The SOLIDWORKS User Group Catalunya continues opening the doors of the classroom.

As part of the Computer-Aided Design and Analysis course within the Master’s Degree in Automotive Engineering, we are inviting the wider engineering community to join a special live expert session dedicated to one of the fundamental methodologies used in automotive product and process development:

FMEA Fundamentals for Automotive Engineering

The AIAG–VDA 7-Step Approach

The session will be delivered by Helmut Goiginger, an international consultant, facilitator and trainer specializing in FMEA and Technical Risk Management.

Understanding FMEA Beyond the Spreadsheet

Failure Mode and Effects Analysis is often associated with tables, ratings and risk scores.

But a robust FMEA begins much earlier: by understanding what is being analysed, how it is structured, what each element is expected to do, how it can fail, why it can fail and what the consequences could be.

This introductory session will provide participants with a first structured understanding of the engineering reasoning behind modern automotive Design FMEA (DFMEA) and Process FMEA (PFMEA).

Topics

• Introduction to FMEA and Technical Risk Management

• Design FMEA vs. Process FMEA

• The AIAG–VDA 7-Step Approach

• Structure, Function and Failure Analysis

• Failure Effects, Failure Modes and Failure Causes

• Risk Analysis: Severity, Occurrence and Detection

• Prevention and Detection Controls

• From Risk Priority Number (RPN) to Action Priority (AP)

• Risk Optimization

• Results Documentation

The AIAG–VDA approach structures FMEA into seven steps: Planning and Preparation, Structure Analysis, Function Analysis, Failure Analysis, Risk Analysis, Optimization and Results Documentation.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the session, participants will be able to:

• Understand the purpose and logic of FMEA in automotive engineering.

• Distinguish between DFMEA and PFMEA.

• Understand how functions, failure modes, effects and causes are connected.

• Interpret the basic principles of Severity, Occurrence and Detection.

• Understand the difference between traditional RPN and Action Priority.

• Recognize how FMEA supports preventive engineering and technical risk reduction.

From Function to Risk

A central concept of the session will be understanding the engineering chain:

Structure → Function → Failure → Effect / Cause → Risk → Action

Participants will also be introduced to the transition from the traditional:

RPN = Severity × Occurrence × Detection

toward the Action Priority (AP) approach used in the AIAG–VDA methodology to prioritize engineering action as High, Medium or Low.

The objective is not to learn how to complete a full FMEA in a single session, but to understand the reasoning and analyses required before engineering teams can systematically evaluate and reduce technical risk.

A Live Automotive Engineering Master’s Session

This is not a standalone webinar or an FMEA certification course.

Participants will be joining a real live session of the Master’s Degree in Automotive Engineering, together with the students enrolled in the course.

The objective is to connect academic engineering education, automotive industry methodology and professional technical risk-management experience within the same classroom.

Because this session takes place during the regular Master’s class, only 10 places are available for external in-person attendees.

Everyone is welcome to join virtually.