EMPIRICAL CONSIDERATION OF PREDICTING CHAIN FAILURE MODES IN PRODUCT STRUCTURES DURING DESIGN REVIEW PROCESS

The DRBFM (Design Review Based on Failure Mode) method has been proposed for predicting latent failures in design stages. The errors in conducting the DRBFM method can be classified into three types; the error of unnoticed, the error of underestimating and the error of misunderstanding. This paper describes the modified DRBFM to effectively find the errors of underestimating. In the modified DRBFM method, a root of failures in a network of failures can be specified from the differences in design features between current products and previous reliable one. Updating the preconditions of functions changed by the failures in relating elements can visualize the newly generated changes that can provoke chained failures. To compare the performances of detecting latent errors of underestimating, 28 mechanical engineering students conducted the conventional FMEA or the modified DRBFM method by themselves. The result significantly showed that the modified DRBFM method is more effective in detecting failures which causes the errors of underestimating.