APPLICATION OF FAILURE MODE & EFFECT ANALYSIS (FMEA) FOR CONTINUOUS QUALITY IMPROVEMENT - MULTIPLE CASE STUDIES IN AUTOMOBILE SMES

Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a quality tool used to identify potential failures and related effects on processes and products, so continuous improvement in quality can be achieved by reducing them. The purpose of this research paper is to showcase the contribution of FMEA to achieve Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) by multiple case study research. The outcome research conducted by implementing FMEA; one of the Auto Core Tools (ACTs), in the automobile Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Gujarat, India is presented in this paper which depict various means of Continuous Quality Improvements. The case study based research was carried out in four automobile SMEs; all of them are supplied to automotive Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). The FMEA was implemented with the help of Cross Functional Team (CFT) to identify the potential failure modes and effects, in overall effect on Continuous Quality Improvement. The outcome of FMEA at four companies' reveals the scope of improvement exists in the manufacturing process. Implementation of those improvement points shows the definite signs of continuous improvement of the quality of process and product as well. The FMEA and subsequent implementations had reduced the quality rejections around 3% to 4% in case companies.