60% of Profits from Spares and Repairs
Abstract
Kirk and Fred discuss the situation when an organization has a business model that actively minimizes reliability.
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SOR 114 60% of Profits from Spares and Repairs
SOR 113 How to Specify Reliability to a Supplier
How to Specify Reliability to a Supplier
Abstract
Kirk and Fred discuss working with suppliers to obtain the desired reliability performance. It starts with how you specify reliability. It must include sufficient detail so your supplier understands your request.
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SOR 112 Organization Culture May Create Barriers to Reliability Improvement
Organization Culture May Create Barriers to Reliability Improvement
Abstract
Kirk and Fred discuss how competing business priorities create obstacles to achieving desired reliability objectives. The culture of your organization may limit your ability as a reliability professional to do your job effectively.
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SOR 092 How to Prevent NDF Returns
SOR 091 How to Address NDF Issues
SOR 090 Not Sure Why Customer Says it Failed
You May Often be Exceeding Operating Specifications!
HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Test) requires exceeding specifications
One aspect of HALT, (a test to find weaknesses and reliability risks empirically), is the difficulty for many engineers that are new to the HALT- that it guarantees that the maximum or recommended operating environmental specifications for the system and components under test will be exceeded, and failures beyond spec are potentially relevant to field reliability. [Read more…]
SOR 079 When is it Time to Buy a Chamber
When is it Time to Buy a Chamber
Abstract
Kirk and Fred discuss when and how best to justify the costs to move from using an external lab to perform HALT testing to building an internal HALT lab.
There are many benefits of having a HALT chamber or environmental testing capability, but many of those reasons are not easily quantifiable in dollars.
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SOR 078 What to Expect When Contracting a HALT Lab
What to Expect When Contracting a HALT Lab
Abstract
Kirk and Fred discuss what should be considered when choosing to use an external lab to perform HALT evaluations. Distance, costs, measurement instrumentation, lab experience and knowledge of HALT by lab personnel are all part of the considerations deciding what HALT lab to use.
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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.
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…]
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
SOR 062 Are Environmental Standards Useful?
Are Environmental Standards Useful?
Abstract
Kirk and Fred discuss the marginal value of environmental standards.
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SOR 061 Where Do Environmental Specifications Come From?
Where Do Environmental Specifications Come From?
Abstract
Kirk and Fred discuss where environmental specifications should come from and why they don’t all too often.
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SOR 060 Can We Reduce Early Life Failures?
Can We Reduce Early Life Failures?
Abstract
Kirk and Fred discuss a few ideas on minimizing early field failures with your product.
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