FMEA · part of Launch Quality

FMEA Software Stop finding high-risk causes with no action the week before the audit.

Build DFMEAs and PFMEAs as a team using the AIAG-VDA seven steps. The app works out Action Priority from your own rating tables, chases every action to closure and generates the control plan from the released PFMEA.

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The basics

What is FMEA, and how do DFMEA and PFMEA differ?

FMEA, failure mode and effects analysis, is a team method for finding how a product or process can fail, how bad the effect would be, and what prevents or detects it. A DFMEA looks at the design of the part. A PFMEA looks at each step of the process that makes it.

In most plants the FMEA is a spreadsheet written for the PPAP and never opened again. Ratings drift from one engineer to the next, a severity 9 cause sits with no action, and when the process changes nobody updates the PFMEA or the control plan that should come from it.

Features

An FMEA tool built for DFMEA and PFMEA work

Quicker than Excel for the common jobs: add a cause, rate it, give it an action.

AIAG-VDA seven-step FMEA

Planning, structure, function, failure chain, risk analysis, optimisation and results are sections of one document. PFMEA work elements are tagged Man, Machine, Material, Method, Measurement or Environment.

Action Priority or RPN, your rating tables

Severity, occurrence and detection scales and the AP table are editable data. Customers who still ask for RPN get S×O×D with a threshold you set. We ship our own wording, so you can paste in your licensed handbook text.

A worksheet that beats the spreadsheet

Pick a structure element and work its functions, failure modes, effects and causes inline, with AP chips beside each cause. Filter to AP high, open actions or special characteristics only.

Actions that get closed

Each cause can carry prevention and detection actions with an owner, target date, evidence and revised ratings. Owners get reminders, and the FMEA cannot go for release while an AP high cause has no action or written justification.

Special characteristics into the control plan

Mark characteristics CC, SC or your own classes, and get a warning when severity 9 or 10 has no class. The control plan is generated from the released PFMEA with those classes carried across.

Revisions, foundation FMEAs and export

Released revisions are frozen and a change starts the next one, with a row-level history. Start from a foundation FMEA, or import structure from the BOM, routing or process flow. Export to Excel in a clean layout.

Connected

FMEA doesn't live alone

Inside an APQP project, the DFMEA and PFMEA deliverables open the FMEA and are signed off when it is released. The released PFMEA feeds the control plan, and SPC charts use the same special characteristic classes to set their capability targets.

Standards and industries

Manufacturing FMEA software for automotive and aerospace

The method follows AIAG-VDA. The rating tables and risk method are set per company.

IndustryStandardWhat you get
AutomotiveAIAG-VDA FMEA handbook, IATF 16949Seven steps, Action Priority, DFMEA and PFMEA, special characteristics
Automotive (legacy customers)AIAG FMEA 4th editionRPN method with a configurable threshold
Aerospace and defenceAS9145, AS9100PFMEA as part of aerospace launch planning, with released revisions as evidence
General manufacturingISO 9001Risk analysis of products and processes with tracked actions
FAQ

FMEA questions people ask

Still unsure? Ask our team.

What is FMEA in manufacturing?

It is a structured review, done by a cross-functional team, of how a part or process can fail. For each failure the team rates severity, occurrence and detection, then decides what action to take on the highest risks. Automotive customers expect a DFMEA where you own the design and a PFMEA for every process.

What is the difference between DFMEA and PFMEA?

A DFMEA analyses the design: what happens if a dimension, material or feature does not do its job. A PFMEA analyses manufacturing: what can go wrong at each process step and what controls stop it reaching the customer. In YourBrand both use the same seven steps and the same worksheet.

What is RPN in FMEA?

RPN, the risk priority number, is severity multiplied by occurrence multiplied by detection, giving a figure from 1 to 1000. The AIAG-VDA handbook replaced it with Action Priority because very different risks can share the same RPN. YourBrand supports both, and you pick one for your company.

What is Action Priority?

Action Priority assigns high, medium or low to each combination of severity, occurrence and detection, giving most weight to severity. High means the team must act or justify why not. In YourBrand the AP table is editable, so you can match the table your customers use.

How do you do an FMEA step by step?

Plan the scope and team, map the structure, list the functions and requirements, link failure effects, modes and causes, rate the risk, decide actions, then document and release the results. Those are the seven AIAG-VDA steps, and each one is a section of the FMEA in YourBrand.

Can we use FMEA without running APQP?

Yes. You can create an FMEA for any existing part from the FMEA register. Engineering changes and quality problems drive FMEA updates as often as launches do, so the FMEA works with or without an APQP project.

Does the software include the AIAG-VDA rating tables?

It ships with our own 1 to 10 criteria, written to follow the same logic, because the handbook text is copyrighted. If you hold a licence, paste the official wording into the settings and every new rating uses it.

Make your PFMEA the document the shop floor runs on

We walk through it with your own parts and documents. It takes about 30 minutes.

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Related: Launch Quality suiteAPQP softwareSPC softwareIATF 16949Automotive