The 7th Module of the Digital Model Factory Lean and Digital Transformation roadmap is FMEA (Failure Mode Effect Analysis).
The essence of continuous improvement lies in questioning everything, observing and analyzing everything as a problem source or potential. It is not possible to improve systems through observing the events in a regular routine and accustomed ways. When you start to see the work you did yesterday as an outdated approach and methodology that needs to be improved today, then you start to produce the fuel for continuous improvement within yourself. When you start to see yesterday’s achievements as activities that missed the potential to achieve better, you no longer need to note continuous improvement in your agenda and organize projects for continuous improvement. After such demeanor becomes a habit, and continuous improvement is a part of your DNA, you will look for and question the possibilities of improvement in every occasion, in every work done in a daily routine.
Although continuous improvement turns into a never-ending activity in a PDCA cycle with the motivation to see yesterday’s events as today’s problems and solve them, the problem part should be short-lived. So once you understand the problem, there is no need to be stuck in it. People like to talk about problems, but staying at the level of the problem and over-examining will prevent you from reaching to the solution. Pondering on the problem after the problem is revealed is a serious waste of time. You find that some people are part of the problem and some people are part of the solution. Some people may try to make their work more valuable by magnifying the problem. Some people also look down on the problem and act on it right away and engage to solve it quickly. In fact, this form of behavior is much more valuable from a professional point of view.
Why FMEA?
FMEA is a very effective technique for seeing events as problems or potential problems for improvement. While analyzing the error potential due to the design features of the product on the Product FMEA side, the error potential in the processes is analyzed with the Process FMEA and our aim is to analyze the processes in this module and discover the error potential. In the next module, Gemba/Kaizen/Jidoka/Poka Yoke, we need the error potential from FMEA to add to the problem pool that needs to be solved. Underutilizing your improvement potential in continuous improvement is also a waste, and the improvement areas from the VSM module and the error potential from FMEA should combine to form your priorities. With the right prioritization, you can fully reveal your improvement potential and achieve sustainable successful results faster.
When FMEA is applied frequently, you begin to look for, see and examine the potential for error in every event around you. Just as when you put a glass on the edge of the table, there is a potential for it to fall, and you can easily see it and take precautions, a similar point of view is needed to analyze the types of errors and their effects and take precautions in the industrial sense. In order to take precautions before an event occurs, it is necessary to analyze the processes in detail. In order to analyze the processes in detail, the Work Study study to conduct in the Value Stream Mapping module provides very important information. While work study reveals value-added and non-value-added works, it also gives the opportunity to see the error potentials in the process in detail.
The chance to solve a problem before it arises in the business is an important opportunity. For this, risk analysis is essential. FMEA module enables you to make a healthy risk analysis and solve problems in your business before they come to the surface.