A FMEA-based approach to prioritize waste reduction in lean implementation

Abstract

Purpose – This paper presents a proposal of adaptation of the failure mode and effect analysis method to analyze wastes and define priorities for actions aimed at minimizing or eliminating these wastes based on the criteria of severity, occurrence and detection. Design/methodology/approach – The proposition was developed in parallel to the implementation of a lean production system of a manufacturing company. A pilot application of the proposal was based on the analysis of a flow of information for order processing. Findings – Application of the proposed procedure results in a classification of levels of priority for waste reduction of the analyzed waste modes. Following this procedure, high priority will be given to actions focused on the elimination or minimization of the most common causes of the most severe waste modes. Originality/value – Prioritization of actions to minimize waste is essential to sustain lean production systems. However, identifying the wastes most in need of attention is not always straightforward and methods presented in the literature to evaluate leanness do not focus on waste reduction prioritization. Adoption of the proposed technique can certainly aid planning implementation and improvement of lean production programs, and in the end, it can contribute to the effectiveness and sustainability of lean production systems.

An FMEA-Based Approach to Waste Reduction A Case on a Make-to-Order Company

“…At first, FMEA is used to solve safety-related problems. Nowadays, FMEA is used to solve several issues related to quality improvement, project lateness, and reliability [3]. FMEA sorts the criticality level or the priority of problems based on the risk priority number (RPN), which is the product of the severity, occurrence, and detection indices [3].…”

“…Nowadays, FMEA is used to solve several issues related to quality improvement, project lateness, and reliability [3]. FMEA sorts the criticality level or the priority of problems based on the risk priority number (RPN), which is the product of the severity, occurrence, and detection indices [3]. The severity index measures the effect of failure when it occurs, while the occurrence index represents the likelihood or frequency of failure cause to happen.…”

“…These three indices are on a scale ranging from 1 to 10. [3] proposes the use of FMEA to identify and prioritize waste and calls it waste-FMEA (W-FMEA). In this method, wastes are ranked based on their waste priority number (WPN) and cause priority number (CPN).…”

“…Tools to reduce waste have been proposed by some studies, such as value stream mapping (VSM) [1] and waste identification diagram (WID) [2]. [3] proposes an FMEA-based method to prioritize wastes. By prioritizing wastes, firms can tackle the most critical wastes.…”

“…By prioritizing wastes, firms can tackle the most critical wastes. The FMEA-based method proposed by [3] ranks wastes in terms of their waste priority numbers (WPN) and cause priority number (CPN), where WPN and CPN are products of severity, occurrence, and detection scores. A make-to-order (MTO) company has a different characteristic compared to a make-to-stock (MTS) company.…”