Your FMEA says how assets are expected to fail. Your work orders say how they actually fail. When both use the same language, you can hold your strategy up against real field history and see what’s working. Failure codes are what make that possible, and they’re also the bridge to Maximo Reliability Strategies.
FMEA and Maximo ask the same questions
An FMEA walks through each way an asset can fail. FMECA adds a criticality ranking so the team knows which ones matter most. The Maximo failure hierarchy captures the same story, one work order at a time.
| FMEA / FMECA asks | Maximo captures it in | Example |
|---|---|---|
| What kind of asset or system? | Failure Class | Pump |
| How does the failure show up? | Problem | Loss of flow |
| What mechanism caused it? | Cause | Mechanical seal wear |
| What action addresses it? | Remedy | Replace seal |
| How much does it matter? | Asset criticality and priority | High-criticality process pump |
The match is close, not exact. Teams draw the line between “failure mode” and “cause” in slightly different places. That’s fine. What matters is picking one convention and using it everywhere, so each Problem and Cause pair in Maximo points back to one failure mode in your analysis.
Design the codes before you need the analysis
Failure codes are often built during implementation, when the goal is getting work orders closed. Codes built for analysis look a little different.
- Start from the failure modes you care about. Build Problem and Cause codes from the FMEA for each asset class, not from a generic list.
- Keep one idea per code. “Seal wear” and “seal installed incorrectly” lead to different fixes. They deserve different codes.
- Pick the right level of detail. Codes should separate failure modes that need different strategies. Go further than that, and technicians stop using them.
- Make the Remedy meaningful. Match remedies to the actions in your strategy, like replace, adjust, or redesign. That’s how you see which actions actually happen in the field.
- Keep catch-alls small. An “Other” option is practical. When it becomes a top code, the list is due for a refresh.
Where Maximo Reliability Strategies fits
Maximo Reliability Strategies, part of the Maximo Application Suite, gives teams a library of failure modes, FMEA content, and recommended maintenance actions by asset type. Instead of starting from a blank page, teams start from proven content and tailor it. Since MAS 9.0, customers can also create their own FMEA studies and actions in the library. IBM also describes an AI-assisted RCM Strategy Builder that helps teams build FMEAs and maintenance strategies from asset criticality, failure modes, and business risk.
The library tells you how assets are expected to fail. Your failure codes tell you how they actually fail. When the two share a vocabulary, you can:
- See which expected failure modes are showing up, and how often
- Spot failures the strategy doesn’t cover yet
- Check whether recommended actions are cutting repeat failures over time
- Run MTBF and root cause analysis on data you can compare
That loop is what keeps a reliability strategy current, instead of a document that was right once.
Where to start
You don’t need to recode everything at once. Start where better data matters most.
- Pick a few critical asset classes. Let asset criticality decide.
- List the failure modes for each. Pull them from your FMEA or the Reliability Strategies library.
- Map them to your Problem and Cause codes. Note what’s missing, duplicated, or too broad.
- Update the codes and tell the field why. Technicians code better when they know the data drives real decisions.
- Review on a schedule. Check code usage each quarter and adjust as your strategies evolve.
Signs your codes are ready
- Every critical asset class has its own failure class
- Each Problem and Cause pair maps to a failure mode in your analysis
- Remedies line up with the actions in your maintenance strategy
- Catch-all codes stay a small share of closed work orders
- Someone owns the code list and reviews it regularly
When those pieces are in place, every closed work order adds to a picture your reliability team can trust and act on.
Related terms
Failure Mode · Failure Modes, Effects, and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) · Reliability Strategy · Asset Criticality · Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) · Root Cause Analysis (RCA)
See how your reliability program measures up with the Maximo Reliability Value Assessment.