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Home » Articles » on Product Reliability » Page 28

on Product Reliability

A listing in reverse chronological order of articles by:



  • Kirk Grey — Accelerated Reliability series

  • Les Warrington — Achieving the Benefits of Reliability series

  • Adam Bahret — Apex Ridge series

  • Michael Pfeifer — Metals Engineering and Product Reliability series

  • Fred Schenkelberg — Musings on Reliability and Maintenance series

  • Arthur Hart — Reliability Engineering Insights series

  • Chris Jackson — Reliability in Emerging Technology series

by Kirk Gray Leave a Comment

Required Case History for Reliability Engineers

Required Case History for Reliability Engineers

One for the (Reliability) Books

The GM Ignition switch failure case history should be required reading for all reliability engineers.

It is rare to have insight into any internal company history of serious electronic and electromechanical failures. Failure analysis and the causes of electronics or electromechanical systems failure can be a difficult investigation for any manufacturing company. Disclosure of the history and data is rarely if ever published due to the potential liability and litigation costs as well as loss of reputation for reliability and safety.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Accelerated Reliability, Articles, on Product Reliability Tagged With: Field data analysis

by Fred Schenkelberg 2 Comments

The Environmental Test Manual

The Environmental Test Manual

Let’s say you run across a lightweight, inexpensive, easy to manufacture metal that you are considering for a new bike frame. Beyond the functional considerations of strength, size, and finish options what else do you consider?

Is it durable? If it fails how does it fail (a shattering a bicycle frame would not be good, for example). You may also consider how the bicycle will be used and stored. What stress will the frame experience over its lifetime? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Musings on Reliability and Maintenance Topics, on Product Reliability

by Fred Schenkelberg 1 Comment

Electronics Failure Analysis Done the Right Way

Electronics Failure Analysis Done the Right Way

“Failures are gold”

Early in my career the engineering manager relished discovering equipment failure.

It didn’t matter if it was human, electronic, mechanical or software in nature, the glint in his eye soon gave way to a flood of possibilities. He enjoyed the process of investigating the fundamental reasons a failure occurred. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Musings on Reliability and Maintenance Topics, on Product Reliability Tagged With: Failure analysis (FA)

by Kirk Gray Leave a Comment

Eliminating early life failures

Eliminating early life failures

MTBF for electronics life entitlement measurements is a meaningless term. It says nothing about the distribution of failures or the cause of failures and is only valid for a constant failure rate, which almost never occurs in the real world. It is a term that should be eliminated along with reliability predictions of electronics systems with no moving parts. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Accelerated Reliability, Articles, on Product Reliability Tagged With: Highly Accelerated Life Testing (HALT)

by Fred Schenkelberg 3 Comments

What Can One Reliability Engineer Do?

What Can One Reliability Engineer Do?

Lately, I’ve seen some evidence of reliability engineers giving up.

Throwing in the towel. Going with the flow. Not rocking the boat.

Is that our charter? To roll over and accept that we cannot make a difference?

No, it’s not. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Musings on Reliability and Maintenance Topics, on Product Reliability

by Fred Schenkelberg 1 Comment

Getting Started Learning Reliability Engineering

Getting Started Learning Reliability Engineering

Or, how to master the body of knowledge and be an effective reliability engineer.

Yes, there is a lot to know concerning reliability engineering. You should have a firm grasp of statistics, modeling, laboratory and experimental procedures, failure analysis skills, and more. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Career, Musings on Reliability and Maintenance Topics, on Product Reliability

by Kirk Gray 2 Comments

Electronics Failure Prediction Methodology does not work

Electronics Failure Prediction Methodology does not work

 

“When the number of factors coming into play in a phenomenological complex is too large, scientific method in most cases fails.  One need only think of the weather, in which case the prediction even for a few days ahead is impossible.” ― Albert Einstein

“Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.” – Niels Bohr* We have always had a quest to reduce future uncertainties and know what is going to happen to us, how long we will live, and what may impact our lives.  Horoscopes, Tarot

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Accelerated Reliability, Articles, on Product Reliability Tagged With: Life estimation

by Fred Schenkelberg 4 Comments

Getting Started as a New Reliability Engineer

Getting Started as a New Reliability Engineer

You may have been tapped one morning and given the assignment. You may have pursued the role either via a university program or by simply applying for the position.

Now what? How do you start in this role? What are you expected to do? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Career, Musings on Reliability and Maintenance Topics, on Product Reliability

by Fred Schenkelberg 11 Comments

Nevada Charts to Gather Data

Nevada Charts to Gather Data

A common and poor technique to gather field data is to count the number of returns by week or month. This can provide a graph showing the number of returns over time.

It hides information you need to understand your field failures.

Let’s take a look at a way to gather the same field failure data and retain the critical information necessary for time to failure analysis. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Musings on Reliability and Maintenance Topics, on Product Reliability Tagged With: Field data analysis, Nevada charts

by Kirk Gray Leave a Comment

Why success with HALT begins long before doing HALT

Why success with HALT begins long before doing HALT

Implementing a new reliability development paradigm in a company which is using traditional, standards-based testing can be a perilous journey.

It is especially true with introducing HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Test) in which strength against stress, and not quantifying electronics lifetimes is the new metric.  Because of this significant change in test orientation, a critical factor for success begins with educating the company’s top  [Read more…]

Filed Under: Accelerated Reliability, Articles, on Product Reliability Tagged With: Highly Accelerated Life Testing (HALT)

by Fred Schenkelberg 2 Comments

Are You Tracking and Reporting Field Failures Well?

Are You Tracking and Reporting Field Failures Well?

Fielded products fail day by day. Customers report these failures generally seeking a way to remedy this issue. Gathering the reported or returned products or confirmed failures is common practice.

Depending on the product a simple replacement or exchange may suffice. For other products, repair or a refund may be appropriate.

In general, and not always, when a product fails in the hands of a customer, the organization designing, manufacturing and distributing the product learns of the failure. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Musings on Reliability and Maintenance Topics, on Product Reliability Tagged With: Field data analysis

by Fred Schenkelberg Leave a Comment

Design Reviews with Reliability Matter

Design Reviews with Reliability Matter

On occasion, you and the team sit down to review the design.

The idea is to check the design for any issues with the combined wisdom of the people involved. Or, it may be a status update for the entire team providing a focus on the most important issues and action items.

The review may involve all departments, such as marketing, operations, supplier management, and the design team.

It may involve just you and the electrical engineer in a private meeting. In either case, it is a review and a chance to illuminate salient reliability issues and form a consensus on the appropriate action. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Musings on Reliability and Maintenance Topics, on Product Reliability

by Kirk Gray Leave a Comment

Why HALT is a methodology, not equipment

Why HALT is a methodology, not equipment

It is easy to understand why the term HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Test) is so tightly couple to the equipment called “HALT chambers” systems.  Many do not think they can do HALT processes without a “HALT Chamber”. Many know that Dr. Gregg Hobbs, who coined the term HALT and also HASS (Highly Accelerated Stress Screens), spent much of his life promoting the techniques and was also the founder of two “HALT/HASS” environmental chamber companies. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Accelerated Reliability, Articles, on Product Reliability Tagged With: Highly Accelerated Life Testing (HALT)

by Fred Schenkelberg 4 Comments

Key Elements for Your Project Specific Reliability Plan

Key Elements for Your Project Specific Reliability Plan

A plan is a guide or roadmap for intended action.

A reliability plan is also a collection of specific tasks and milestones and enhanced with a rationale to allow the entire team fully understand their role accomplishing the reliability objectives.

The plan is a way to achieve the desired business objectives. Meaning the product is reliable enough to meet customer expectations, minimize warranty expenses, and garner market acceptance. The plan is just a plan, it is the accomplishment of the tasks, the decision which improves the design, the signals monitored that stabilize the supply chain and assembly process, that make the difference.

A plan without action is not worth the effort. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Musings on Reliability and Maintenance Topics, on Product Reliability

by Fred Schenkelberg 2 Comments

The Derating & Safety Margin Manual

The Derating & Safety Margin Manual

Do you have one in your organization? Is it used regularly?

If not, your organization’s products are likely not as reliable as they should be. You are shipping products that are not as robust nor reliable as your customers deserve.

Derating and Safety Factors, defined earlier, provide a means to select components or create design features that have sufficient margin to accommodate variation in use and strength over time.

So why are these tools routinely ignored or given only fleeting attention? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Musings on Reliability and Maintenance Topics, on Product Reliability Tagged With: Derating, Safety margin/factor guidelines

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