Failure Mode and Effects Analysis Template
What is FMEA? FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis) is an approach to identify potential failure modes within a product design (DFMEA) or process (PFMEA), along with prioritizing the risks based on the likelihood of occurrence (frequency), the impact of the effect (severity), and the ability to detect the failure. This methodology is commonly used in the manufacturing, engineering, automotive, aerospace, and healthcare industries, or wherever safety and quality are a concern.
Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
for Excel
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⤓ ExcelLicense: Private Use (not for distribution or resale)
Description
This Excel-based FMEA template is a printable and customizable spreadsheet for creating Design FMEA (DFMEA) or Process FMEA (PFMEA) worksheets. Some key features include:
- AI Assistant - A worksheet designed to help you use ChatGPT to aid in brainstorming possible failure modes and to populate the worksheet with a rough analysis.
- RPN Calculations - Calculate the Risk Priority Number (RPN = Frequency x Severity × Detection) to help rank the most critical failure modes.
- Color-Coded Risk Values - The Basic Risk (FxS) and the RPN (FxSxD) columns use conditional formatting rules to highlight the values. You can adjust these scales.
- Recommended Actions Section - Track actions taken to mitigate high-risk failure modes and update their scores.
- Risk Matrix Reference - A separate color-coded risk matrix is included as a reference to aid in ranking the frequency and severity of failure modes.
- Printable and Shareable - Easy to export or print for team reviews and quality audits. The license allows you to share the file privately with your team.
Using the AI Assistant [Big Disclaimer]
Although AI is known to frequently provide made-up or erroneous results, it can be a very useful brainstorming tool. We have found it to be fairly good at coming up with ideas for possible failure modes and their effects. The more detail you provide, the more detailed responses you may be able to get.
YOU and YOUR TEAM will need to verify and modify all of the results that you get from your AI prompts. Do not let AI make any decisions for you. The intended use within this FMEA template is to use AI to help generate ideas that you may not have thought of yourself.
When to Use This FMEA Template
- Product Design Reviews (DFMEA) - Evaluate potential points of failure in a product during the design phase.
- Process Improvement (PFMEA) - Identify and mitigate risks in manufacturing or service processes.
This template was not designed specifically for regulatory compliance, though it might be useful in preparing documentation for some quality compliance or six sigma projects.
Example Use Cases
- Automotive supplier assessing risks in brake system design
- Medical device company performing risk analysis for a new product
- Manufacturer conducting PFMEA on an assembly line process
- Engineer preparing quality documentation for a new product launch
The Risk Matrix
The rating scales for the Frequency (Likelihood, 1-5), Severity (Impact, 1-5), and Detection (1-10) are hard-coded into this worksheet. A risk matrix worksheet is provided to create a reference for the Frequency and Severity ratings as shown below:
You may make changes to the reference risk matrix, though if you change the rating scales you would need to change the AI instructions and possibly the formulas, data validation, and conditional formatting.
See our Risk Assessment Matrix page for details about the rating scales and to learn how to use conditional formatting to set up a color scale for the risk score.
