What should be assessed to ensure that the FMEA process is delivering value?

To ensure that the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) process is delivering value, it is crucial to assess the effectiveness of the recommendations that emerge from the analysis. The primary goal of FMEA is to identify potential failure modes, assess their impact, and prioritize them to implement effective corrective actions. Therefore, evaluating how well these recommendations mitigate risks and enhance reliability directly indicates whether the FMEA is achieving its intended purpose.

If the recommendations are effective, they should lead to a tangible reduction in failures or improvements in reliability metrics. This ongoing assessment allows organizations to determine if the FMEA process is not only identifying risks but also effectively managing them, thereby contributing to improvements in safety, performance, and overall asset reliability.

Evaluating the other aspects, such as the total number of failure modes addressed, the duration of the FMEA process, and the costs associated with it, may provide some insights but do not directly measure the value delivered by the FMEA. These metrics can inform process efficiency or resource allocation, yet they do not reflect the core function of FMEA, which is to provide actionable insights that lead to enhanced reliability through effective risk management.