Q141GATE 2014MCQ
Which one of the following techniques is used to analyze the cause and effect of product failure?
📖 Explanation
To analyze the cause and effect of product failure, we look for a technique that systematically links potential ways a product can fail (failure modes) to their underlying reasons (causes) and their impact (effects).
- Quality Function Deployment (QFD) translates customer needs into design specifications; it's preventative, not primarily for post-failure analysis.
- Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) deductively works backward from a top-level failure to identify root causes using Boolean logic, but its focus isn't as directly on the specific effects of each failure mode.
- Value Analysis (VA) optimizes cost and function; it doesn't systematically analyze failure causes and effects.
- Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) is designed to identify potential failure modes, their causes, and their effects. It systematically documents how a product might fail, why it might fail, and what the consequences of that failure would be, making it ideal for cause-and-effect analysis.
Therefore, FMEA is the most suitable technique as it explicitly identifies failure modes, determines their effects, and pinpoints their causes, providing a comprehensive map for understanding and mitigating product failures.