FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis)
A structured method for identifying how an asset can fail, what each failure causes, and which failure modes deserve priority.
FMEA is a systematic exercise that walks through an asset or process and asks, for each function: how can it fail (failure modes), what happens when it does (effects), and why (causes). Each mode is scored for severity, likelihood of occurrence, and detectability; the combination — often expressed as a Risk Priority Number — ranks where engineering and maintenance attention should go first.
In maintenance, FMEA is the analytical engine inside reliability-centered maintenance: the documented failure modes determine which PM tasks are justified, which modes call for condition monitoring, and which are acceptable to run to failure. A PM task that does not address a real failure mode identified in analysis is, by definition, waste.
FMEA quality depends on the room. It works when operators, technicians, and engineers who know the equipment contribute failure history and folklore; it degrades into template-filling when done by one analyst with a spreadsheet. Revisit high-criticality FMEAs when work history contradicts their assumptions.
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