ABSTRACT

This research is about the Design FMEA study in Automotive Part Supplier
Company. FMEA are stands for Failure Mode Effects Analysis which the
methodology of FMEA was used to identify the potential failure of a system and its
effects. And it also used to assess the failures to determine actions that would
eliminate the change of occurrences. The selected automotive part supplier company
for this study is a Madetill (M) Sdn. Bhd at Balakong, Selangor. Through the
objective of the study, is to identify the correlation between FMEA and Cpk and also
develop a framework relationship between DFMEA and Process Capability. The
framework was created as a guideline to help Madetill company when they encounter
a problem and can used as a standard tooling to reduce the major problem. The
framework shows how the DMAIC help the company to settle the problem.
Framework also gives confident because FMEA was famous technique in automotive
supplier and will use to continuous quality improvement. Therefore, do the literatures
review to identify the several approaches of Design FMEA and process capability
implementation that applied at industries. In the literature review also look at the
some of the main Design FMEA projects, the major benefits are gained and the
DFMEA approach used. At the end of this research, the correlation between FMEA
and Cpk was can be done based on Occurrences.

ABSTRAK

Penyelidikan ini berkisarkan kajian rekabentuk FMEA yang digunakan pada Syarikat
Pembekal alat ganti kenderaan. FMEA adalah singkatan dari Failure Mode Effect
Analysis di mana metodologi FMEA digunakan untuk mengenalpasti potensi
kegagalan sistem dan kesannya. Ianya juga digunakan untuk menilai kegagalan dan
seterusnya menentukan tindakan yang akan diambil bagi mengatasi masalah tersebut.
Syarikat Pembekal alat ganti kenderaan yang dipilih adalah Madetill (M) Sdn. Bhd di
Balakong, Selangor. Tujuan kajian adalah untuk mengenalpasti hubungan antara
FMEA dan CPK dan juga mencari persamaan dan hubungan diantara DFMEA dan
Process Capabilitydan membuat rangka kerja. Rangka kerja ini dibuat untuk
membantu syarikat Madetill ketika mereka menghadapi masalah dan boleh
digunakan sebagai alat bantuan untuk mengurangkan masalah utama. Rangka kerja
ini menunjukkan bagaimana DMAIC membantu syarikat untuk menyelesaikan
masalah. Rangka kerja juga memberikan kepercayaan kepada syarikat kerana FMEA
adalah teknik terkenal di gunakan oleh pembekal automotif dan akan digunakan
secara berterusan untuk meningkatkan kualiti.

ii

DEDICATION

For my beloved family and friends for their loves and supports.

iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Several people played an important role in the accomplishing of this thesis and I
would like to acknowledge them here. First of all, I want thank to Almighty God for
reasons too numerous to mention. I also would like to thank to PM Dr Chong Kuan
Eng, my supervisor for the support and encouragement to pursue to this thesis and
also for the invaluable guidance he has provided. All the knowledge that he gives me
will helpful to my future. I also wish to give a special gratitude to Mr Ariazizi,
Executive production at Madetill (M) Sdn. Bhd, the company that the case study
were conducted and also his effort to help me in data collection for use in this study.
Without him, this thesis would have been most difficult. Besides, thanks also to my
parents for their financial supports along case study progress. Last but not least, I
would like to thank to my friends, for their comments and suggestions to improve the
quality of my thesis.

iv

TABLE OF CONTENT

Abstract

Abstrak

ii

Dedication

iii

Acknowledgement

iv

Table of Content

List of Tables

vii

List of Figures

ix

List of Abbreviations

1.0

INTRODUCTION

1.1

Background of study

1.2

Problem Statement

1.3

Objectives

1.4

Scope

1.5

Report outline

2.0

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1

Introduction

2.2

FMEA

2.2.1

Purpose of FMEA

2.2.2

History of FMEA

2.2.3

Types of FMEA

2.2.3.1 Design FMEA

2.2.3.2 Process FMEA

2.2.3.3 System FMEA

2.2.3.4 Service FMEA

2.2.3.5 Software FMEA

2.2.4

Timing

2.2.5

Benefits of FMEA

10

2.2.6

FMEA RPN

11
v

2.2.6.1 Severity

12

2.2.6.2 Occurrences

13

2.2.6.3 Detection

14

2.2.7

15

Inputs, Outputs and Other Quality Tools Related

2.2.7.1 Input to FMEA

15

2.2.7.2 Output from FMEA

15

2.2.7.3 Other Quality Tools related to FMEA

16

2.3

Design FMEA

17

2.4

Statistical Process Control

19

2.4.1

The basic tools for SPC

21

24.2

The benefits of SPC

22

2.4.3

Real benefits of SPC in organizations

22

2.5

Process Capability

23

2.5.1

Concept of Cpk

25

2.5.2

Relative of capability

26

2.6

DMAIC

27

2.6.1

Define

28

2.6.2

Measure

28

2.6.3

Analyze

29

2.6.4

Improve

29

2.6.5

Control

29

2.7

Conclusions

30

3.0

METHODOLOGY

31

3.1

Introduction

31

3.2

Phase I (Conceptual phase)

33

3. 2

Phase II (Implementation)

34

3.2.2

DMAIC Methodology

35

3.2.3

Define

36

3.2.4

Measure

36

3.2.5

Analyze

36

3.2.6

Improve

36

3.2.7

Control

37
vi

3.3

Phase III (Conclusion)

37

4.0

COMPANY BACKGROUND

38

4.1

Organization Profile

38

4.2

Company Policy

39

4.3

Company Details Profile

40

4.4

Vision and mission

40

4.6

Company MOTTO

41

5.0

RESULTS & DISCUSSION

42

5.1

Group of FMEA

42

5.2

Define (DMAIC)

43

5.3

Measure (DMAIC)

44

5.3.1

Generate RPN number

44

5.3.2

Dimension each part

47

5.4

Analyze (DMAIC)

48

5.4.1

Analyze each dimension

48

5.4.2

Revised RPN Number

49

5.4.3

Cpk vs. Occurrences

50

5.5

Improve (DMAIC)

53

5.5.1

Result Correlation between Cpk and Occurrences

53

5.5.2

Status of correlation between Cpk and Occurrences.

54

5.6

Control (DMAIC)

56

6.0

CONCLUSION

57

REFERENCES

58

APPENDICES
A

Gantt chart PSM 1

Gantt char PSM 11

Group FMEA

Data from MDT

vii

LIST OF TABLES

2.1

Table of severity in FMEA

12

2.2

Table of Occurrence in FMEA

13

2.3

Table of Detection in FMEA

14

2.4

SPC definition

20

5.1

Table of Define a Car Jack problem

43

5.2

Table of 1st FMEA

45

5.3

Table of dimension

47

5.4

Table result of SPC software

48

5.5

Table of revised RPN number

49

5.6

Occurrences status

50

5.7

Rating of Occurrences

51

5.8

Correlation between Cpk and Occurrences

52

5.9

New ranking of Occurrences

53

5.10

Status of correlation between Cpk and Occurrences

54

5.11

FMEA result

55

viii

LIST OF FIGURES

2.1

Design development stages

2.2

Sources at CCBG from Roger Lee

27

3.1

Research methodology

32

3.2

Research methodology (Phase I)

33

3.3

Research methodology (Phase II)

34

3.4

DMAIC methodology

35

3.5

Research methodology (Phase III)

37

5.1

Framework CQI for relationship between DFMEA and Process Capability 56

ix

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Cpk

Process Capability

DFMEA

Design Failure Mode Effects Analysis

DMAIC

Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control

FMEA

Failure Mode Effects Analysis

MP

Mass Production

PFMEA

Process Failure Mode Effects Analysis

PP

Pre Production

TP

Test Production

MSD

Madetill (M) Sdn.Bhd

Dim

Dimension

SD

Standard Deviation

USL

Upper Specification Limit

LSL

Lower Specification Limit

Spec

Specification

RPN

Risk Priority Number

C&E

Cause and effect diagram

SPC

Statistical Process Control

CQI

Continuous Quality Improvement

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

1.1

Background of study

FMEA is stands for Failure Mode Effects Analysis which the methodology of FMEA
was used to identify the potential failure of a system and its effects. And it also used to
assess the failures to determine actions that would eliminate the change of occurrences.
Normally in industries, FMEA is applied during the initial stage of designing process
development. In FMEA there are many types of FMEA.

Hence, this study will be focused on Design FMEA which analyse on failures in current
design (performance, functional, design) and detection of the failure which concentrate
on dimensional items of the products for automotive industries. Meanwhile, process
capability is an ideal process as well as target for production. In the quality system,
Process Capability (Cpk) is the important key performance indexes (KPI) to ensure
process producing a good product follow the customer specification. DMAIC define as
(Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control) will be used to integrated Design FMEA
and Process Capability (Cpk) in this study as well as a system to enhance product
quality performance.

1.2

Problem Statement

Nowadays, in design process, it is difficult to identify which part of dimension that is

important and not important. The important dimension normally knows as critical
dimension because it can give effect for function user and cause failure to the product
performance. Critical dimension decide by customer but there are no standard method to
determine the critical dimension. Besides that, there was no study initial stage on that. In
each product, there are many dimensions in one part. So each part must be checked
based on part drawing. This is wasting of time and high cost for labor because there are
a lot of dimensions and some of the dimensions are not important to check. In this case,
it is difficult to decide the important dimension because there was no standard flow to
determine the parameter. During industrial study in FMEA studies, there is no standard
approach to link between FMEA and process control.

1.3

Objectives

To describe more details about this study, the objective was stated here to give a more
comprehension to the problem statement. Basically, in this part, the objective will
clearly define that purpose to shown the framework and explains what to do next. An
objective of this study is:

i)

To find correlation between DFMEA and Process Capability

ii)

To develop a framework of continuous quality improvement (CQI) for

relationship between DFMEA and Process Capability

1.4 Scope

This study will thoroughly focus on correlation between Design FMEA and Process
Capability analysis for dimensional only which selected during new model development.
The dimension of part is very crucial since it will affect assembly process and product
performance. In this research, a manufacturing company will be selected to implement
this project which this company will supply products or part to automotive assembly
industries. DMAIC methodologies will be use as a guideline in this research. DMAIC
define as (Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, and Control).

1.5

Report Outline

Chapter 1: Introduction

This chapter briefly explained the background of the project study, the objective
that want to achieved, the problem statement and finally whole project through
Gantt chart.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

This chapter was collection of research information that relate to the study from
any trusted resources.

Chapter 3: Research Methodology

This chapter explains the structure on how project was done.

Chapter 4: Background Company

This chapter introduces and explains about company profile that we choose to
complete this research.
3

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1

Introduction

This chapter part was specifying the review of source and history related information
about FMEA. Generally, literature review is a critical analysis segment which sources
from books, journal, article, reports and major on the knowledge related with summary,
and comparison of research studies, reviews of literature and theoretical articles. It also
will explain about methods and tools of DFMEA which generally used in various fields
and the related theory in this research.

2.2

FMEA

2.2.1

Purpose of FMEA

The acronym FMEA, for readers who are less familiar, stands for Failure Modes,
Causes, and Effects. FMEA is a systematic analysis of potential failure modes aimed at
preventing failures. FMEA can be described as a tool for evaluating potential failures
and the related causes and resultant effects in a six sigma process. This is intended to be
a preventative action process carried out before implementing new or changes in
products or processes from reaching the customer and to assure the highest possible
4

yield, quality and reliability. FMEA is used to prioritize potential failures, in order of
their severity, and attempts to minimize, if not totally eliminate, the probability of such
failures happening.
In industry, have a lot of reasons why the organization wish to use FMEA. There are
companies that use FMEA selectively to sort out a specific problem. Then there are
companies with vision who wish to use FMEA more as a preventive measure to forestall
likely failures. Some manufacturing companies opt for FMEA more as a company
policy to constantly monitor and ward off or lessen failure potential.
Tay and Lim (2006) explained that according to Chrysler Corporation et al. (1995),
FMEA can be described as a systemized group of activities intended to recognize and to
evaluate the potential failures of a product/process and its effects. Besides, FMEA
identifies actions which can eliminate or reduce the chances of potential failures from
recurring. It also helps users to identify the key design or process characteristics that
require special controls for manufacturing, and to highlight areas for improvement in
characteristic control or performance (Ireson et al., 1995).

2.2.2

History of FMEA

FMEA was developed in the United States Military. Military Procedure MIL-P-1629,
titled Procedures for Performing a Failure Mode, Effects and Criticality Analysis, in
November 9, 1949. At that time it was used as a reliability evaluation technique to
determine the effect of system and equipment failures. The failures were classified
according to their impact on mission success and personnel or equipment safety. Yang,
Lin, Lin and Huang (2006) explained that in 1977, Ford Motor Company announced the
operation standards of FMEA for promotion and application in the education manual
(Ford, 1988), which was adopted by other motor companies one after another and
further divided into Design FMEA and Process FMEA.
5

In addition to FMEA implemented inside a company, suppliers were asked to conduct

design and process FMEA for the parts they supplied. In 1985, International Electronic
Commission (IEC) published FMEA standards for system reliability. IEC812 is the
modified FMEA operational procedures based on MIL-STD-1629A expounding FMEA
for electronic, mechanical and hydraulic equipment or parts. Besides, it also mentioned
the applicability of FMEA to software and personnel reliability analyses. The failure risk
evaluation method in the education manual of Ford Motor Company is the most
traditional and has been generally adopted by all walks of life currently. The data of risk
priority number (RPN) are based on risk assessment. The multiplied risk factor indices
refer to Severity (S), the outcome of a failure, Occurrence (O), the chance of a failure
and Detection (D), the chance of a failure is not detected by customers or the difficulty
level of detection (Tables I-III). A scale of ten-points is served to be a comparison table
for the level and grade of these three factors. RPN is the outcome of multiplying
occurrence, detection and severity and can be represented as Formula 1. For the decision
factor number of RPN, different decision factors and grades judgment principles can be
formulated in accordance with FMEA applications.

2.2.3

Types of FMEA

There are several types of FMEA; some are used much more often than others. The
types of FMEA are design, process, service, system and software. Process and design
are the most common use in industry.

2.2.3.1 Design or FMEA

Design FMEA is used to analyze products before they are released to production. It is
focuses on potential failure modes of products caused by design deficiencies. It is also
helping to identify potential safety concerns so products design can be identified to
eliminate the concerns.

2.2.3.2 Process of FMEA

Which is used for manufacturing and assembly processes. Process FMEA is focused on
problems from how the equipment is manufactured, maintained or operated. Process
Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (PFMEA) is a method to assess production processes
weaknesses and potential effects of process failure on the product being produced.
Process FMEA emphasizes the importance of actions that can be taken to eliminate or
reduce the potential causes leading to the process failures. However, it has been
observed that manufacturing engineers are too occupied with how to make things work
and thus fail to consider the potential pitfalls. Thus, it is imperative that Process FMEA
is conducted throughout the process and should be revised whenever a change has been
made to it. Process FMEA ensures that the manufactured products are met with the
engineered product specifications and that the process defects do not result in product
safety problems in the field.

2.2.3.3 System of FMEA

Which is used for global systems, System FMEA looks for potential problems and
bottlenecks in larger processes, such as entire production lines. A system FMEA usually
is accomplished through a series of steps to include conceptual design, detail design,
development, test and evaluation. The design in this phase is an evolutionary process
involving the application of various technologies and methods to produce an effective
system output. The results will be used as an input for the design FMEA. The focus in
7

this stage is to transform an operational need into a description of system performance

parameters and as perfect as possible system configuration through the use of an
interactive process of functional analysis, synthesis, optimization, design, test, and
evaluation

2.2.3.4 Service FMEA

This is used for services industry. The importance of actions that can be taken to
eliminate reduce the potential causes leading to the service failures or. The field of
service includes bank, hospital, and supermarket and so on.

2.2.3.5 Software FMEA

Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) software is used to track trends, generate
statistics such as mean time between failures (MTBF), and determine the root causes of
field failures (usually for products covered by a manufacturers warranty).

2.2.4

Timing

Initially, the FMEA should be performed while in the design stage, but it also may be
used throughout the life cycle of a product to identify possible failures as the system
ages. Failure mode and effect analyses may vary in the level of detail reported,
depending upon the detail needed and the availability of information. Normally In
industry, FMEA applies as below;

Attend concept meeting for new

model and discuss about new
parts

Check the proto drawings and

discuss with designer based on
proto drawings. Hold the tooling
discussion meeting
Monitor tooling progress and
approval schedule, approve the
new parts for TP using.

Monitor tooling modification and

design
approval

change

progress

schedule

and

and
using

Design FMEA.
Approve the parts and apply
Process FMEA

Figure 2.1: Design development stages (Sources from TDK_Lambda Sdn.Bhd)

2.2.5

Benefits of FMEA

The FMEA programmer offers a wide range of benefit for the organization which
implemented it. The several benefits that can be described are:
i.

Minimizes late changes and associated cost since FMEA is been carried out
during design stage.

ii.

Identifies failure modes which will have significant impact

iii.

Identifies the causes of failures and minimizes them

iv.

Helps in redesigning to reduce the effect of failures

v.

Improve product reliability, maintainability and availability of the system

vi.

Increases customer satisfaction

vii.

Prioritize product / process deficiencies for improvement

viii.

Emphasizes problem prevention

ix.

Providing information of:

Maintainability analysis

Safety analysis

Survivability

Vulnerability

Logistic support analysis

Maintenance plan analysis

Risk analysis

Failure detection

10

2.2.6

FMEA RPN

Risk Priority Number (RPN) is a measure used when assessing risk to help identify
critical failure modes associated with your design or process. The RPN values range
from 1 (absolute best) to 1000 (absolute worst). The FMEA RPN is commonly used in
the automotive industry and it is somewhat similar to the criticality numbers used in
Mil-Std-1629A. Risk priority numbers (RPN) for the parameters are calculated by
multiplying severity (S) by occurrence (O) and detection (D) (S x O x D).

11

2.2.6.1

Severity

Severity is the factor that represents the seriousness or impact of the failure to the
customer or to a subsequent process. Severity of failure relates to process failure effects
and is independent of occurrence and detection. Severity of a failure effect is therefore
the same for all failure causes. Severity should be considered as though no controls are
in place.
Table 2.1: Table of severity in FMEA

Effect
Hazardouswithout warning
Hazardous-with
warning
Very High
High
Moderate
Low

Very Low

Minor

Severity of Effect
May result in safety issue or regulatory violation with
warning

Ranking
10

Primary function is lost or seriously degraded

Primary function is reduced and customer is impacted

Secondary function is lost or seriously degraded

Secondary function is reduced and customer is impacted

Loss of function or appearance such that most customers

would return product or stop using service
Loss of function or appearance that is noticed by customers
but would not result in a return or loss of service
Loss of function or appearance that is noticed by customers
but would not result in a return or loss of service

Loss of function or appearance that is unlikely to be noticed

Very Minor

by customers and would not result in a return or loss of

service
None

Little to no impact

1
12