Understanding and solving the real reliability assurance problems

Abstract

To be competitive, manufacturers need to know how things fail, as well as how things work. The combination of physics-of-failure and best practices is an approach to the development of cost-effective reliable products that focuses on how things can fail through an understanding of the root causes of failure. The goal is to answer the following questions: (1) how can the supplier measure how well he is doing?; (2) what kind of reliability assurances can a supplier give to a customer?; (3) how can a customer determine that the supplier knows what he is doing, and that he is likely to deliver what is desired?; and (4) how can both the supplier and customer assess and minimize the risks? These questions are important because the supplier of a product that fails in the field experiences a loss of customer confidence and subsequently a loss of business. Similarly, the customer of a product that fails will experience a loss of functionality which could result in decreased business, safety and customer satisfaction.