FMEA: failure modes and risk priority
List how an asset can fail, rate each failure mode, and see which risks have no prevention, no detection or no action.
An FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) lists every way an asset can fail, what the failure does and why it happens. FreeMaint rates each failure mode, ranks them by risk and shows you the ones your maintenance plan does not cover yet.
One asset, or a whole category
Asset FMEA
For one specific machine, for example a critical compressor.
Category FMEA
One analysis shared by every asset of a category, for example all centrifugal pumps. It appears on the page of each of these assets.
Building an FMEA
- Open FMEA in the Assets & Locations menu and click New FMEA. Choose an asset or an asset category, an owner and a next review date.
- Click Add failure mode. Describe the component, its function, the failure mode, its effect and its cause. You can link a failure code.
- Rate Severity, Occurrence and Detection from 1 to 10. Each value carries a short description to help you choose.
- Next to Occurrence, FreeMaint shows the corrective work orders of the asset over 12 and 36 months, and its MTBF. It is evidence for your rating, never a rating in itself.
- Describe the current prevention and detection controls, and link the preventive plans and inspection templates that already cover the failure.
- Add the recommended actions with an owner and a due date. One click turns an action into an improvement work order.
How risk is ranked
Action Priority (H / M / L)
Reads the three ratings together, Severity first, using the AIAG-VDA (2019) Action Priority table. A safety consequence stays high even when it is rare. The worksheet is sorted by it.
RPN
Severity × Occurrence × Detection, from 1 to 1000. Shown for reference only, because it can rank a rare safety failure below a frequent nuisance.
Expected risk after actions
Re-rate what the actions will change to see the risk you expect once they are done.
Gaps FreeMaint flags
No prevention
A high or medium priority failure mode with no prevention control written and no preventive plan linked.
No detection
A high or medium priority failure mode with no detection control written and no inspection template linked.
No action
A high priority failure mode with no recommended action still standing.
Start with your most critical asset and its five most frequent failures. Linking the preventive plans you already run is often enough to close half of the gaps.
Plan and permissions
Business plan
Creating and editing FMEA is part of the Business plan. If your company leaves it, every analysis stays readable.
Who can do what
Administrators and managers can do everything; supervisors and planners create and edit; technicians and viewers read. An administrator can change this in Roles.
Excel export
Every worksheet can be exported to Excel, to share it or review it in a meeting.
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