What Is The Difference Between FMEA & RCFA?
Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a methodology aimed at anticipating equipment failure by proactively identifying all potential failure modes of the various parts of a system. It identifies the effects the failures can have on the system and provides a maintenance strategy to avoid the failure and/or mitigate the effects of the failure on the system. Conversely, Root Cause Failure Analysis (RCFA) is the process for pinpointing the root cause(s) of a specific failure to determine what corrective action(s) must be implemented to alleviate or reduce the probability that the problem will recur due to the same root cause(s).
FMEA – Failure Modes and Effects Analysis
FMEA focuses on identifying failure modes existing within the structural design of an asset or system and how those failure modes effect operations. A failure mode is the way a system, process, or piece of equipment can fail. The more complex the asset, the larger the number of failure modes.
Often, this analysis will also assess the criticality of the risk associated with the failure modes through the use of Failure Mode Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA). The difference between FMECA vs FMEA is that the latter incorporates criticality analysis with a more quantitative risk determination.