FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis)
FMEA is a structured method for identifying how a component or process can fail, the effects of each failure, and how serious and likely it is. It prioritises risks so maintenance and design effort targets the most critical failure modes first.
An FMEA team works through each potential failure mode of a design or process, asking what could go wrong, what the consequence would be, how likely it is, and how readily it would be detected. Multiplying severity, occurrence and detection ratings gives a risk priority number that focuses effort on the highest risks. It underpins reliability-centred maintenance and design reviews, turning scattered concerns into a prioritised, documented action list.
Related reading
- Predictive maintenance: a practical guide
- IBM Maximo Application Suite
- Asset Criticality
- MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures)
- Predictive Maintenance (PdM)
Related terms
Asset Criticality · MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) · Predictive Maintenance (PdM) · RCM (Reliability-Centred Maintenance) · Root Cause Analysis (RCA) · Energy Audit · Prescriptive Maintenance (RxM)
Related guides
Software
Where this applies
Rolling out structured root-cause analysis · Rolling out a failure mode and effects analysis programme