Question

An FMEA was constructed as part of a project to reduce invoicing errors. One of the potential failure modes was "Incorrect Price in Computer System". Values were assigned as follows:

Severity - 8
Occurrence - 2
Detection - 9
What is the RPN for this failure mode, and which action would you recommend to improve the RPN based on this limited data?
A) RPN=144, Error-proofing to decrease the probability of Occurrence and raise the Occurrence score
B) RPN= 19, Error-proofing to increase the probability of Detection and reduce the Detection score
C) RPN=144, Error-proofing to increase the probability of Detection and reduce the Detection score
D) RPN= 19, Error-proofing to decrease the probability of Occurrence and raise the Occurrence score
E) RPN=144, Error-proofing to increase the probability of Detection and raise the Detection score

Answer 1

The RPN for 'Incorrect Price in Computer System' is calculated by multiplying Severity, Occurrence, and Detection values, resulting in RPN=144. The best action to improve this RPN is to decrease the probability of Occurrence, which is the area with the most potential for improvement based on the given data.

Step-by-step explanation:

The Risk Priority Number (RPN) is a product of three factors: Severity, Occurrence, and Detection, which are used in Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) to prioritize potential failures according to their relative risk. In this case, the values assigned are Severity - 8, Occurrence - 2, Detection - 9. To calculate the RPN, we multiply these values together: RPN = Severity × Occurrence × Detection = 8 × 2 × 9 = 144.

Given the RPN and the values provided, the recommended action would be to focus on improving the Occurrence score because it has a lower value relative to Severity and Detection. Lowering the Occurrence would mean reducing the probability that the failure mode "Incorrect Price in Computer System" happens. Therefore, the correct answer is A) RPN=144, Error-proofing to decrease the probability of Occurrence and raise the Occurrence score.