Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA)

Taught by James McLinn – ASQ Fellow

Days :Wednesday, July 29, 2015, 8:00am – 5:00 pm

Outline - The FMEA training class would include coverage of Design and Process FMEAs, how to initiate, define and complete each to industry standards such as BS5760 and SAE J1739. The students will be given overview material in a note book and led through the FMEA training process. A detailed walk-through of an actual Design and Process FMEA using manageable examples will be conducted. The audience level is assumed to be basic to intermediate. The class will be based upon common materials and examples.

Topics to be Presented

1. Introduction

• What Design and Process FMEAs are and are not
• Understanding the project scope with a start and end of FMEA and assumptions
• Understanding the customer environments and use
• Defining customer “failure”, “faults” and “expectations”
• Collecting background information of system functions
• Deciding on an FMEA level
• How to form a team to be successful in this complex process
• Important Prep for the first FMEA team meeting – Be Prepared !

2. Details for performing DFMEA at different levels

• The possible different levels that FMEA can be done
• The problem with the scales of Severity, Occurrence and Verification
• Dealing with inadequate and possibly unreliable information
• What and what not to say in the FMEA document
• Avoiding certain words and phrases that cause problems; be consistent in terms
• Impact of smart software controlled systems on FMEAs. What to do with indicators and warnings
• Completing the FMEA; “downward across” versus “across and down” approaches
• How to determine remaining actions and address Residual Risk
• Handling safety issues with tact
• Incorporate maintenance and service issues into the FMEA
• Including Lessons Learned in your FMEA process
• Perform a simple Design example as a team (Will use forms, form teams and take 45 minutes)

3. Guidelines for planning and organizing a Process FMEA

• Why Processes are different from Designs
• Determining what source material is appropriate for the PFMEA
• Developing, establishing, and maintaining key ground rules
• The problem with scales Severity, Occurrence and Detection in Process FMEAs
• Dealing with inadequate and unreliable process information
• Consequences of incomplete test and potential defects or “escapes” or Residual Risk
• Incorporate later feedback into PFMEA, maintenance and service issues
• Perform a simple Process example as a team (Will use forms, form teams and take 45 minutes)

4. Summary

Students will receive: Notebook of all material and a certificate for 0.8 RU’s after successful completion.

Student must bring: Attendees are expected to bring pen or pencil. The course will concentrate on the content-not any particular software.

Biography of Speaker

James McLinn Obtained a MS in Solid State Physics before working with the semiconductor industry. He has worked in biomedical companies as well as appliance. Here he gained broad experience in ways to help companies become more competitive. During his career his responsibilities included reliability predictions, leading FMEA teams, running HALT tests and working with international subsidiaries. He has served on the ASQ Reliability Division board and the IEEE Reliability Society ADCOM. He published three monographs with ASQ; Weibull Analysis, Mechanical Reliability and Accelerated Life Test. Jim has taught a variety of classes and spoken at many reliability conferences around the world.