Session: 8A, Tuesday, 15:45-17:45
Core Tutor: John B. Bowles, Ph.D.
Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is potentially one of the most beneficial and productive tasks in a well structured reliability program. It has evolved from a safety analysis, usually done after the design was complete, into a powerful design tool that can be used throughout the development process to enhance product safety and reliability. A FMEA consists of examining the modes and causes of potential item failures and determining the product response to the failure. Steps can then be taken to change the design to eliminate the failure, mitigate its effects, or develop compensating provisions if the failure should occur. FMEA can be applied to hardware, software, material, and process related causes of failure.
This tutorial focuses on how to perform a FMEA, shows how the analysis results are used, and shows how it should be integrated into the design process to maximize its effectiveness. The methodology can be usefully employed throughout the design cycle from the concept stage to production and deployment. Tools have been developed to reduce the amount of labor required for the analysis and significant progress is also being made in developing automated tools to facilitate analysis.
John B. Bowles is an Associate Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at the University of South Carolina where he teaches and does research in reliable system design. Previously he was employed by NCR Corporation and Bell Laboratories where he worked on several large system development projects. He holds a BS in Engineering Science from the University of Virginia, an MS in Applied Mathematics from the University of Michigan, and a PhD in Computer Science from Rutgers University. Dr. Bowles is a Senior Member of IEEE and ASQ and an ASQ Certified Reliability Engineer. He served for four years as an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Reliability and is presently editor of the RMS Partnership journal, Reliability, Maintainability, and Supportability in Systems Engineering.