Machinery risk assessment integration with design and development methods for risk and potential failure reduction considering safety and efficiency

Implementation of design and development methods, such like Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA), Failure Mode and Effect Criticality Analysis (FMECA), Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA) etc., that are largely applied in the machinery manufacturing industry during product design, leads to more efficient products. In machinery design and manufacturing process, not only machine efficiency, but also high level of safety should be achieved. Machinery risk assessment requirement is explicitly stated in EU Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC [1]. For risk and potential failure reduction, integration of design and development methods with risk assessment techniques should be done. All design and development methods (FMEA group methods, DFMA method etc.) and risk assessment techniques are interdependent. Reduction or elimination of a potential failure mode leads to lower risk and higher safety of the machinery. At the same time, eliminating the failure mode at the early stage of machine design in the framework of risk assessment procedure, higher machine efficiency shall be guaranteed at lower cost. In addition, optimizing the design of the machine, applying DFMA method, leads to the smaller number and more efficient machine components. Thus, the smaller number of uncertainties is considered in risk analysis and lower risk levels are available. However, the process of simultaneous application of design and development methods and risk assessment techniques is poorly explained. Design and development methods and risk assessment are often used separately due to the lack of analysis and explanation of both methods integrated application. Some important aspects of these methods integration are investigated to provide information for integrated application and methods improvement.