Interview with Tomas Marek (FBE) about quality management, FMEA and PeakAvenue software
This year, FBE became a PeakAvenue partner and started to offer companies modern software tools for quality management (IQ-APIS, PLATO). We talked to Tomas Marek, lecturer and consultant at FBE, about why Excel is no longer enough, how customer expectations are changing and who these solutions make the most sense for.
What does PeakAvenue actually address?
PeakAvenue delivers software that helps companies manage quality management throughout the product lifecycle – from design to production. It’s all based on the need to manage risk, prevent errors and have more control over processes than a spreadsheet. These tools are not limited to automotive; they also make sense in engineering, food, chemical or pharmaceutical.
Why Excel is no longer enough for FMEA?
FMEA used to be a relatively “lightweight discipline”. Today, it is common for an analysis to contain hundreds to thousands of items, links and revisions. Excel may technically be sufficient for this, but practically it is not. As a result, people spend more time looking for where something is than doing the analysis itself.
PeakAvenue’s software makes it possible to:
- quick switches between process, error and action,
- data linkage across projects and documents,
- clear management output,
- significant time savings – typically 30-50% compared to Excel.
In Excel, you usually get lost on the way to what you need. In software, it’s a matter of two clicks.
IQ-APIS or PLATO? Is there a fundamental difference between them?
A fundamental no. Both tools know the essentials – FMEA, process maps, control plans and defect networking. The difference is really mostly in how they look.
- IQ-APIS has a tree layout and visual orientation.
- PLATO acts more like a data directory.
It’s similar to Android versus Apple. Functionally they’re close, but something different fits each user. So companies choose based on who is better at working with what. But customers have more or less insisted at least that FMEA not be in Excel. BMW or Mercedes have it right in the requirements.
Where is the software used most often?
The most common is industry, where a tangible product is produced – production of parts, construction of equipment, chemical plants, pharmaceuticals. FMEA can also be applied to architectural structures or processes that are safety sensitive.
There is also a variant of FMEA for software (MSR). This is most commonly used today by the automotive industry for control units, but there is also potential in IT security and banking systems. There it is still rather unexplored territory.
How is the software implemented in the company?
First, it is decided what platform the company will use. Sometimes this is determined by the head office, other times it is chosen according to the type of company. Then comes setting the methodology – often there is a need to remove “old habits” that no longer fit today’s quality standards.
This is followed by training of key users and a pilot project. Gradually the work is extended to other teams. As a result, most companies become autonomous over time and use the consultant role only for revisions or updates.
The return on investment tends to be fast. Time is saved, risk visibility is improved and error rates are reduced. “Within one to two years, it usually pays for itself,” says Marek.
Who in the company should learn about FMEA and these tools?
Especially those who do development or quality – project managers, designers, industrial and process engineers and of course quality managers. Manufacturing is a partner, but the driver tends to be quality or engineering.
What do you personally enjoy about this job?
That I can see into the processes in the different departments. And that I can help companies avoid mistakes that someone else has already made before them. When you see a tangible change in yield or a reduction in errors, it’s a very tangible result.