PlanTech: DRBFM-"The Next Big Thing" in Quality Disciplines.

PlanTech: DRBFM-"The Next Big Thing" in Quality Disciplines.: "Good Discussion
Concentrate on the proposed changes to a design. If a proven good design is applied to future products the risk of failure is low. If changes are made to the existing design, the potential for failure exists.
Do not trivialize the changes. Work to understand the changes. Mr. Yoshimura advises validation testing can identify design weaknesses, but, why wait until validation testing is done to identify the failure? Good discussions held at preliminary design reviews can achieve the same result. The good discussion Mr. Yoshimura refers to is DRBFM.
The analysis for DRBFM is modeled after the standard column worksheet developed for Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA). Although the initial concept of DRBFM was intended to distance itself from FMEA, due to its bad reputation, Mr. Yoshimura recommends using the DMFEA format if a company has a good FMEA process. It's not the form, it's the analysis. DRBFM returns the risk analysis to its roots.
A prerequisite for the DRBFM is a comprehensive, well-done FMEA. Then, a DRBFM is to be conducted for every design change.
The DRBFM is intended to make the changes visible by discussing, at length, every possible concern and cause that can result in failure. The FMEA's reputation has suffered due to so many efforts to automate it. How many meetings do you think we'll need? How long will the meetings be? Can we speed this up? The emphasis on FMEA has been to complete it, there was little concern for quality. The emphasis of DRBFM is to discuss. "