Perhaps this has been debated to death earlier, if so pls. excuse me for raking it up again.

I would like to know what is the better way of doing FMEAs - identifying a RPN cut off number or working on the top 3- 5 high RPNs? As i understand, both have their pros and cons.

Pls. advise.

Maybe think of the RPN's as a driver for a part of your continuous improvement projects???

Some customers define a cut off RPN for treatment. This is of course subjective as the RPN is in a lot of cases your view.
This is a subject that you must discuss in the team and depends on the levels of RPN that you are getting.
If the numbers are all low, less than say 60 there is little to do. If the numbers are largley over 150 then you have work todo.
Commonsense and your knowledge of your process and product are the best way to go.

Howard and AL,

Thanks!

I agree with both of you.

This is a re-hash as well but take it for what it is worth.

When looking at a FMEA, don't forget to look first at the high severity items. Sometimes they can be more important to a customer than something with a higher RPN.

Dave