Artificial intelligence tools for applying failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA).

This study describes an alternative way of applying Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) to a wide variety of problems, It presents a methodology based on a decision system supported by qualitative rides which provides a ranking of the risks of potential causes of production system failures. By providing an illustrative example, it highlights the advantages of this flexible system over the traditional FMEA model. Moreover, in order to optimise the risk cause ranking, a comparative study between AI approaches such as Fuzzy Decision Systems, Neural Networks and Case Based Reasoning is proposed Results suggest that the fuzzy decision system is the most appropriate to optimise risk cause classification.