Failure modes and effect analysis (FMEA) is a tool that works to prevent process and product problems before they occur.

I like to define FMEA’s as an organized brainstorm. The process examines a product or process and asks what could go wrong. Then the team systematically determines and rank orders for each failure mode:
– the severity of the problem when it occurs
– the probability of the problem occurring
– the ability to detect the problem before it occurs. Continue reading →