What is the primary purpose of FMEA?

The primary purpose of Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is to decrease failures in a process by identifying potential failure modes, their causes, and effects. FMEA is a systematic approach used to evaluate processes to identify where and how they might fail and assessing the relative impact of different failures, which helps prioritize actions to mitigate risks. By doing so, it plays a critical role in enhancing product reliability and improving processes, ultimately leading to increased customer satisfaction.

The other options focus on aspects that are not the primary aim of FMEA. While increasing customer awareness or designing a new product may involve considerations of reliability, they do not encapsulate the core function of FMEA. Evaluating effectiveness can be a secondary outcome of addressing failure modes, but it does not directly reflect the essential purpose of FMEA, which is fundamentally about failure prevention.