Failure mode and effects analysis by data envelopment analysis

a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: Failure mode and effects analysis Data envelopment analysis Overall risks Risk priority ranking Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is a method that examines potential failures in products or processes and has been used in many quality management systems. One important issue of FMEA is the determination of the risk priorities of failure modes. In this paper we propose an FMEA which uses data envelopment analysis (DEA), a well-known performance measurement tool, to determine the risk priorities of failure modes. The proposed FMEA measures the maximum and minimum risks of each failure mode. The two risks are then geometrically averaged to measure the overall risks of failure modes. The risk priorities are determined in terms of overall risks rather than maximum or minimum risks only. Two numerical examples are provided and examined using the proposed FMEA to show its potential applications and benefits. Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is an engineering technique used to define, identify and eliminate known and/or potential failures, problems, and errors from the system, design, process, and/or service before they reach the customer [29]. It is also referred to as failure mode, effects and criticality analysis (FMECA) when used for a criticality analysis. When applying FMEA, a cross-functional and multidisciplinary team identifies failure modes, evaluates their risks and prioritizes them so that appropriate corrective actions can be taken. A failure mode is defined as the manner in which a component, subsystem, system, process, etc. could potentially fail to meet the design intent. A failure mode in one component can serve as the cause of a failure mode in another component. A failure cause is defined as a design weakness that may result in a failure. For each failure mode identified, the FMEA team should determine what the ultimate effect of failure will be. A failure effect is defined as the result of a failure mode on the function of the product or process as perceived by the customer. The traditional FMEA determines the risk priorities of failure modes through the risk priority number (RPN), which is determined by RPN = O × S × D; ð1Þ where the risk factors O and S are occurrence and severity of a failure, and D is the ability to detect the failure before it reaches the customer. The three risk factors are evaluated using the ratings …