Getting to Root Cause with “Five Whys”

There is no more important task in an FMEA than correctly identifying the “Cause.” Finding the root cause is the heart and soul of FMEA procedure. When you have the right cause, it opens the door to solutions. When you have the wrong cause, nothing gets accomplished.

By continuing to ask “why,” the team will be able to discover the progression of cause-and-effect relationships behind a problem and the root cause that is below the surface.

Wisdom begins in wonder – Socrates

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The Proper Application of Failure Mechanisms in FMEA

The rule is simple. For high-risk issues, the FMEA team needs to properly identify the cause(s) and associated failure mechanism(s). So, what exactly is a failure mechanism?

“Nature never breaks her own laws.” Leonardo da Vinci

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To Prepopulate or not to prepopulate, that is the question

By prepopulating the highest priority functions, along with other selected information, the FMEA team can focus their efforts on the most important functions, and minimize in-meeting time. This is the last step in FMEA preparation. However, there are specific limitations to FMEA prepopulation that must be understood and adhered to.

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”
Abraham Lincoln

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– a Key Step in FMEA Preparation

“. . . not everything that can be counted counts” Albert Einstein

A key, but often missed, step in FMEA preparation is to identify and prioritize the functions that relate to the item being analyzed. These become candidate functions to be brought into the FMEA.

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When creating a robust design, there is probably no more important consideration than identifying the correct parameters and associated values. A robust design is insensitive to anticipated variation and P-Diagram visually shows the relationship between what the system is designed to do, the anticipated noises the system will encounter and the correct parameters to achieve the desired outcome. P-Diagram  can be an essential input to FMEA.

“Concern for man and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavors. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations.” Albert Einstein

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