Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
A structured, systematic method for identifying potential failure modes in a product or process, their causes, their effects on system performance, and the risk priority of each — used to guide preventive design and process decisions.
Why it matters
FMEA is the primary tool for proactive risk management in product design and manufacturing — when augmented with AI that mines historical failure data, it surfaces risks that time-constrained teams would miss and drives earlier, more data-informed design decisions.
External References
This term appears in
Cite this definition
Finocchiaro, Michael. “Failure Mode and Effects Analysis.” DemystifyingPLM PLM Glossary, 2026, https://www.demystifyingplm.com/glossary/failure-mode-and-effects-analysis