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Overview
of FMEA & FMECA
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.
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Select and name
the data fields you want to capture and display.
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Set the
classifications, categories, priorities and other menu options
throughout the software.
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Determine the RPN
rating scales and criteria.
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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
![Xfmea Software System and FMEA Hierarchies [Click to Enlarge]](http://www.reliasoft.com/xfmea/images/hierarchy_sm.gif)
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Worksheet View
![Xfmea Software Worksheet View [Click to Enlarge]](http://www.reliasoft.com/xfmea/images/worksheet_sm.gif)
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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.
![Edit Severity Scale Window [Click to Enlarge]](http://www.reliasoft.com/xfmea/images/occurrence_sm.gif)
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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.
![Criticality Analysis Window [Click to Enlarge]](http://www.reliasoft.com/xfmea/images/criticality_sm.gif)
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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.
![Actions Manager [Click to Enlarge]](http://www.reliasoft.com/xfmea/images/actions_sm.gif)
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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:
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In a networked environment, assign
permissions to allow more than one authorized user to access
the same database.
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Seamlessly share portions of an analysis with
another user via the software’s import/export
functionality.
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Easily distribute analysis reports,
generated in Microsoft Word and/or Microsoft Excel, with the
ability to convert to PDF and/or HTML formats.
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Revision tracking features include last
update user and date/time stamp; database login history and
baselines to "roll back" to previous versions.
![Revision Tracking and Management [Click to Enlarge]](http://www.reliasoft.com/xfmea/images/rev_tracking_sm.gif)
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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 [Click to Enlarge]](http://www.reliasoft.com/xfmea/images/control_plan_sm.gif)
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 [Click to Enlarge]](http://www.reliasoft.com/xfmea/images/pfd_sm.gif)
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 for a System [Click to Enlarge]](http://www.reliasoft.com/xfmea/images/fishbone_sm.gif)
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.
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Rating Criteria and Classifications:
Presents RPN rating criteria and classification categories.
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Project and Analysis: Properties summary
for the given project and analysis.
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Item Properties: Full properties details
for the items included in the analysis.
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FMEA Spreadsheet: Choose an
industry-standard format (such as SAE J1739, AIAG FMEA-3,
MIL-STD-1629A) or use ReliaSoft’s flexible standard template.
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Failures: Sort failures by description,
RPN, etc.
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Effects: Sort effects by description, RPN,
severity, etc.
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Causes: Sort causes by description, RPN,
occurrence, detection, classification, etc.
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Controls: Sort controls by description,
type, etc.
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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.
![Report Generation Window [Click to Enlarge]](http://www.reliasoft.com/xfmea/images/reports_sm.gif)
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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.
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:
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Select the data range and other user settings to
determine the exact chart configuration to meet your specific
needs.
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Use the Chart Designer to fully customize the
appearance of the plot, including colors, fonts, titles and
other chart properties.
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Copy chart graphics as metafile graphics (*.wmf)
that can be pasted into other document files, such as Microsoft
Word, PowerPoint, etc.
![Graphical Plots and Charts [Click to Enlarge]](http://www.reliasoft.com/xfmea/images/plots_sm.gif)
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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 [Click to Enlarge]](http://www.reliasoft.com/xfmea/images/wizard_sm.gif)
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.
[Click
to Enlarge]
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
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