Fill in an FMEA

The FMEA is one of the three methods of the Root cause analysis block on the item page (and on the NCR detail). Each line is a failure mode with Severity, Occurrence and Detection from 1 to 10; the RPN = S × O × D says what to treat first.

You need: to be able to edit the item (the Edit right or being the responsible, with the item open). On the NCR, to answer or edit the NCR.

1. Open the item, the Root cause analysis block, click FMEA and Start analysis. Rewrite the Problem as an observable fact.
2. Click Severity, occurrence and detection scales and keep the panel open: it is the criterion of each score.
3. Fill in one line per failure mode: Component / function, Failure mode (the catalog suggests while typing; free text accepted), Effect, Cause and Current controls. Use one more failure mode for the next one.
4. Give the scores S (from the effect), O (from the cause) and D (from the controls). The RPN appears on its own; a line with an RPN at or above the Action threshold (RPN) turns red.
5. For the red lines, write the Recommended action, the Owner and the Due date.
6. Pick the Cause category, write the Root cause, the Corrective action and the Preventive action; Save and Conclude analysis.
7. After the action: Reopen, give S′ O′ D′ (the RPN′ is computed), mark Done and Conclude analysis again.

The FMEA method on the item page: one line per failure mode, with the computed RPN and the re-evaluation.

Tip

Write the failure mode as what is observed (“Reading out of tolerance”), the cause as what produces it (“Sensor not calibrated”) and the effect as what the client feels (“Room out of range”). Severity comes from the effect, Occurrence from the cause and Detection from the controls — in Detection, 1 is the best (always detected) and 10 the worst (no control).

System rule

Conclude analysis requires the Root cause and at least one line with the three scores (RPN above zero); otherwise the system warns Fill in the root cause before concluding. or Register at least one failure mode before concluding. The threshold (default 100) is a company setting with no screen. In the project Pareto › By RPN (FMEA), a line already re-evaluated counts with its RPN′.

See also: FMEA in practice in the manual — the three scales criterion by criterion, a scored example, the threshold, the re-evaluation and the meeting script.