🧯 FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis)

Category: Decision Making & Prioritization
Primary Creator or Origin: U.S. Military (1949), automotive industry
Typical Users: Engineers, Six Sigma belts, product developers
Skill Level Required: Advanced
Time to Use or Create: Long
Best Used When: Anticipating and preventing possible failures
Primary Purpose: Evaluate risk and prioritize mitigation actions
Key Outcomes: Improved reliability and safety
Common Formats or Variations: RPN scoring, AIAG/DFMEA/PFMEA formats
Software or Templates Required: Excel, FMEA software, AIAG templates

Overview / Description:
FMEA is a structured approach for analyzing how a process or product might fail, why it would fail, and what the consequences would be. Each failure mode is scored for severity, occurrence, and detection, and these scores are multiplied to calculate the Risk Priority Number (RPN). High RPNs drive preventive action.