Quality & Risk Management in the Process Industry

Many different industries come together in the process-oriented sector. Here, the raw materials necessary for other companies are extracted and further processed within the framework of technical processes. It cannot always be ruled out that errors may occur in the process. In order to avoid the consequences of such errors, however, it is important to find and eliminate them as quickly as possible.

Quality & Risk Management in the Process Industry

The FMEA and its Use in Process-Oriented Industry

In the area of process-oriented industry, an FMEA risk analysis can be carried out that is specifically adapted to the needs of the individual branch.

Different processes have to be initiated for each branch. A suitable software for FMEA offers the appropriate applications for each manufacturing process. Regardless of whether the company is located in the chemical industry, in the energy industry or in food technology, the software finds the errors that occur during the manufacturing processes and evaluates them.

The next step in the risk analysis is to evaluate the defects. Lighter errors, which have only minor consequences, are eliminated without further intervention. Serious errors are examined more closely by the FMEA software. They are verified and also eliminated after intensive observation.

The FMEA software fulfills its full function in a company if it is used in a process-oriented manner. In order for a company to benefit from the use of the software, the responsibility is transferred to an FMEA facilitator. This person has acquired the knowledge for the application within the scope of an FMEA training and is qualified to coordinate and supervise the entire process of failure analysis.

For the other employees involved in the failure analysis, the FMEA moderator is a competent contact person. The person who assumes the function of the FMEA moderator can be contracted externally. However, it can also be an in-house employee who has participated in an FMEA training course and therefore has the necessary knowledge.

The Process Industry

The process industry is widely ramified in the German industrial landscape. As a result, the processes initiated here also have an impact on other industries. It is therefore all the more important to have a functioning risk management system in place here that detects and eliminates errors in good time. An FMEA risk analysis makes it possible to detect the errors before they can have a lasting negative impact on a manufacturing process.

Companies that use FMEA software not only save time. They can increase their liquidity because they do not have to invest money in costly troubleshooting. Instead, they benefit from a trouble-free production process.

The Application Areas of a Well-Founded Fault Analysis

An FMEA risk analysis leads to success wherever error-prone production processes are the order of the day. The more components are involved in a process, the higher the failure-proneness of the whole system.

The analysis for error prevention supports processes where products have to be permanently adapted or changed. The changes occur due to legal requirements or to keep up with technical progress. With the use of a well-founded error analysis, a company meets these requirements.

The Basic Principle of FMEA

In an FMEA risk analysis within the process industry, the basic principles of FMEA are strictly followed. These basic principles are not only based on the search for obvious defects, which are subsequently eliminated and documented. With the help of FMEA analysis, companies can also detect hidden defects and assess their risk in advance. In this way, the influence of this error on the subsequent production process can be conveniently and easily avoided.

The Factors of a Successful FMEA Analysis

The following four factors are used in every failure analysis:

The FMEA software is effective and user-friendly. Defects are detected in time and thus contribute to an optimization of the product development process. The core of the software is the FMEA risk analysis.

In the FMEA training the participants receive the compact knowledge of the defect detection and avoidance strategy. They will not only learn how to use the software and in which areas the FMEA risk analysis can be used effectively. The participants are trained to become competent FMEA moderators.

The FMEA moderator can be commissioned externally or come from among your own employees. He or she is responsible for ensuring that the FMEA analysis runs successfully.

The FMEA documentation ensures that every defect is recorded and analyzed. A user of the FMEA software benefits from the fact that the document management software is integrated in the system.

FMEA in Use: Risk Management and Quality Management

Every company can support its quality management with a comprehensive FMEA risk analysis. Trouble-free production processes mean that a high-quality product can be delivered to the customer on time.

In order to achieve this goal, the individual sub-areas of a product development process must be subjected to a detailed analysis. In particular, the risky processes are scrutinized by the FMEA software with the help of suitable tools. Once a defect is identified, it is categorized. If it is a minor error, it can be eliminated. A defect that can have a lasting negative impact on production is analyzed further. For subsequent productions, it is also important that errors of this type are recorded and securely archived.

Conclusion

The process-oriented industry is characterized by being very research-intensive. New tasks pose special challenges for FMEA risk analysis and quality management. If a company can demonstrate a trouble-free process flow here, it is clearly at an advantage.

Professional support is available to companies that use suitable software for failure analysis. A comprehensive FMEA risk analysis is carried out for every application. The company benefits from the fact that the errors are not only detected, but also eliminated in the next step. For the user himself, this means no more than a few mouse clicks.