A Minimum Cost Consensus-Based Failure Mode and Effect Analysis Framework Considering Experts’ Limited Compromise and Tolerance Behaviors

This study proposes a minimum cost consensus-based failure mode and effect analysis (MCC-FMEA) framework considering experts' limited compromise and tolerance behaviors, where the first behavior indicates that a failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) expert might not tolerate modifying his/her risk assessment without limitations, and the second behavior indicates that an FMEA expert will accept risk assessment suggestions without being paid for any cost if the suggested risk assessments fall within his/her tolerance threshold. First, an MCC-FMEA with limited compromise behaviors is presented. Second, experts' tolerance behaviors are added to the MCC-FMEA with limited compromise behaviors. Theoretical results indicate that in some cases, this MCC-FMEA with limited compromise and tolerance behaviors has no solution. Thus, a minimum compromise adjustment consensus model and a maximum consensus model with limited compromise behaviors are developed and analyzed, and an interactive MCC-FMEA framework, resulting in an FMEA problem consensual collective solution, is designed. A case study, regarding the assessment of COVID-19-related risk in radiation oncology, and a detailed sensitivity and comparative analysis with the existing FMEA approaches are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach to FMEA consensus-reaching.