Potential Failure Modes and Effects Analysis in Design, Manufacturing and Assembly Processes

SAE International (SAE), formerly the Society of Automotive Engineers, is a professional organization for mobility engineering professionals in the aerospace, automotive, and commercial vehicle industries. SAE also develops standards for the engineering of powered vehicles of all kinds.

SAE J-1739 is a Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) Standard describing Potential Failure Mode and Effects Analysis in Design (DFMEA) and Potential Failure Mode and Effects Analysis in Manufacturing and Assembly Processes (PFMEA). It assists users in the identification and mitigation of risk by providing appropriate terms, requirements, ranking charts, and worksheets related to FMEA. The standard document contains both requirements for compliance and recommendations that will assist the user with the FMEA process, and ultimately helps engineers identify flaws in the design and manufacturing of various products, specifically vehicles.

Impact

Manufacturing companies, particularly in the automotive sector, aim to continually improve products and processes. Using FMEA to determine and mitigate potential failures is imperative to the industry to prevent recalls, improve time to market, and increase consumer safety. SAE J-1739 affects all aspects of the automotive industry, design, manufacturing and assembly. To achieve the greatest value from an FMEA, assessments must be conducted before a product or process failure mode has been incorporated into the product in question. Effort spent initially to conduct an FMEA will minimize late changes and product defects later in the manufacturing process. An FMEA can reduce or eliminate the chance of implementing a preventive/corrective change which would create an even bigger issue in terms of time and money spent to correct. Communication and coordination should occur between all types of FMEAs (DFMEA, PFMEA, MFMEA) in order to achieve the greatest efficiency. The FMEA process and all resulting FMEA documentation must comply with SAE J-1739 as well as any corporate policy that may exist concerning the use of FMEAs. Studies of vehicle recalls have shown that fully implemented FMEA programs could have prevented many of them, highlighting the importance of implementation prior to manufacturing.

Challenge

Many companies are managing quality assessment documents in disparate systems or even paper-based systems making it difficult to leverage data across divisions and teams. It is necessary to have a seamless integration as changes in requirements are made, or errors are detected and faults must be traced to the design and to ensure that compliance with regulations can be verified.  Assessing quality studies throughout the lifecycle can be difficult without a standardized view of FMEAs and an integrated approach to risk management. With integrated workflows and a standardized quality culture, compliance with SAE J-1739 is easier and more efficient.

The Dyadem Solution

Dyadem provides comprehensive Quality Risk Management (QRM) solutions that enable global manufacturing companies to reduce risk management effort by 50%-80%. In addition to improved quality and reduction in compliance risks, Dyadem also offers an integrated lifecycle model linking all parts of design and production risk analysis. This provides full traceability for SAE compliance and the identification of critical quality attributes to align design with manufacturing, and prevent recalls and work stoppages before they occur. Stature is an innovative, integrated and intelligent quality management platform, providing real-time risk visibility and minimizing potential undesirable events, allowing manufacturers to drive a consistent quality culture within their organization and efficiently comply with governing regulations.