Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a structured, team-based method for finding how a product or process can fail, what each failure would mean for the customer, and which controls prevent or detect it — before launch. The AIAG & VDA FMEA Handbook (first edition, 2019) merged the American and German approaches into one seven-step method that automotive customers expect from suppliers working to IATF 16949.
The seven steps are planning and preparation, structure analysis, function analysis, failure analysis, risk analysis, optimisation and results documentation. A Design FMEA (DFMEA) analyses the product, a Process FMEA (PFMEA) analyses how it is made, and FMEA-MSR (Monitoring and System Response) supplements a DFMEA by analysing how diagnostics detect a fault in use and how the system responds.
Instead of multiplying Severity × Occurrence × Detection into a Risk Priority Number (RPN), the 2019 handbook ranks every failure chain High, Medium or Low Action Priority (AP) from a lookup table that weighs severity first.
Five problems quality teams describe in their own words — and what changes when the FMEA is built on linked records.
The workspace follows the seven AIAG-VDA steps, so the method is the workflow.
Step 1 · Planning and preparation
Create a DFMEA or PFMEA inside a project, set its scope, team and rating tables — or start from a foundation FMEA instead of a blank sheet.
Step 2 · Structure analysis
A PFMEA takes its process steps and 4M work elements straight from the Process Flow Diagram. A DFMEA builds the system, subsystem and component tree, with a block diagram and a P-diagram.
Step 3 · Function analysis
Attach functions and requirements to each element and link the product and process characteristics from the characteristic register.
Step 4 · Failure analysis
Build failure chains of effect, failure mode and cause. Effects taken from the DFMEA bring their design severity with them.
Step 5 · Risk analysis
Rate Severity, Occurrence and Detection against your rating tables and Action Priority appears as you type. Severity 9–10 chains rated AP High or Medium go to a management review queue.
Step 6 · Optimisation
Assign prevention and detection actions with owners and due dates, record the predicted rating, then the confirmed rating once the action is done. A proposed control becomes current only when its action is complete.
Step 7 · Results documentation
Checks flag gaps such as unrated chains or AP High chains without an action. Mark the FMEA complete, generate the step 7 report, and release it through an approval route with an electronic signature.
Each capability is tied to a decision your team is already trying to make.
Planning, structure, function, failure, risk, optimisation and documentation — one workspace with a stepper, structure tree, function net and failure net. The method is the workflow, so the team follows it without a facilitator policing the template.
Block and boundary diagrams, P-diagrams and a design risk grid for DFMEA. Process steps and 4M work elements for PFMEA. Monitoring and system response for FMEA-MSR. One module, one set of rating tables, three analyses.
Rate Severity, Occurrence and Detection against your own rating tables and Action Priority appears the moment you type. An AP High chain needs an action or a written justification, and the highest-severity chains queue for management review.
A PFMEA effect adopted from the DFMEA keeps following it. Raise a design severity and the process chains behind it are re-rated and flagged for review — no more two documents quietly disagreeing about the same failure.
Prevention and detection actions carry an owner, a due date, a predicted rating and a confirmed rating. A proposed control becomes a current control only when its action is completed — so the FMEA shows the risk you have, not the risk you planned.
Start every new program from a foundation FMEA instead of last year's copy. When the foundation changes, each FMEA built on it shows the changes to review — lessons learned reach every program that needs them.
Follow any characteristic from the DFMEA to the PFMEA, its controls, the Control Plan row and the PPAP evidence. Gaps are flagged on screen: a required special characteristic that was never classified, a severity 10 chain with no characteristic behind it.
Suggested causes, effects and controls drawn from your own FMEAs, CAPAs and lessons learned — each with a citation and a confidence. No external LLM is used in this module, and nothing is written until an engineer accepts it.
Action Priority looks up each chain's Severity (S), Occurrence (O) and Detection (D) ratings in the AIAG & VDA 2019 table. Of the 1,000 possible combinations, 318 are High, 214 Medium and 468 Low. Because severity carries the most weight, a chain with a lower RPN can still need action first.
| Chain | S | O | D | RPN | AP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | S9 | O6 | D2 | RPN108 | APHigh |
| B | S4 | O6 | D5 | RPN120 | APMedium |
Each document is a live view of the same records, so nothing is retyped between them.
The PFMEA is built on the process steps and 4M work elements of the Process Flow Diagram — each step defined once.
Prevention and detection controls generate Control Plan rows, with a sync preview whenever the PFMEA changes.
Root-cause analysis shows the related PFMEA and Control Plan context, and the D7 prevention step raises a review flag back on the PFMEA.
The DFMEA and PFMEA elements of a PPAP submission resolve to their latest released revisions.
APQP deliverables read the FMEA's status live: the share of chains rated and the AP High chains still open.
Runs the analysis and the workshops, keeps the team to the seven steps, and can justify an AP High chain.
Build structures, failure chains and ratings, and own the optimisation actions assigned to them.
Decide the management reviews for severity 9–10 chains, and can justify an AP High chain when no action is warranted.
See a black-box view of the PFMEA through the Supplier Portal, with sensitive columns removed before the page is sent.
| Zometric FMEA vs a spreadsheet template | Spreadsheet template | Zometric FMEA |
|---|---|---|
| Action Priority | Looked up by hand or by a formula copied between files | Computed from the AIAG & VDA 2019 table as you rate |
| DFMEA to PFMEA | Copied by hand, drifts apart over time | Adopted effects follow the design severity; changes raise review flags |
| Control Plan | Retyped from the FMEA | Generated from FMEA controls, with a sync preview |
| Reuse | Last year's file copied and edited | Foundation FMEAs with tracked changes to review |
| History | File versions and "final_v3" names | Every change recorded with who, when and why; released revisions frozen |
| Teamwork | One editor at a time | Several editors with conflict handling, plus a full-screen workshop mode |
| Checks | None | 30 FMEA rules flag gaps before an FMEA can be marked complete |
| Approval | Signatures on paper or e-mail | Approval route with electronic signature |
Bring legacy PFMEA and DFMEA workbooks in, with automatic column mapping.
Export an FMEA for editing in Excel and re-import it, with a cell-by-cell comparison before anything is applied.
AIAG-VDA form sheets on screen, with CSV and Excel download of every form and a print layout for PDF.
FMEAs, failure chains, ratings, actions and releases are available through the REST API with token-scoped access.
Straight answers to the questions teams ask before a demo.
RPN multiplies Severity, Occurrence and Detection into one number, so very different risks can score the same. Action Priority, introduced by the AIAG & VDA FMEA Handbook in 2019, ranks each failure chain High, Medium or Low from a lookup table that weighs severity first. Zometric uses Action Priority by default and keeps a read-only RPN view for customers who still ask for it.
Yes. The workspace follows the seven AIAG-VDA steps, ships the 2019 Action Priority tables for DFMEA, PFMEA and FMEA-MSR, and produces the handbook's form sheets. Rating tables can be duplicated and adjusted to your customers' requirements.
Yes. Legacy PFMEA and DFMEA workbooks can be imported with automatic column mapping. An FMEA can also be exported for editing in Excel and re-imported, with a cell-by-cell comparison before changes are applied.
Yes. Design failure chains can be adopted into the PFMEA at the operation that makes the characteristic. Adopted effects keep following the DFMEA's severity, and a change in the DFMEA re-rates the PFMEA chains and raises a review flag. To rate an effect differently, you detach it with a written rationale.
A foundation FMEA is a reusable, generic analysis of a process or design, such as press-fitting or welding, that part-specific FMEAs are built from. In Zometric, when a foundation is improved, each FMEA built on it shows the changes to review and lets you take, keep or detach each one. Eight starter templates are included, from press-fit and fastening to injection moulding and packaging.
Yes. Workshop mode shows one failure chain at a time on a full-screen page, records attendance, the chains reviewed and the decisions made, and turns the session into minutes. Only the facilitator edits unless a participant is allowed to edit too.
No. FMEA suggestions for causes, effects and controls are produced by a local engine from your own FMEAs, CAPAs and lessons learned, each with a citation. No external LLM is used, and nothing is written to the FMEA until an engineer accepts it.
Yes. Through the Supplier Portal you can share a black-box view of the PFMEA from a secure link. Hidden columns are removed on the server, every page carries a watermark naming the viewer, and download and print are disabled.
A 30-minute discovery call. A 2–3 week pilot on real factory data. Then scale at your pace.
