Potential Failure Mode: Fatigue cracking at the weld point. Potential Effect: The bracket snaps. The cooling line sags. The engine overheats on a highway in the middle of July. Severity: 9. High risk of vehicle shutdown.
For three hours, Arthur worked through the "Recommended Actions" column. He didn't just see a broken part anymore; he saw a solution. They didn't need a stronger weld; they needed a redesigned curve to distribute the stress. He sketched a new flange, a simple tweak that would drop the Severity to a 3. The ASQ pocket guide to failure mode and effect...
The fluorescent lights of the Quality Lab hummed at a frequency that usually soothed Arthur, but today, they felt like a spotlight on a crime scene. On his workbench sat the "Internal Component 402-B"—a simple metal bracket that had just cost the company six figures in a recall. Potential Failure Mode: Fatigue cracking at the weld point