Design FMEA and Process FMEA Start and Completion Timing

Improper start and completion timing for both the DFMEA and PFMEA are common.  Attempt to perform the DFMEAs and PFMEAs too early and participants will not have the necessary information about the product and processes to properly populate the forms.  Complete the DFMEA too late and the current residual risk determined by the DFMEA is not available to determine if the product design should be released for manufacture.  Similarly, if you complete the PFMEA too late the current manufacturing residual risk determined by the FMEA is not available to determine if machine qualification should be started.

This article has two objectives.  The first objective is to define what the new SAE J1739 FMEA Standard JAN2021 (Copyright © 2021 SAE International) says about the proper start and completion timing for the DFMEA and PFMEA.  The second objective is to assess if the SAE J1739 FMEA Standard start and completion timing instructions for the DFMEA and PFMEA are correct.