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AIAG and VDA Release New Automotive FMEA Handbook

by Greg Creason | Jun 03, 2019

Automotive suppliers will find it easier to meet FMEA customer requirements with this new industry handbook that combines the best practices of both organizations into one guide.

SOUTHFIELD, Michigan, June 03, 2019 — The Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) has collaborated with the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) in publishing the first international guide on Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA).

AIAG and VDA have harmonized their previous regional FMEA manuals into a single document. The new AIAG & VDA FMEA Handbook, 1st Edition promotes the utility of a process-oriented methodology to help suppliers meet the product performance requirements of global automakers.

FMEA is the most commonly used risk analysis method in the automotive industry tool box and helps suppliers predict and prevent failures in both the product development and part production processes. The new AIAG & VDA FMEA Handbook provides consistent direction and guidance to all automotive suppliers, including best practices and examples from AIAG’s and VDA’s previous handbooks and real world experiences.

The most noticeable change in the AIAG & VDA FMEA Handbook is a new 7-Step approach for FMEA development, which provides a framework for documenting technical risks in a precise, relevant manner. The 7-Step Approach includes Planning & Preparation, Structure Analysis, Function Analysis, Failure Analysis, Risk Analysis, Optimization, and Results Documentation. With this new framework, product design and process risk become more transparent and can be anticipated, calibrated and managed in a more comprehensive manner.

“The technical sophistication and complexity of today’s automotive designs continues to accelerate…and so too does the risk,” says Scott A. Gray, AIAG’s director, quality products and services. “We need new, more robust tools and a commitment to multidisciplinary enterprise reviews to better manage the risks associated with the design and manufacture of these new products to ensure that they are suitable for their intended use.”  

Additional changes include a new chapter on Supplemental FMEA for Monitoring and System Response (FMEA-MSR), totally revised Severity, Occurrence and Detection Tables, the Action Priority (AP) methodology and Tables to replace RPN, new Form Sheets (spreadsheet users) and Software Report Views (software users) and change point highlights from both the AIAG 4th edition FMEA Manual and the VDA Volume 4 FMEA Manual.

The new process guides the practitioner in aligning information between the steps to ensure accuracy and completeness of the FMEA. It helps identify and assign priority to actions aimed to reduce risk, while considering severity, occurrence, and detection individually and in combination with risk-reducing factors. The methodology fosters collaboration between the FMEA team, management, customers, and suppliers and can be executed with either spreadsheets or FMEA software.

Purchase the new AIAG & VDA FMEA Handbook now: www.aiag.org/FMEA.

About AIAG: The Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) is a unique not-for-profit organization where OEMs, suppliers, service providers, government entities, and individuals in academia have worked collaboratively for more than 36 years to drive down costs and complexity from the automotive supply chain. AIAG membership includes leading global manufacturers, parts suppliers, and service providers. Visit www.aiag.org for more information.