Certified Quality Engineer (CQE) Practice Exam 2025 - Free Quality Engineer Practice Questions and Study Guide

One purpose of a failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is to anticipate and reduce the probability of product failures. This proactive approach involves identifying potential failure modes within a product or process, assessing their impact on operation and safety, and determining the likelihood of their occurrence. By understanding these potential failure modes, organizations can implement design improvements, process controls, or other preventive measures aimed at mitigating risks before they manifest. FMEA encourages a systematic evaluation, allowing teams to prioritize the most critical issues based on severity, occurrence, and detection ratings, which contributes to enhancing overall product reliability and safety.

The other options, while relevant to quality engineering practices, do not specifically capture the primary intent of FMEA. Validating design intentions focuses on ensuring specifications and requirements are met, estimating feasibility pertains more to evaluating operational capabilities, and performing root cause analysis relates to addressing issues after failures occur rather than preventing them initially. Thus, anticipating and reducing the probability of product failures distinctly embodies the core objective of FMEA.