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.