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Costa Concordia: Failure Mode and effects analysis (FMEA)

Let’s consider a problem: You are designing a system and have to do a failure mode analysis, how do you do that?  Why do you do that?

How? We will discuss it later in this blog.  Why?  If you are design things like Cruise Ships, you could be called into court to explain why a bridge member could make modifications to the programmed course without the head office from knowing that it happened.  (Likely it is a short presentation to the court about how it would be possible for the CAPTAIN of the ship could make stand alone decisions, so don’t worry, but there are other cases where this could be a longer and harder court case.)

As an engineering student you may have heard of FMEA, a computer science student might now have heard of it.  It is likely that the CS student may be the first one to encounter the court room scenario.

Now the how and what on the FMEA:

Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA), see also reference:

Software Quality Engineer Certification - Body of Knowledge

Also called: potential failure modes and effects analysis; failure modes, effects and criticality analysis (FMECA).

Description

  • Failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) is a step-by-step approach for identifying all possible failures in a design, a manufacturing or assembly process, or a product or service.
  • “Failure modes” means the ways, or modes, in which something might fail. Failures are any errors or defects, especially ones that affect the customer, and can be potential or actual.
  • “Effects analysis” refers to studying the consequences of those failures.
  • Failures are prioritized according to how serious their consequences are, how frequently they occur and how easily they can be detected. The purpose of the FMEA is to take actions to eliminate or reduce failures, starting with the highest-priority ones.
  • Failure modes and effects analysis also documents current knowledge and actions about the risks of failures, for use in continuous improvement. FMEA is used during design to prevent failures. Later it’s used for control, before and during ongoing operation of the process. Ideally, FMEA begins during the earliest conceptual stages of design and continues throughout the life of the product or service.

Begun in the 1940s by the U.S. military, FMEA was further developed by the aerospace and automotive industries. Several industries maintain formal FMEA standards.

When to Use FMEA

  • When a process, product or service is being designed or redesigned, after quality function deployment.
  • When an existing process, product or service is being applied in a new way.
  • Before developing control plans for a new or modified process.
  • When improvement goals are planned for an existing process, product or service.
  • When analyzing failures of an existing process, product or service.
  • Periodically throughout the life of the process, product or service

Who should do the FMEA work?

  • What if I am not a detailed oriented person?
    • Hire, if you are in a position to hire a detail oriented person who is annoying about successfully digging out details.  Avoid the person is only annoying.
    • If assigned and not good at this kind of detail, be honest with your manager and get someone who loves detail to do the FMEA.   Seriously, if you don’t be honest with your manager about this, then it could have a big impact in many ways.
    • Wrong for the job: If you just LOVE to code, code, code and not document sometimes, then you aren’t the right person for the job.
    • Right for the job: If you wish people would do more documentation then you are likely the right one for the job

Where do I get more knowledge about FMEA:

There is also a certification for Software Quality more in a later blog.