Failure mode and effects analysis using intuitionistic fuzzy hybrid TOPSIS approach

Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is an effective reliability analysis technique used to identify and evaluate potential failures in systems, products, processes, and/or designs. In traditional FMEA, prioritization of failure modes is carried out by utilizing risk priority numbers (RPNs), which can be acquired by the multiplication of three risk factors: occurrence (O), severity (S) and detection (D). However, there are some inherent deficiencies in the conventional RPN method, which affect its effectiveness and thus limit its applications. In response, this paper introduces a new modified TOPSIS method, named intuitionistic fuzzy hybrid TOPSIS approach, to determine the risk priorities of failure modes identified in FMEA. Moreover, both the subjective and objective weights of risk factors are taken into consideration in the process of risk and failure analysis. A product example of the color super twisted nematic is presented at last to demonstrate the potential applications of the proposed approach, and the merits are highlighted by comparing with some existing methods.