The Purpose of an FMEA

FMEAs help us focus on and understand the impact of potential process or product risks.

A systematic methodology is used to rate the risks relative to each other.

• An RPN, or Risk Priority Number, is calculated for each failure mode and its resulting effect(s).

The RPN is a function of three factors: The Severity of the effect, the frequency of Occurrence of the cause of the failure, and the ability to Detect the failure or effect.

• The RPN = The Severity ranking X the Occurrence ranking X the Detection ranking.
• The RPN can range from a low of 1 to a high of 1,000.

Develop an Action Plan to reduce risks with unacceptably high RPNs.

Use FMEAs as the basis for Control Plans. Control Plans are a summary of proactive defect prevention and reactive detection techniques.