What is the major difference between FMEA and FMECA?

The major difference between FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) and FMECA (Failure Mode, Effects, and Criticality Analysis) lies in the criticality evaluation that FMECA includes.

FMEA primarily identifies potential failure modes and their effects on a system or process, allowing teams to understand the consequences of failures. However, it does not quantify the severity of those consequences in terms of likelihood and impact on system performance.

In contrast, FMECA takes this analysis a step further by incorporating a criticality assessment, which evaluates the severity and likelihood of each failure mode in relation to their overall impact on safety, reliability, and performance. This allows organizations to prioritize failure modes based on their criticality, enabling a focused action plan on the most significant risks. The addition of this criticality evaluation makes FMECA a more detailed and comprehensive analysis tool compared to FMEA.

This distinction is crucial for practitioners in reliability engineering as it informs decision-making regarding maintenance strategies, resource allocation, and risk management. Hence, the inclusion of criticality evaluation is the definitive aspect that separates FMECA from FMEA.