FMEA - Failure mode and effects analysis
Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a risk assessment technique for systematically identifying potential failures in a system or a process. It is widely used in the manufacturing industries in various phases of the product life cycle. Failures are any errors or defects, especially ones that affect the customer, and can be potential or actual. Failure modes are characterizations of the ways a product or process can fail. Effects analysis refers to studying the consequences of those failures.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FMEA
Example FMEA procedure: http://www.asq.org/learn-about-quality/process-analysis-tools/overview/fmea.html
Further information: http://www.fmeainfocentre.com/