Comparison of Failure Mode Inference Methods for Effective Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) Implementation

Abstract

Purpose: Omitting potential failure modes or inferencing inappropriate failure modes during failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) implementation can lead to a lack of understanding of the causes of failures incurred or might lead to introducing inappropriate improvements. Therefore, it is critical to accurately infer the failure modes, which, in turn, requires selecting a suitable failure mode inference method because the results of such methods generally vary depending on the purpose and context of FMEA implementation.<BR>Methods: In this study, the advantages and disadvantages of functional and hardware approaches were compared and analyzed by applying them in mechanical and circuit components with respect to the implementation of component FMEA.<BR>Results: It was observed that the hardware approach can be more desirable for identifying the causes and mechanism of failures to prevent omissions and address the failure modes. However, when it becomes difficult to represent failure modes based solely on physical aspects, the functional approach can be used simultaneously with the hardware approach.<BR>Conclusion: Based on the aforementioned comparison and analysis, guidelines for selecting an effective FMEA method for implementing FMEA in organizations have been presented. However, this study focused only on component FMEA and did not consider system FMEA. Thus, the procedure for system FMEA, in terms of FMEA objectives and implementation, should also be examined.