FMEA and FMECA Software: Failure Mode and Effects Analysis Software

Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) are methodologies designed to identify potential failure modes for a product or process before they occur, to assess the risk associated with each failure mode, to rank the issues in terms of importance and to identify and carry out corrective actions to address the most serious concerns.

FMEA analyses are often referred to by type, such as:

System FMEA
Design FMEA
Process FMEA
Machinery FMEA
Hardware FMEA
Service FMEA
Product Function FMEA
Product Interface FMEA
etc.

Depending on the analysis, the purpose, terminology and other details can vary according to type of FMEA. Additionally, different organizations and industries have established guidelines for performing such analyses. Some of these published guidelines are:

J1739 from the SAE for the automotive industry
AIAG FMEA-3 from the Automotive Industry Action Group for the automotive industry
ARP5580 from the SAE for non-automotive applications
MIL-STD-1629A for FMECA (cancelled in November, 1984)
IEC 812 from the International Electrotechnical Commission
BS 5760 from the BSI (British standard)

The basic analysis steps in performing an FMEA include:

Assemble the team.
Establish the ground rules.
Gather and review relevant information.
Identify the item(s) or process(es) to be analyzed.
Identify the function(s), failure(s), effect(s), cause(s) and control(s) for each item or process to be analyzed.
Evaluate the risk associated with the issues identified by the analysis.
Prioritize and assign corrective actions.
Perform corrective actions, re-evaluate risk.
Distribute, review and update the analysis, as appropriate.

Software for FMEA & FMECA

Good software should facilitate all types of analyses and provide robust yet flexible data management and reporting methods for all types of FMEA and FMECA.

ReliaSoft's Xfmea supports the major industry standards for all types of FMEA/FMECA analysis, including Design FMEA, Process FMEA, FMECA, and more. The software also provides extensive customization options along with numerous features to facilitate data entry/management and help you leverage relevant information from existing analyses.

Extensive Customization Options
In addition to providing pre-defined profiles for all major industry standard reporting formats (such as SAE J1739, AIAG FMEA-3, and MIL-STD-1629A), Xfmea includes extensive capabilities to customize the interface and the reports.

Select and name the data fields you want to capture and display.
Set the classifications, categories, priorities and other menu options throughout the software.
Determine the RPN rating scales and criteria.
Add your company logo to report output, create your own re-usable profiles and more...

Three Complementary Views of the Analysis
Xfmea makes it easy to define, view and manage the functions, failures, effects, causes, controls and actions identified during your analysis. You can enter and view this information in the software’s flexible hierarchical structure, the tabular worksheet view and/or sortable lists filtered by record type. You can edit the analysis in any view and easily switch back and forth depending on your needs.

Hierarchical View

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Worksheet View

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Filtered View

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Re-Use Data from Existing Analyses: Phrase Libraries, Copy/Paste, Import/Export and More...
For consistency and to save effort, Xfmea allows you to re-use descriptions from any existing analysis and to select phrases from pre-defined phrase libraries that are shipped with the software or that you have created. These lists can be sorted and filtered to help you find relevant descriptions. The software also makes it easy to re-use entire sections from existing analyses. Options include:

Copy/paste sections among projects in the same database or import/export sections among different Xfmea databases.
Import system configuration (Bill of Materials) and/or FMEA data from an outside data source using pre-defined Excel templates.
Import FMEA data from the *.F2F files generated by Ford’s FMEAplus software.
Use the Import Wizard to search for and import existing analyses based on relevant item properties (such as part number, design engineer, etc.)

Risk Analysis: RPNs and Criticality Analysis

ReliaSoft's Xfmea software supports the Risk Priority Number (RPN), Quantitative Criticality Analysis and Qualitative Criticality Analysis methods for risk assessment, with a host of features designed to facilitate decision-making based on analysis results.

Risk Priority Numbers (RPNs)
The software provides automatic RPN calculation for both initial and revised RPNs as well as optional automatic "roll-up" capability to calculate RPNs for other analysis levels (such as Item or Failure) based on the RPNs for the potential causes of failure. The software also calculates the percent reduction in RPN from initial to revised ratings, provides reports of issues ranked by RPN and generates a variety of charts and graphs based on ratings and calculated RPNs. The Severity x Occurrence (SxO) metric is also supported.

Xfmea is shipped with an extensive array of pre-defined rating scales for Severity, Occurrence and Detection and also allows you to create and manage your own rating scales.

The Priority Highlights feature allows you to highlight portions of the analysis with colors that represent High, Medium and Low priority issues based on RPN, SxO or individual Severity, Occurrence or Detection ratings.

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Criticality Analysis Based on MIL-STD-1629A
The software’s Criticality Analysis utility supports both the Quantitative and Qualitative Criticality Analysis methods described in MIL-STD-1629A and generates a complete set of charts and reports, including Criticality Matrix charts.

For quantitative analyses, the utility automatically calculates Mode Criticalities and Item Criticalities based on your inputs. For items that have been defined with a time-dependent failure distribution, the software also automatically calculates Item Unreliability for the specified operating time.

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Actions Management and Support for Team Effort

Close the Loop on Recommended Actions
ReliaSoft's Xfmea software allows you to fully define and manage the recommended actions identified during the analysis.

Fully define the recommended action including Action Description, Person Responsible, Due Date and Completion Date, Actions Taken, Estimated and Actual Costs, etc.
Organize actions by category and/or priority.
Update the analysis with periodic status reports on actions that are not yet complete.
Send automated notification e-mails with the details of assigned actions.
Record review and approval details for completed actions.
Track task completion through detailed reports and graphical charts for assigned tasks, sorted by Due Date, Responsibility, Completion Status, etc.

Linked Actions allow you to assign the same action in multiple places within the analysis. Action tracking reports and charts treat all instances as a single action and when you update the original (source) action, its linked records are updated automatically.

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Support for Team Effort
Xfmea has been designed to allow multiple users to work cooperatively on the analysis and provides simple techniques to share portions of an analysis with other users, including:

In a networked environment, assign permissions to allow more than one authorized user to access the same database.
Seamlessly share portions of an analysis with another user via the software’s import/export functionality.
Easily distribute analysis reports, generated in Microsoft Word and/or Microsoft Excel, with the ability to convert to PDF and/or HTML formats.
Revision tracking features include last update user and date/time stamp; database login history and baselines to "roll back" to previous versions.

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Integrated APQP and Relationship Diagrams

ReliaSoft's Xfmea software facilitates integration between your FMEAs and related Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) activities, such as Control Plans and DVP&Rs. The software also provides an integrated diagramming utility that supports Process Flow Diagrams, Functional Block Diagrams and Relationship Diagrams.

Transfer Design FMEA (DFMEA) to Process FMEA (PFMEA)
You can leverage existing knowledge by automatically transferring relevant data from the Design FMEA (DFMEA) to provide the starting point for a new Process FMEA (PFMEA). For example, the causes of failure that have been identified for your design can be transferred as failure modes to consider when analyzing the manufacturing process.

To provide maximum flexibility, the software allows you to specify what information will be transferred and how it will be “mapped” to the new analysis.

Control Plan and DVP&R Utilities
Xfmea's integrated Control Plan and Design Verification Plan and Report (DVP&R) utilities allow you to transfer relevant data from the FMEA to provide a starting point for related APQP analyses, which are then stored together with the FMEA for easy access. You can customize the data fields that are captured and generate reports in Word or Excel.

Control Plan Utility
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Process Flow Diagrams
You can generate a Process Flow Diagram for any item in your analysis, edit and annotate the diagram as necessary then print the diagram or copy/paste the metafile graphic into other documents.

Process Flow Diagram Utility
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Functional Block Diagrams
Xfmea now provides a utility to build Functional Block Diagrams and store them together with the FMEA. You can build the diagram "from scratch" or based on the system configuration that you've defined in the software. These diagrams are metafile graphics that can be pasted into reports and other documents.

Functional Block Diagram
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Relationship Diagrams
Xfmea provides automatically generated Cause and Effect Diagrams (also called “Fishbone” or “Ishikawa” diagrams) and Failure Relationship Diagrams to help you visualize the relationships among issues in your analyses.

Cause and Effect Diagram
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Reports, Charts and Queries

Automatic FMEA and FMECA Report Generation in Microsoft Word or Excel
ReliaSoft's Xfmea software provides a complete set of reports for your Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) or Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA). Reports can be generated in Microsoft Word and/or Excel, which provides maximum flexibility for customization and the ability to create HTML and PDF versions of the reports, as desired.

The available report forms go far beyond the standard FMEA spreadsheet to provide a complete range of options to view and present your data.

Rating Criteria and Classifications: Presents RPN rating criteria and classification categories.
Project and Analysis: Properties summary for the given project and analysis.
Item Properties: Full properties details for the items included in the analysis.
FMEA Spreadsheet: Choose an industry-standard format (such as SAE J1739, AIAG FMEA-3, MIL-STD-1629A) or use ReliaSoft’s flexible standard template.
Failures: Sort failures by description, RPN, etc.
Effects: Sort effects by description, RPN, severity, etc.
Causes: Sort causes by description, RPN, occurrence, detection, classification, etc.
Controls: Sort controls by description, type, etc.
Recommended Actions: Sort actions by description, due date, completion date, person responsible, etc.

Automated reports for Quantitative and/or Qualitative Criticality Analyses include the Criticality Spreadsheet (FMECA in MIL-STD-1629A or standard format), the Criticality Matrix and Failure Modes Ranked by Criticality.

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Report Samples: The following sample reports were generated by Xfmea in Microsoft Word and converted to PDF format for distribution via the Web.

Automotive Design FMEA (DFMEA) in SAE J1739 Format- 136 KB
Automotive Process FMEA (PFMEA) in AIAG FMEA-3 Format - 112 KB
Automotive Machinery FMEA (MFMEA) in SAE J1739 Format - 103 KB
FMEA in MIL-STD-1629A Format - 70 KB
Quantitative Criticality Analyses based on MIL-STD-1629A - 184 KB
Qualitative Criticality Analyses based on MIL-STD-1629A - 172 KB
Control Plan - 92 KB
DVP&R - 98 KB

Plots and Charts for Graphical Presentation
ReliaSoft's Xfmea software also provides a complete array of plots and charts for graphical presentation of your analysis. Available charts include pareto (bar) charts, pie charts and the Occurrence/Severity Matrix. You can view issues by RPN, % reduction in RPN, S x O, severity, occurrence and/or detection rating. You can also display Actions by completion status, category, priority or cost and present Controls by type. The software’s Plot Viewer provides flexible options for you to view and manage charts for your analyses, including the ability to:

Select the data range and other user settings to determine the exact chart configuration to meet your specific needs.
Use the Chart Designer to fully customize the appearance of the plot, including colors, fonts, titles and other chart properties.
Copy chart graphics as metafile graphics (*.wmf) that can be pasted into other document files, such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, etc.

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More Tools and Special Features

Support for Large Multi-Level System Configurations
The software’s flexible System Hierarchy panel allows you to manage large multi-level system configurations with an unlimited number of levels and an unlimited number of items within each level. You can fully define the equipment properties (such as supplier, part number, expected operating environment, etc.) for each item and perform the analysis at any level within the system configuration.

To facilitate data entry, you can copy/paste sections of the configuration, import sections from another analysis, promote/demote branches of the hierarchy with the click of a button and much more. The software also provides a simple Excel template for importing configuration data from an outside data source, such as a Bill of Materials (BOM) system.

Import Wizard
The Import Wizard combines query and import capabilities to make it easier to build new system configurations based on existing analyses. For example, if you have a new design that includes components that have already been analyzed for other systems, you can use the Import Wizard to find the existing analyses and import them automatically into your new system configuration.

Import Wizard
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Analysis Planning Utility
The Analysis Planning utility allows you to keep track of team members, ground rules and assumptions, estimated completion dates, scheduled work sessions and other details to help you plan and manage your analysis projects. The utility also includes a Quality Survey form, which allows you to evaluate the quality of the FMEA document and the analysis process to identify areas for future improvement.

The ability to work with each analysis plan individually or view a summary of all pending analysis projects makes this a valuable planning and management tool for your organization's FMEA/FMECA analysis efforts.

Analysis Plan Utility
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Flexible Capability for Links and Attachments
You can link or attach independent files to any record in your analysis. This makes it easy for you to keep related information (such as flowcharts, design drawings, reliability analysis files, procedure instructions, etc.) together with the full analysis.

In addition, the new Integrated Document feature allows you to attach a Word document to an item and include the entire document within the print-ready reports generated by the software.

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Find and Replace
To help with consistency and data management, Xfmea provides a utility to quickly find and replace text in any record within the database.

Weibull++, ALTA, BlockSim and RCM++ Integration
Xfmea is integrated with ReliaSoft's Weibull++ and ALTA software packages to allow you to obtain reliability distribution and parameter information from an existing data file. You can also export system configuration, reliability and failure mode data to and reliability properties to ReliaSoft's BlockSim for more detailed system analysis. Weibull++, ALTA and/or BlockSim must be installed on your computer to use this functionality.

In addition, Xfmea is fully integrated with RCM++, ReliaSoft's Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) analysis software. Databases that you create with Xfmea can be opened by users with the RCM++ package (and vice versa) and you can easily upgrade to RCM++ if your needs expand to include maintenance planning.

Links/Attachments for Every Record Type
You can now link (store the location) or attach (store a copy) documents to any record in the analysis. For example, you can attach a Root Cause Analysis report to provide more information about a specific failure cause in your analysis, link a findings report to a recommended action, etc.

Integrate Word Documents into Generated Reports
The Integrated Document feature allows you to incorporate a Word document (for example, an item's Description & Operation or Functional Specs) into the print-ready reports generated by the software.

Worksheet View Enhancements
Xfmea's Worksheet View is now more flexible and user-friendly than ever. Enhancements include...

The Split feature allows you to split the worksheet into two panels with independent scroll bars. This allows you to, for example, keep the function and failure records displayed while you scroll through the rest of the worksheet columns on the right.
The options for adding records are now more flexible, including the ability to type directly into the worksheet to add a new record (instead of opening the Properties window) and the ability to, for example, add a new failure when any worksheet column is selected.
Increased flexibility to navigate through the worksheet with Tab, Enter and Arrow Keys and new keyboard shortcuts for inserting records and other features.

Failure Cause Probability
You can now define the probability of each individual failure cause with a time-dependent distribution and parameters (e.g. Weibull, exponential, etc.). This allows you to incorporate failure modes with the data that you export to BlockSim for more extensive system reliability/maintainability analysis.

Set the Description Source from Select Existing Window
To save time, Xfmea allows you to select the data source for Select Existing windows on-the-fly while you are editing a record. This works together with the ability to filter descriptions based on specified keywords to make it easier for you to find and select applicable descriptions from phrase libraries and existing analyses.

Select Existing - Choose Data Source

Import Data from ReliaSoft's MPC 3
The Open Database feature now includes the ability to convert an *.RSM database that was created with ReliaSoft's MPC 3 software. This allows you to import the system configuration, functions, failures, effects and causes from an existing MPC 3 analysis into Xfmea.

Ability to Integrate with Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) Analysis
Xfmea is fully integrated with RCM++, ReliaSoft's Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) analysis software. Databases that you create with Xfmea can be opened by users with the RCM++ package (and vice versa) and you can easily upgrade to RCM++ if your needs expand to include maintenance planning.

RCM++ for Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM++) Analysis with Integrated FMEA/FMECA
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Xfmea Supports: Failure Mode and Effects Analysis * FMEA * Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis * FMECA * AIAG FMEA Third Edition * SAE J1739 * SAE ARP5580 * MIL-STD-1629A * Design FMEA * DFMEA * Process FMEA * PFMEA * Machinery FMEA * MFMEA * Criticality Analysis


FMEA and FMECA Software from ReliaSoft Corporation The most comprehensive software for facilitating FMEA and FMECA