Risk assessment seems increasingly essential, as companies want to avoid investing in something that may not bring them profit. Thus, they created various tools to minimize the possible risks and present how the whole investment may play out.

One of the more popular tools for this is FMEA - failure mode and effects analysis that presents all the possible outcomes of each investment on the market. FMEA is also one of the more interesting solutions for risk assessment in general, as it can be used successfully in almost any circumstance.

In this article, we will review some of the essential ideas surrounding FMEA and show you some ways to incorporate this tool into your company. We have also prepared some free templates for you to use. Let’s get into it, then.

But first, let’s talk briefly about the kind of software we will use in this case. FMEA is not the most complex analysis you will find, but it is of utmost importance to make it interactive. If you change something in one place, it should affect everything else without any issues whatsoever. In that case, we can surely recommend Microsoft Office.

It is the best software for identifying potential problems and implementing corrective action in your FMEA template. With a Microsoft Office package, especially Microsoft Excel, you can get your FMEA up and running quickly. Additionally, it’s one of the best-known software on the planet, so there will be no issues with opening the FMEA files.

And it is not expensive! You can find Microsoft Office for an affordable price with ease these days. With that in mind, let’s review some templates for approaching this issue.

FMEA Template #1

The first one on our list is a pretty standard worksheet for any issue you may have. Everything is laid out perfectly, and you will have no trouble seeing all the essential information in this template.

If you are strictly data-oriented, you will find it one of the best ways to get around; everything can be as detailed as you need it to be. You can download this template for free at TemplateArchive.com.

FMEA Template #2

The second template on your list is something more information-oriented. As you can see, the presentation is everything with this template. Every little detail is highlighted, you can see different steps of the process and some effects of failure. Moreover, you can color-code all the essential information as you see fit.

If you need just to understand the bigger picture rather than getting overwhelmed with the amount of raw data, this template is the intelligent choice. You can download it for free at SmartSheet.com.

FMEA Template #3

And here, we have a variation on the first one. This is best suited for the office environment, as you can modify it quickly and put all the necessary information, which is interconnected. If the first one is too overwhelming, but you still need some rigorous course of action, this one should take the cake. You can download this template for free at ASQ.org.

Now that we know what kind of software we should use and where to download some templates, let’s review some FMEA details. First of all – FMEA is a tool used to assess the risks and opportunities of a project. Essentially, it’s a – what can go wrong kind of situation.

It’s used in designing the development process and considering all possible outcomes at each production stage. Using FMEA will help you assess if the project will be successful and what issues you may encounter during the development cycle.

The first thing you need to do is to get the most qualified people involved in the project. So, you need to find good analysts who can then contact suppliers, talk to potential customers, research what you are trying to accomplish, and be helpful. All of that is called identifying possible failure modes.

While doing so, be sure to include the good possible outcomes and the bad ones. Even more – especially the bad ones that could break the possibility of success. To make your project successful, include as much detail as possible. Too much data never hurt anybody, and it can significantly impact your potential business.

In every FMEA, you will find three criteria to create a successful analysis. Those are:

• How severely the issue affects the customer?

• How often will the problem occur?

• How easily can you detect the problem?

To combat each of those, you need to create an analysis for every issue you may find. Most FMEAs create a ranking from 1-10 when it comes to the occurrence of such an issue, how it will impact the project, how easily you will be able to notice it happening, and how severe it will be. It’s the essence of a qualitative process.

Prioritize

The next step is to prioritize the failure modes in descending order. You will then need to create adjustments to focus on what is the most crucial element to correct. The most significant issues should hold a special place in your analysis as they will probably reoccur in many other places in the analysis.

There are some “usual suspects” when it comes to analysis. You should be aware of some safety/legal issues, quality control in the industry, and overall problems in similar projects.

After prioritizing the essential elements, be sure to create a comprehensive list of the possible solutions to all the potential problems. That way, your failure mode will be complete, and you will be able to ensure that if something comes up, you can fight it off.

Top failure modes created by an FMEA leader with some experience will present all the information understandably and interestingly. The best thing about this analysis is that it can be used for multiple issues.

There is plenty of different FMEA types, as you will quickly notice, but going into all of them is not the main focus of this article. We would like to create process steps for a risk management tool that can immediately help you in your assessment process. That is why we have outlined two of, in our experience, the most common FMEA types that can benefit your project straight away.

Design FMEA

The first one is DFMEA. It’s usually created at the earliest stages of product development. It needs to create a list of potential product design flaws and failures that may happen so that it can be implemented in the best way possible.

These days, this kind of analysis does not focus solely on the creation aspect and financial opportunities but also the potential health risks, how it will affect society as a whole, and the environmental impact.

Process FMEA

The second one on our list is PFMEA, AKA Process FMEA. It’s one of the essential elements of creating a new process in a start-up or a company. If the team decides to use this analysis in their work, the above pluses all the potential issues that can change the work environment.

The main difference between those two is that the risk priority number 1 in the design FMEA template is the fact that it may just not work out, and that is it. You will lose money as a company, or the industry can laugh at it.

In the case of process FMEA, you can sometimes create some hard-hitting problems for your office environment and implement solutions that can break the whole company. So, proceed with caution and create the best FMEA template there is!

If you want your analysis to be functional, you must do it correctly. To accomplish that, you must do it correctly with all the right people doing all the right things. Here are some indicators to make your FMEA work according to industry standards.

Failure Mechanism Identification

The essential element to remember while creating an FMEA is to create a well-structured failure mechanism. If you want to keep the critical information on all the process functions, you will have to find out the real potential problems that can come up.

If you can identify all the failure mechanisms correctly, you can immediately put aside all the potential issues and avoid them in the future. Be sure to gather alternative viewpoints, as the possible failure modes can’t be presented from only one perspective.

Risk Priority Number

The next thing you need to do is to set the correct risk priority number for all your potential problems. That way, you can see if something is coming up during the design/process implementation phase immediately.

It will help you prioritize the most critical issues and focus on the real problems instead of the less significant ones. In most cases, 20% of the highest RPNs are the sole focus of the FMEA teams.

Corrective Actions Monitoring

You also need to check the quality of the corrective actions constantly. There are plenty of ways that you can combat issues with corrective actions. Just be sure that all the models are up to date, the tools are not rusty, and the people responsible are available if something happens.

And here we are, at the end of our story. Thank you so much for checking out our FMEA templates article. We hope that it will help you out with all your FMEA needs. It is of utmost importance to create such a model before creating any product/design, as potential failure modes can make or break so many projects! And sometimes, the solution is right around the corner!

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