerical subjective estimate of

the effectiveness of the controls to prevent or detect the cause or failure mode before the failure reaches
the customer. The assumption is that the cause has occurred.
Here is a list of some of the FMEA tips and advices:

· The FMEA / FMECA should begin as early as possible

This allows the analyst to affect the design before it is set in stone. If you start early, as
recommended, expect to have to redo portions of your FMEA as the design is modified.
· FMEAs take a lot of time to complete
Don't let this scare you and prevent you from performing an FMEA. A product recall can be
very costly, time consuming, and cause severe damage to your company's reputation. A
FMEA, done properly, can help prevent something like this from occurring.
· FMEAs require considerable knowledge of system operation
This is true. FMEAs do require considerable knowledge of system operation, and it will be
necessary to have extensive discussions with Software and Hardware Design Engineering,
System Engineering, and other disciplines to gather the information that you need.
· Spend time developing ground rules with your customer
It is very important to spend time, upfront, developing ground rules with your customer. This
will help to prevent misunderstandings in terms of the scope of the analysis, report formats for
deliverables, definitions, and other related issues.
· Design FMEA Advice
Start early in the process. Complete the design FMEA by the preliminary drawings are done,
and before any tooling is initiated.
· Process FMEA Advice
Start as soon as basic manufacturing methods have been discussed. Be sure and complete
the process FMEA prior to finalizing production plans and releasing for production.

Why is FMEA / FMECA Important?

There are a number of reasons why this analysis technique is so valuable. Here are just a few:
· FMEA provides a basis for identifying root failure causes and developing effective corrective actions
· The FMEA identifies reliability/safety critical components
· It facilitates investigation of design alternatives at all stages of the design
· Provides a foundation for other maintainability, safety, testability, and logistics analyses

FMEA / FMECA Background and History

· An offshoot of Military Procedure MIL-P-1629, titled Procedures for Performing a Failure Mode, Effects
and Criticality Analysis, dated November 9, 1949.
· Used as a reliability evaluation technique to determine the effect of system and equipment failures.
Failures were classified according to their impact on mission success and personnel/equipment safety.
· Formally developed and applied by NASA in the 1960’s to improve and verify reliability of space
program hardware.
· The procedures called out in MIL-STD-1629A are the most widely accepted methods throughout the
military and commercial industry.
· SAE J1739 is a prevalent FMEA standard in the automotive industry.
FMEA and FMECA
How to do a FMEA?

What are the

effects of box
failures on the
system?

What are the

effects of
board failures
on the box?

What are the

effects of part
failures on the
board?
The above example is a bottoms-up approach to a Design FMEA, but a tops-down approach could also be
used.

Facts and Tips About FMECA:

· FMECAs should begin as early as possible. This allows the analyst to affect the design before it is set
in stone. If you start early, as you should, expect to have to redo portions as the design matures.
· FMECAs take a lot of time to complete.
· FMECAs require considerable knowledge of system operation necessitating extensive discussions
with software/hardware Design Engineering and System Engineering.
· Spend time developing ground rules with your customer up front.

The FMECA Analysis Process:

1) Define the system
2) Define ground rules and assumptions
3) Construct system block diagrams
4) Identify failure modes
5) Analyze failure effects / causes
6) Feed results back into design process
7) Classify failure effects by severity
8) Perform criticality calculations
9) Rank failure mode criticality
10) Determine critical items
11) Feed results back into design process
12) Identify means of failure detection, isolation and compensating provisions
13) Document the analysis. Summarize uncorrectable design areas, identify special controls necessary to
mitigate risk.
14) Make recommendations
15) Follow up on corrective action implementation / effectiveness
 FMEA / FMECA Types

CONCEPT FMEA (CFMEA)

· The Concept FMEA is used to analyze concepts in the early stages before hardware is defined (most
often at system and subsystem)
· It focuses on potential failure modes associated with the proposed functions of a concept proposal
· This type of FMEA includes the interaction of multiple systems and interaction between the elements
of a system at the concept stages.

DESIGN FMEA (DFMEA)

· The Design FMEA is used to analyze products before they are released to production.
· It focuses on potential failure modes of products caused by design deficiencies.
· Design FMEAs are normally done at three levels – system, subsystem, and component levels
· This type of FMEA is used to analyze hardware, functions or a combination

PROCESS FMEA (PFMEA)

· The Process FMEA is normally used to analyze manufacturing and assembly processes at the system,
subsystem or component levels.
· This type of FMEA focuses on potential failure modes of the process that are caused by
manufacturing or assembly process deficiencies.
 FMEA / FMECA Benefits
This page describes some of the benefits that can be derived by performing various types of FMEA /
FMECA

FMEA / FMECA - General Benefits:

· Prevention Planning
· Identifies change requirements
· Cost reduction
· Increased throughput
· Decreased waste
· Decreased warranty costs
· Reduce non-value added operations

Concept FMEA:
· Helps select the optimum concept alternatives, or determine changes to design specifications
· Identifies potential failure modes caused by interactions within the concept
· Increases the likelihood all potential effects of a proposed concept’s failure modes are considered.
· Identifies system level testing requirements
· Helps determine if hardware system redundancy may be required within a design proposal

Design FMEA:
· Aids in the objective evaluation of design requirements and design alternatives
· Aids in the initial design for manufacturing and assembly requirements
· Increases the probability that potential failure modes and their effects have been considered in the
design/development process
· Provides additional information to help plan thorough and efficient test programs.
· Develops a list of potential failure modes ranked according to their effect on the customer. Establishes
a priority system for design improvements.
· Provides an open issue format for recommending and tracking risk reducing actions.
· Provides future reference to aid in analyzing field concerns.

Process FMEA:
· Identifies potential product related process failure modes.
· Assesses the potential customer effects of the failures.
· Identifies the potential manufacturing or assembly process causes and identifies process variables on
which to focus controls or monitoring.
· Develops a ranked list of potential failure modes, establishing a priority system for corrective action
considerations.
· Documents the results of the manufacturing or assembly process.
· Identifies process deficiencies
· Identifies confirmed critical characteristics and/or significant characteristics
· Identifies operator safety concerns
· Feeds information on design changes required and manufacturing feasibility back to the designers.
 Failure Mode and Effect Analysis
Page: 1
Date: 8 Nov 2006
Project: Simple Flashlight Example
Function/System: Flashlight
Phase/Mode: Normal Operation Reference Drawing: FL164578-1
Assembly Name: Flashlight Assembly RD: 1

Detection Method
Compensating
Ref Des Name & Function FMI Failure Mode Local Effect Next Higher Effect Sev. End Effect Failure Cause RD Item Causing
Provisions
Remarks
1 Flashlight FAAA constant flashlight output 1 constant flashlight output Comp / Prov: Stuck closed 1A2 Switch
- No Data None
Det. Method:
None
Remarks:
None
FAAB flashlight output dim 3 flashlight output dim Comp / Prov: dim light 1A1 Bulb
None
Det. Method:
None
Remarks:
None
poor contact 1A3 Contact
low power 1A4 Battery
FAAC flashlight sometimes will 3 flashlight sometimes will Comp / Prov: intermittent 1A2 Switch
not turn on not turn on None
Det. Method:
None
Remarks:
None
intermittent 1A3 Contact
FAAD no flashlight output 2 no flashlight output Comp / Prov: no light 1A1 Bulb
None
Det. Method:
None
Remarks:
None
Stuck open 1A2 Switch
no contact 1A3 Contact
no power 1A4 Battery
 Failure Mode and Effect Analysis
Page: 2
Date: 8 Nov 2006
Project: Simple Flashlight Example
Function/System: Flashlight
Phase/Mode: Normal Operation Reference Drawing: FL164578-1
Assembly Name: Flashlight Assembly RD: 1

Detection Method
Compensating
Ref Des Name & Function FMI Failure Mode Local Effect Next Higher Effect Sev. End Effect Failure Cause RD Item Causing
Provisions
Remarks
1A1 Bulb FAAA dim light flashlight output dim 3 flashlight output dim Comp / Prov:
- Provides the light None
source for the flashlight Det. Method:
None
Remarks:
None
FAAB no light no flashlight output 2 no flashlight output Comp / Prov:
None
Det. Method:
None
Remarks:
None
1A2 Switch FAAA intermittent flashlight sometimes will 3 flashlight sometimes will Comp / Prov:
- Turns flashlight on or not turn on not turn on None
off Det. Method:
None
Remarks:
None
FAAB Stuck closed constant flashlight output 1 constant flashlight output Comp / Prov:
None
Det. Method:
None
Remarks:
None
FAAC Stuck open no flashlight output 2 no flashlight output Comp / Prov:
None
Det. Method:
None
Remarks:
None
1A3 Contact FAAA intermittent flashlight sometimes will 3 flashlight sometimes will Comp / Prov:
- No Data not turn on not turn on None
Det. Method:
None
Remarks:
None
FAAB no contact no flashlight output 2 no flashlight output Comp / Prov:
None
Det. Method:
None
Remarks:
None
FAAC poor contact flashlight output dim 3 flashlight output dim Comp / Prov:
None
Det. Method:
None
Remarks:
None
1A4 Battery FAAA low power flashlight output dim 3 flashlight output dim Comp / Prov:
- Provides the power None
source for the flashlight Det. Method:
None
Remarks:
None
FAAB no power no flashlight output 2 no flashlight output Comp / Prov:
None
Det. Method:
None
Remarks:
None