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So, you invested time and effort to conduct a FMECA (Failure Mode, Effects, and Criticality Analysis) for your product/system. You identified potential failure modes, and single points of failure, evaluated the potential effects and their severity, and calculated the probability. Finally, you assigned risk to each failure mode based on a criticality matrix. Now it is time to prepare a report, but what should you include in the report?
The following is also applicable for design FMEA, process FMEA, and risk priority number (RPN) analyses.
Here are a few tips for writing a FMECA report:
FMECA report is a technical document that should be as self-contained as possible and maintain traceability. Therefore, your report should include:
A description of the analyzed product/system
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Scope of the analysis: which parts of the product/system are analyzed, and which are not? For example: When conducting a FMECA for a server, is the UPS part of the analysis or not? Often 3rd party equipment or GFE (Government Furnished Equipment) are excluded.
References to product/system technical documents which were the basis of the analysis
References to data sources such as failure rate prediction methods and databases, failure mode libraries
You should also describe the analysis goals. FMECA usually focuses on safety or diagnostics and testability but may also be used to identify financial and environmental risks.
The FMECA report will probably be read by executives and reliability or safety engineers. Clear conclusions and recommendations should be provided, and in some cases also an executive summary.What are the system-level failure modes (end effects)?What is the severity of each end effect?How many failure modes fall within each cell of the risk matrix?
FMECA is often conducted according to a standard e.g., MIL-STD 1629A. You should include the methodology of the FMECA and definitions of severity, criticality, and risk.
Detailed FMECA tables should also be included so that the reviewing engineer will have access to the complete body of work.
