Re: The real Link between a PFMEA and the Control Plan
Is it fair to say that the Process Failure Mode on the PFMEA is the Control Characteristic on the Control Plan?
If so does every process failure need to be addressed in the control plan?
Lastly does anyone have an excel form that would automatically tranfer PFMEA information over to the Control Plan to begin that process?
Thanks in advance,
jakes
I don't have a template for you. I know that there are commercial packages that will do it, but they tend to be a little expensive.
As for the general strategy of linking the PCP to the PFMEA, the latter should be used to help determine what appears on the control plan, and the necessary controls. It's not necessary to transfer all of the operations shown on the PFMEA document to the control plan, as it may have been determined during the PFMEA process that some operations don't present risk sufficient to require continuous control. What's listed as a failure mode on the PFMEA depends on how you construct it. I like to see
process failures identified as failure modes, rather than part defects (defects are the
effects of process failures). The goal, after all, is to control the process.
The process/product characteristic columns on the PCP form should be used to describe what's being controlled. For example, if you're using process failures as failure modes, you would make an entry in the process characteristics column such as, "Dwell time," then give the limits (the tolerance) in the tolerance column ("30 seconds, +/- 2 seconds," e.g.). In the part characteristic column, you would describe the part characteristic(s) that might be affected by dwell time, and list the necessary controls.