Failure Mode and Effects Analysis Integrated with Multi-Attribute Decision-Making Methods Under Uncertainty: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a proactive management technique widely used to improve the reliability of products and processes across various business sectors. Due to rapid changes stemming from uncertain environments, numerous studies have proposed different approaches to enhance the effectiveness of the FMEA method. However, there is a lack of systematic literature reviews and classification of research on this topic. The purpose of this paper is to systematically review the literature on the integration of FMEA with Multi-Attribute Decision-Making (MADM) theories and various mathematical models. This study analyses a total of 68 papers published between 2015 and 2024, selected from 51 peer-reviewed journals indexed in Scopus and/or Web of Science. Furthermore, a bibliometric analysis was conducted based on the frequency of different mathematical theories used to model existing uncertainties, methods for determining the weighting vectors of risk factors (RFs), the use of MADM theories extended with uncertain numbers for weighting RFs and prioritizing identified failure modes, publication years, journals, and application domains. This research aims to support both researchers and practitioners in effectively adopting uncertain MADM methods to address the limitations of traditional FMEA and provide insight into the current state of the art in this field.