Back to Basics: FMEA Failures
Back to Basics: FMEA Failures
Understanding the difference between failure causes, failure modes and failure effects
- Publication:
- Quality Progress
- Date:
- May 2026
- Issue:
- Volume 59 Issue 5
- Pages:
- pp. 56
- Author(s):
- Barsalou, Matthew
Abstract
There is a difference between design failure mode and effects analysis (DFMEA) and process failure mode and effects analysis (PFMEA) failure causes and failure modes. In DFMEA, the failure cause pertains to either an incorrect characteristic on the drawing or a negative impact from a noise factor, which influences the product but is uncontrollable. In PFMEA, the failure cause is something that has gone wrong during a process step.