• process
• HOR
• failure
• FTA
• FMECA
• DMECA

This paper presents a combination of three engineering tools, i.e. Dysfunctional Mode and Effects Critical Analysis (DMECA), Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) and House of Reliability (HoR), for identifying and evaluating the possible failures of a process. This tools are well known in the academic and industrial world. The methodology presented joined the strengths of them to analyze at the same time both the effects and causes of failures. Working for preventing or reducing them lead sometimes to avoid the failures of some activities of the process. This combination enables users to:
• analyze each activity of a process
• evaluate each potential failure and his causes
• evaluate a Risk Priority Number (RPN) for each cause considering the degree of importance of each effect
• study the relationship between causes and between causes and effects
• support the definition and evaluation of the possible improvement actions
First there is a briefly description of the strengths of these tools. Then, in order to illustrate the methodology there is an industrial application, i.e. for the delivery process of a famous company in the media-entertainment sector.