Failure mode, effects, and criticality analysis (FMECA) is a method used to identify potential failure modes of a product or process and to determine the effects and criticality of those failures on system functionality. The primary purpose of FMECA is to anticipate the ways in which an item might fail and to develop design and procedural safeguards to prevent or mitigate such failures. Thus, it involves analyzing how an item might fail and implementing preventive measures based on that analysis.