The FMEA Process
The extent of effort and the approach used in a FMEA depend upon the nature and requirements of the individual programme. To contribute meaningfully to a programme, a FMEA must be initiated as early as possible during the design process and be tailored to the programme requirements as it progresses through three distinct stages:
• FMEA Planning–Construct a FMEA plan from experience and source requirements during the conceptual design phase.
• FMEA Construction–Identify and analyse system failure modes in worksheets that become, along with an introduction and summary analysis, a stand-alone FMEA report. (If analysis is extended to include criticality, maintainability and vulnerability assessments, these worksheets are also included in the FMEA.)
• FMEA Post-Analysis–Use test results and field data collected during the design verification and validation stage and even after the product is in use to maintain the accuracy of the FMEA.