Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) in maintenance and diagnostics

Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a tool that has long been used at various stages of the product life cycle but is most commonly used in the engineering design and manufacturing planning stages. Some work has been done on conceptual design stages but very little, if any, research has been conducted to understand how FMEA might be used during the service of the product. Furthermore, the feedback of performance knowledge (in the form of FMEA data) from the in-service product use to conceptual and engineering design is a potentially valuable but un-exploited activity. This can be seen as a possible method of implementing Design for Service. Diagnostic service tools (manuals, computer diagnostics, etc) are usually created as a post-production activity, but reuse of FMEA knowledge generated during design could be used in a concurrent activity. Additional benefits are gained from improved accuracy of the FMEA and the maintenance of up-to-date product knowledge. A system for computerised interactive FMEA generation from FMEA elements has been created from the research. An object-oriented FMEA model has been adopted and expanded to generate the FMEA elements and diagnostic FMEA. The use of an object-oriented FMEA environment and FMEA object libraries promotes the reuse of existing information and has increased data availability for the diagnostic tool development. The Diagnostic Service Tool (DST) is an extended application from the automated FMEA generation. Existing failure mode data is used to determine further characteristics of parts failure. As a result, a tool in the form of diagnostic software is created which is practical for real life use. The prototype software was evaluated in a field service application using four automatic transmission problem cases. The results showed that there was significant difference in repair times between the conventional repair manuals and DST. The research has demonstrated that the prototype software is successful in providing effective field service centered tools to the Field Service and in turn a method of providing feedback to the Designer. Hence, knowledge sharing between Engineering and Field Service can be carried out continuously to provide a significant improvement in product development

A diagnostic service tool using FMEA

The use of Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) as the basis for a Diagnostic Service Tool (DST) is discussed in the context of Design for Service. Designers are assisted in developing diagnostic service tools early in the design process rather than this being a post-production activity. A system for computerised interactive FMEA generation from FMEA elements has been created by enhancing an existing object-oriented FMEA model to generate the FMEA elements and Diagnostic FMEA. The use of an object-oriented FMEA environment and FMEA object libraries promotes the reuse of information and increases data availability for diagnostic tool development. The Diagnostic Service Tool (DST) uses existing failure mode data to determine further characteristics of the failure of parts. The prototype software has been evaluated in a field service application using four automatic transmission problem cases. There was significant difference in repair times between the use of conventional repair manuals and DST. The research has demonstrated that the prototype software is successful in providing effective field service tools and suggests a method of providing feedback to the designer. In this way knowledge sharing between engineering and field service can be continuous and provide a significant improvement in product development. The approach has validity across many domains but has so far only been evaluated in the context of automotive systems and in particular automatic transmissions. Application in other areas would require substantial efforts in knowledge acquisition but the same general methods would be used

FMEA in automatic transmission diagnostics

This paper presents research into the possibility of using Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) as a tool to share diagnostic knowledge between Engineering and Field Service. An object-oriented FMEA model has been adopted and expanded to generate the FMEA elements and diagnostic FMEA. The implementation of an object-oriented FMEA environment and the use of FMEA object libraries have promoted the reuse of existing information and has increased data availability for the diagnostic tool development. The Diagnostic Service Tool is an extended application from the automated FMEA generation. It utilizes the existing failure mode data to determine further characteristics of part failures. The prototype software was evaluated in a field service application using four automatic transmission problem cases. There was a significant difference in repair times between the conventional repair manuals and DST

FMEA in design for service

Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is discussed as a tool to share diagnostic knowledge between Engineering and Field Service, as a possible means of implementing Design for Service. Designers are assisted in developing diagnostic service tools alongside the design early in the design process rather than this being a post-production activity. Additional benefits are gained from improved accuracy of the FMEA and the maintenance of up-to-date product knowledge. An object-oriented FMEA model has been expanded to generate the FMEA elements and diagnostic FMEA. The use of an object-oriented FMEA environment and FMEA object libraries promotes the reuse of existing information and has increased data availability for the diagnostic tool development. The Diagnostic Service Tool (DST) is an extended application from the automated FMEA generation. Existing failure mode data is used to determine further characteristics of part failures. As a result, a prototype tool in the form of diagnostic software was created and evaluated in a field service application using four automatic transmission problem cases. The results showed that there was significant difference in repair times between the conventional repair manuals and DST. The research has demonstrated that the prototype software is successful in providing effective field service centered tools and in turn a method of providing feedback to the designer. This knowledge sharing between Engineering and Field Service provides a significant improvement in product development