SYSTEM OR CONCEPT FMEA

A concept FMEA is used to analyze concepts at very early stages with new ideas. Concept FMEAs can be design, process, or even machinery oriented. However, in practical terms, most of them are done on a system or subsystem level.

The process of the system or concept FMEA is practically the same as that of a design FMEA. In fact, the evaluation guidelines are exactly the same as those of DFMEA. The difference is that in the system FMEA a great effort is made to identify gross failures with high severities. If these problems cannot be overcome , then the project most likely will be killed . If the failures can be fixed through reasonable design changes, then the project moves to a second stage and the design FMEA takes over.