ORDREL / FREE TOOL
FMEA Studio: process FMEA and control plan
Rank process risks and build the control plan.
How this works
What you’ll get · Find how your process can fail before it does, rank the risks with the AIAG & VDA action priority, act on the highest ones and turn the result into a control plan.
Use the tools and save work for free. Data exports and reports require Plus or Teams.Compare plans →
How to do a process FMEA and a control plan
A process FMEA (failure mode and effects analysis) asks, step by step, how a process can fail, what that does to the customer and why it would happen. It ranks the risks so the team acts on the right ones first, and it feeds the control plan that keeps the process safe.
Start with the steps and their function
List the process steps in order. For each one, write what it must do (the function) and how well (the requirement, from the drawing or the spec). A failure is a requirement not met, so this is what makes the failure modes concrete.
Build failure chains: mode, effect, cause
For each step ask how it can fail (the failure mode), what the customer or the next step then experiences (the effect), and why it would happen (the cause). One chain per cause: two different causes of the same failure need different actions.
Rate severity, occurrence and detection
Severity (S) rates the worst effect, from 1 (no effect) to 10 (safety or law, without warning). Occurrence (O) rates how likely the cause is with today’s prevention. Detection (D) rates how likely today’s checks find the failure before it leaves; 1 means it cannot get through. Rate as a team, with the scales in front of you.
Action priority (AP) or RPN?
The RPN multiplies S × O × D, so very different risks can share the same number. The AIAG & VDA handbook (2019) replaced it with the action priority: a table that puts severity first, then occurrence, then detection, and returns high, medium or low. High means act; medium means act or justify; low means act if it is easy. The studio shows both.
Choose strong actions and re-rate
Only a design change lowers severity. Preventing the cause lowers occurrence; an automatic check lowers detection. Aim high on the countermeasure ladder: eliminate or mistake-proof before you rely on inspection or training. Give each action an owner and a date, record the evidence, then re-rate.
Turn it into a control plan
For every high or medium risk, special characteristic and severity 9–10, the control plan says what is checked, against which specification, how, how often, by whom, and the reaction plan when it goes wrong. Review the FMEA and the plan whenever the process changes or a new failure appears.
Before you call it done
Every step has its function and requirement. Every chain has a mode, an effect and a cause, rated by the team. Every high-priority chain has an owned action with a date. Severity 9–10 chains are acted on and marked as special characteristics. The control plan says how, how often, who and what to do.