Failure Mode Verification Testing (FMVT®)
Utilizing Intertek's expertise in Failure Mode Verification Testing (FMVT®) can help you improve quality components, parts and systems.
FMVT is a patented process to employ highly accelerated test methods. FMVT reveals inherent design weaknesses first predicted by the FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) process. By exposing a design to a combined set of amplified environments/stresses, multiple failure modes (and their sequence and distribution) are produced in as little as one day. And because it can be completed in a day or two, FMVT makes it logistically and economically possible to bring people from all these areas into the testing process.
FMVT brings disciplines together:
- Design Engineering
- Reliability Engineering
- Computer Modeling
- Failure Analysis
Advantages of the FMVT
- Identifies Real Failure Modes and their Root Causes
- Increases Product Quality by Exposing Failure Modes that may not be Detected in Traditional Testing
- Reduces Development Time by Identifying Failure Modes at Design Verification
- Reduces Testing Time and Costs
- Reduces Number of Required Prototypes for Testing
- Does Not Require Road Data
- Complements Planned Design Iteration Sequences
FMVT Applications
- Design Verification
- Reliability Growth
- Continuous Improvement
- Warranty Reduction
- Warranty Avoidance
- Late Design Changes
FMVT Product Applications
A wide range of electro-mechanical products, including:
- Hard Drives
- ECG Monitors
- GPS Units
- Consumer Electronics/Appliances
- Automotive
FMVT Principles
- Test to Failure: By testing to failure, we can verify a design's or redesign's performance and manage the reliability growth and risk mitigation of the program.
- DMFEA Drive Test Development: Test the design based on what can break it. Bring the DFMEA to life.
- Produce Multiple Failure Modes: Random stress provides the opportunity to induce multiple failure modes on a single product.
- Conduct Failure Analysis: Root cause analysis tells the designer not just what failed but how and why and may give insight on how to correct.
- Estimate Design Maturity: Calculate the design's opportunity for improvement and its technological limits.