The Reliability Engineering Glossary
Reliability engineering and related fields use a vocabulary unique to our field of endeavor. For example, the term ‘reliability’ has the meaning of ‘trustworthy’ in everyday English use. For us, ‘reliability’ has a precise engineering definition.
Glossary description and plans
This glossary is meant to help us learn the language of reliability engineering. The category of ‘Terms’ is like a dictionary, including terms and their definitions as used by engineers. The category of ‘Methods’ is a listing of the techniques, tools, approaches, or concepts that may be found within a reliability plan. In the near future, we expect to expand the ‘Methods’ pages to include guidelines on use or application, examples, and additional references.
We also plan to expand the glossary to include formulas and failure mechanisms. Please let us know if there is another list of terms that should be added if you do not find a term that should be included or if you would like to recommend a change to an existing entry.
Method Categories
a
- Average total inspected (ATI)The expected number of inspected items per lot including the 100% inspection of rejected lots. Read More
- Avoidable costVariable costs that can be avoided, unlike most fixed costs, which are typically unavoidable. Read More
b
- Baka-yokeThe Japanese term for 'foolproofing' or 'idiot proofing'. It is a manufacturing technique to prevent mistakes by designing the manufacturing process, equipment and tools so an operation literally cannot be performed incorrectly. May include a warning signal for incorrect performance. Read More
- Balanced designA fractional factorial design in which an equal number of trials (at every level state) are conducted for each factor. Read More
- Balanced incomplete block designIn designed experiments, an incomplete block design with an equal number of k different levels from the factor of primary interest using l levels, arranged such that every pair of levels occurs in the same number of blocks. Read More
- Balanced incomplete block design, partiallyIn designed experiments, an incomplete block design with an equal number of k different levels from the factor of primary interest using l levels is arranged so that not every pair of levels occurs in the same number of blocks. Read More
- Balanced plantA plant in which the capacity of all resources matches with market demand. Read More
- Balanced scorecardA strategy performance management tool. A flexible yet structured report, supported by design methods and automation tools, used by managers to track of the execution of activities and to monitor the consequences arising from these actions. Read More
- Balancing the lineEvenly distributing both the quantity and variety of work across the available work time, in order to avoid overburdening and underusing resources. The aim is to eliminate bottlenecks and downtime, thus shortening flow time. Read More
- Baldrige awardThe Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recognizes U.S. organizations in the business, health care, education, and nonprofit sectors for performance excellence. The Baldrige Award is the only formal recognition of the performance excellence of both public and private U.S. organizations(...) Read More
- Ball grid array package (BGA)An electronics enclosure with external electrical and mechanical connections made via a rectangular array of ball-type solder connections on a common plane. Read More
- Bar code labelA label that includes coded information using parallel bars and spaces or a 2-dimensional matrix format. Read More
- Base metalThe unplated primary metal comprising the metal package, lead, or braze. Read More
- Baseline measurementThe beginning point, based on an measure of output over a period of time, used to determine the process performance values prior to an improvement effort; the basis to measure change. Read More
- Basic dimensionA numerical value describing the theoretically exact size, profile, orientation, or location of an item characteristic. Use tolerances to define the permissible variation from the basic dimension. Read More
- Basic safetyFreedom from hazards when equipment is in proper operation or when operating a piece of equipment in a predictable but improper manner. Read More
- BatchWith inspection processes it is a collection of items (product units) produced under uniform conditions then sampled and inspected. A batch may also be a collection of items for other purposes such as a production or shipment batch. Read More
- Batch and queueThe manufacturing process where multiple items are created, then moving the group of items to the next operation. Read More
- Batch sizeThe number of items in a batch. Read More
- A conditional-probability curve which represents the age-reliability relationship of certain items, characterized by an infant mortality (early life failure) region, a region of relatively constant reliability (rarely occurs in reality), and an identifiable wear-out region. Read More
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