Prerequisite

• Access the menu Registration > Failure Cause (FM006).

Presentation

The cause of failure represents the origin of a deficiency related to the project, process, asset, schedule, or object being analyzed, and is responsible for the emergence of one or more failure modes. It can be understood as the way in which the failure occurs, described in terms that allow for its correction or control.

There is a direct relationship between the cause of a failure and the failure mode: when the cause occurs, the failure mode manifests itself. Therefore, correctly identifying the root cause, with the appropriate level of detail, is fundamental to defining effective controls and appropriate action plans.

Examples of causes of failure include: overload, incorrect material specification, inadequate maintenance instructions, and insufficient lubrication capacity.

Register cause of failure

1. Access the Registration menu > Failure Cause (FM006).

2. Click the arrow next to the button and select the type of FMEA to which the failure cause will be applied:

• Design FMEA.
• Process FMEA.
• Asset FMEA.
• Project Schedule FMEA.
• Object FMEA.

3. On the displayed data screen, enter an identifier and a name that clearly identifies the cause of the failure.

4. In the Description field, describe the cause of the failure in detail.

5. After filling in the fields, click to complete the registration.

Once registered, the failure causes become available for selection during:

• The FMEA framework is assembled by recording the causes associated with the failure modes.
• Risk analysis directly influences the criteria for occurrence and detection.

Conclusion

Properly documenting the causes of failure is essential for the effectiveness of FMEA. 

By recording well-defined and standardized causes, SoftExpert FMEA enables more precise analyses, facilitates the definition of controls and corrective actions, and contributes to the prevention of failures and the continuous improvement of the processes analyzed.