Prioritization of Quality Risks in Digital Quality Systems by Failure Mode and Effects Analysis: Bus Manufacturing Case

Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a technique that evaluates and classifies the errors/risks that may occur at different stages in the enterprises according to their types and prioritizes the errors. Because it is an easy and effective technique to apply, it is frequently used for quality improvement. Determines the occurence / severity / detection components and quality risk priorities by separating the failures according to their modes. In this study, automotive sector for FMEA application is discussed. In a bus manufacturing company operating in Sakarya, a system called Digital Quality Systems is used to record the quality failures. Digital Quality Systems allow quality risk data to be entered into the system with the help of a tablet as soon as failure occur. Because of tablet, certain standards can be applied for quality control and since all controls are performed on the same scheme, there is no case for interpretation. Before the delivery of the buses to the customer, final quality controls are made and quality failures are recorded in Digital Quality System instantly. In the current system, at the end of the month, whichever failure is higher in the evaluations, more sensitivity is shown in the next production. This method is a very ineffective and primitive method to really reduce quality failures. Due to lack of analysis of failures, detection of failures is not possible to the end and failures are not reduced.This is an important quality problem. In order to solve this problem, FMEA technique is recommended in this study.