<p>Failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) is a risk mitigation method designed to improve the quality and reliability of systems or products. However, traditional FMEA tends to focus on isolated failure modes, ignoring potential interactions between failure modes. Consequently, this paper introduces an improved FMEA method based on the Decision Making and Trial Evaluation Laboratory and Interpretative Structural Model (DEMATEL-ISM) methods to reflect the interaction between failure modes and provide reliable risk assessment results. And to overcome the shortcomings of the traditional FMEA, we employ the fuzzy linguistic Extended Comparative Linguistic Expressions with Symbolic Translation (ELICIT) for the representation of expert opinions, consider the reliability and consistency of the evaluation information for expert weighting, and use the Weights by ENvelope and SLOpe (WENSLO) method for risk factor weighting. Moreover, a risk assessment case study of photovoltaic cell manufacturing is conducted to validate the effectiveness of the improved method, which is effective in identifying the core issues in interactive failure modes and offers a flexible and objective approach for decision makers.</p>