PFMEA
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Process Failure Mode Effects Analysis (PFMEA) recognizes and evaluates the potential failure of a process and its effects. It also identifies actions that will eliminate or reduce the probability of that failure occurring. It is a living document, and should be initiated before or at the feasibility phase, prior to tooling for production; it should also take into account all manufacturing operations from individual components to assemblies.
The PFMEA identifies and ranks each potential risk of failure for each process step. Those potential failures that hold the highest Risk Priority Number (RPN) help engineering and management to determine how to expend time and financial budgets, as avoiding these potential failures can save a business time and money. The PFMEA can also be used to document the results of the manufacturing or engineering process.
[edit] Common Mistakes
- Applying Thresholds
- Not recognizing ALL potential failures.
- Failure to properly identify customers.
- Confusing Failure Modes with Failure Mode Causes.
- Applying Occurrence and Detection too Optimistically
- Allowing the PFMEA to turn into a full design review.
