Reliability Bites

The role of the reliability engineer is often associated with specific activities or phases of the lifecycle, such as prediction during design, testing during development or data analysis in-service. In practice, reliability engineering is a through-life responsibility, even though its focus changes over time.

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Reliability engineering is viewed by many as a technical discipline focused on analysis, modelling, and prediction. While those skills matter, they are only part of the role.

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Reliability, safety, and quality are commonly considered separate disciplines, each with their own people, processes and tools. In practice, they are deeply interconnected and decisions made in one area almost always influence the others, particularly once systems are in service.

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Reliability, Availability and Maintainability are often discussed together. While closely related in practice, they are not the same thing and the distinctions are not always well understood.

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Many people associate reliability engineering with metrics, and while they can be helpful when used correctly, they are not the primary benefit of reliability engineering. The real value lies in the thinking and decisions that shape those numbers.

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When people hear the word reliability, it’s often interpreted as meaning “zero failures”. While that’s understandable, it’s not what reliability engineering is really about.

The Certified Reliability Engineer (CRE) Body of Knowledge, produced by the American Society for Quality, defines reliability as:

“The probability that an item will perform a required function without failure under stated conditions for a specified period of time”

Crucially, each part of this definition needs to be clearly understood and agreed from the outset, particularly between customers and suppliers. Many reliability problems arise not because the definition itself is wrong, but because these elements are interpreted differently.

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