The Six Sigma Handbook, Revised and Expanded, 2nd Edition

16.2. FAILURE MODE AND EFFECT ANALYSIS (FMEA)

Failure mode and effect analysis, or FMEA, is an attempt to delineate all possible failures, their effect on the system, the likelihood of occurrence, and the probability that the failure will go undetected. FMEA provides an excellent basis for classification of characteristics, i.e., for identifying CTQs and other critical variables. As with Pareto analysis, one objective of FMEA is to direct the available resources toward the most promising opportunities. An extremely unlikely failure, even a failure with serious consequences, may not be the best place to concentrate preventative efforts. FMEA can be combined with decision analysis methods such as AHP and QFD to help guide preventive action planning. ...