One of the foundations of continuous improvement efforts is root cause analysis (RCA). When a failure occurs RCA is used to identify the causal factors and corrective and preventive actions are implemented to make sure that similar failure do not occur in the future. RCA is a great tool, but it is always done after the failure - what tools can we use to prevent failures?
One great tool for your continuous improvement efforts is Failure Mode Effects Analysis (FMEA). FMEA is a procedure in which each potential failure mode in every sub-item of a product or process is analyzed to determine its effect on other sub-items and on the required function of the item. FMEA is typically conducted at the design stage of a product or process, but can be done at anytime. FMEA is a great tool for existing products and processes as part of a reliability improvement initiative.
Please fell free to add your comments to this post. If you would like assistance with your continuous improvement efforts, call us for help. That is what we do!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment