SECTION VII

MAINTAINABILITY & AVAILABILITY – TEST QUESTIONS

8.1 Preventive maintenance is usually performed in the plant to ensure smooth

transformation or raw materials to finished goods. A prime assumption for preventive
maintenance actions is:

a. Cost of failures are more than scheduled maintenance costs

b. The part in an increasing hazard rate period
c. A constant hazard rate would result in no preventive maintenance
d. The minimum point for total costs

References: CRE Primer Section VIII – 7 & 45 (and logic). Elsayed, E.A., Reliability
Engineering.

8.2. Given a Weibull failure distribution for an extruder producing packaging film with
hours, hours. The cost of a scheduled PM action is $5,000. The line
operates as 8,760 hours per year and scheduled PM is now at every quarter.

a. $20,000
b. $60,000
c. $80,000
d. $120,000

References: CRE Primer, Section VII – 48. O’Connor, P. D. T. practical Reliability

Engineering.

8.3. What is the probability of performing a repair within 10 hours, if the MTTR is 10
hours?

a. 0.368
b. 1.00
c. 0.632
d. 0.500

References: CRE Primer, Section VIII – 19. Ireson, W. G., Coombs, C. F., and Moss, R.
Handbook of Reliability Engineering and Management.

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8.4. The basic maintainability requirements for a system or component is best
determined via:

a. Analysis of customer requirements

b. Analysis of test data
c. Analysis of field (actual) data
d. The compatibility of design engineering and maintainability engineering

References: CRE Primer, Section VII – 3 (and logic). Reliability Toolkit: Commercial
Practices Edition.

8.5. In consideration of the life history curves of complex products a reliability centered
maintenance approach would indicate that:

a. Some items are better left alone

b. There is only one failure mode
c. Scheduled overhauls are essential
d. Infant mortality affects a majority of the parts

References: CRE Primer, Section VII – 7/9. Moubray, . Reliability Centered Maintenance.
Smith, A. M. Reliability Centered Maintenance.

8.6. Total productive maintenance seeks to eliminate the “six big losses.” Which of the
following are included in that category?

I. Process defects
II. Environmental losses
III. Setup losses
IV. Equipment failures

a. I and IV only
b. I, III and IV only
c. II, III and IV only
d. I, II, III and IV

References: CRE Primer Section VII – 12. Nakajima, S. Introduction to TPM: Total
Productive Maintenance.

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8.7. Given a system requirement of maintainability (MTTR) of 4.7 hours. There are 5
devices in series with the following individual failure rates and MTTR.

Determine the K factor.

a. 1.06
b. 0.82
c. 0.94
d. 0.87

References: CRE Primer, Section VII – 14/16. Ireson, W.G., Coombs, C.F., and Moss, R.
Handbook of Reliability Engineering and Management.

8.8. The testability of a complex system is a concern during which of the following
system life stage(s)?

I. Design
II. Production
III. Assembly
IV. Servicing

a. I only
b. I and II only
c. II and IV, only
d. I, II, III, and IV

References: CRE Primer, Section VIII – 41/42(and logic). O’Connor, P.D.T. Practical
Reliability Engineering. Reliability Toolkit: Commercial Practices Edition.

8.9. A microcomputer has four major devices with the following failure rates and
MTTRs (t). What is the system MTTR at 1000 hours?

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 a. 9.75 hours
b. 0.08250/1000 hours
c. 12.121 hours
d. 13.54 hours

References: CRE Primer, Section VIII – 14/15. Ireson, W. G., Coombs, C.F., and Moss, R.
Handbook of Reliability Engineering and Management. Dodson, B., and Nolan, D.
Reliability Engineering Bible.

8.10. If the assumption is met that a repairable system has a constant failure rate while
up, and repair restores the system to its previous failure rate, which of the following
implications is NOT true?

a. Maintenance after failure restores system to “good as new”

b. Preventive maintenance will increase the system reliability
c. Burn-in would not be effective
d. Testing 10items for 100 operating hours each gives the same reliability
information as testing 100 items for 10 operating hours each

References: CRE Primer, Section VII – 36/37. O’Connor, Patrick, D.T., Practical Reliability
Engineering. 1980 Published CRE Exam, Question 17.

8.11. “ The probability that a failed system will be restored to an operational condition
with a specified repair time” is a definition of:

a. Maintainability
b. Availability
c. Repairability
d. Serviceability

References: CRE Primer, Section II – 52, 56/57 and VIII- 35. Omdahl, T.P., Reliability,
Availability, and Maintainability (RAM) Dictionary. 1980 Published CRE Exam, Question
83 (slightly modified).

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8.12. The results of a maintainability analysis should include:

I. The depth and frequency of maintenance requirements at each level

II. The facilities required
III. The support equipment and tools required
IV. The skill levels and tools required

a. I and III only

b. I, III and IV only
c. II, III and IV only
d. I, II, III and IV

References: CRE Primer, Section VIII – 38/40. Omdahl, T.P., Reliability, Availability, and
Maintainability (RAM) Dictionary. 1980 Published CRE Exam, Question 84.

8.13. Specifically, up-time ratio is a measure of:

a. Maintenance action rate

b. Hazard rate
c. Maintainability
d. Availability

References: CRE Primer, Section VIII –22. Omdahl, T.P., Reliability, Availability, and
Maintainability (RAM) Dictionary. 1980 Published CRE Exam, Question 86, 1976
Published CRE Exam, Question 105.

8.14. Availability of a system is roughly the:

a. Product of the individual subsystem availabilities

b. Sum of the individual system availabilities
c. The difference of the individual subsystem
d. The quotient of the individual subsystem availability

References: CRE Primer, Section VIII – 24. 1980 Published CRE Exam, Question 87.

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8.15. Maintainability considerations are important in the design of:

a. Unmanned satellites
b. Ground control systems
c. Integrated circuits
d. Watch batteries

References: CRE Primer, Section V and VIII – 2/3, 33/34(and logic) . Omdahl, T.P.,
Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability (RAM) Dictionary. 1980 Published CRE Exam,
Question 92.

8.16. Preventive maintenance is defined as?

a. Actions performed as a result of failure

b. Repair of an item to a specified condition
c. Action performed on scheduled or routine basis to retain specified conditions
d. Maintenance performed for detection and prevention of incipient failure

References: CRE Primer, Section VIII – 33/77. 1976 published CRE Exam, Question 22
(slightly modified).

8.17. When reliability deterioration of a system can be associated with independent and
small multiplicative effects of its components, the applicable time-to-failure distribution
is:

a. Lognormal
b. Extreme value
c. Exponential
d. Weibull

References: CRE Primer, Section III –44/48 and VIII- 26/28. Omdahl, T.P., Reliability,
Availability, and Maintainability (RAM) Dictionary. 1976 Published CRE Exam, Question
88 (slightly modified).

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8.18. What type of failure is usually reduced by periodic overhaul and replacement of
component parts?

a. Early life
b. Random
c. Wearout
d. Lognormal

References: CRE Primer, Section II – 60/61 and VIII - 37. 1976 published CRE Exam,
Question 135.

8.19. For Complex electronic systems, the major contributor to repair time is generally:

a. Diagnosis
b. Disassembly/reassembly
c. Remove/Replace
d. Final Checkout
References: CRE Primer, Section II – 3840 (and experience). 1976 published CRE Exam,
Question 81.

8.20. When designing for maintainability and availability one would expect a reduction
in all of the following EXCEPT:

a. Total system downtime

b. Wear out failures
c. Fault correction time
d. Logistics downtime

References: CRE Primer, Section VIII 2/3 & 39/40 (and logic).

8.21. If the average repair time for a system is 3 hours and the MTBMA is 122 hours,
what is the operational availability?

a. 0.975
b. 0.976
c. 0.982
d. 0.997

References: CRE Primer Section VII – 22.

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8.22. For equal length missions an increase in the MTBF will yield:

I. An increase in availability
II. An increase in reliability
III. A decrease in reliability
IV. A decrease in availability

a. I only
b. I and II only
c. III only
d. II and IV only

References: CRE Primer, Section VIII – 20.

8.23. Preventive Maintenance can be justified as cost effective when:

a. The System life is determined by MTTF

b. A complex system consisting of many components is involved
c. The system is in a constant failure mode
d. The corrective maintenance cost can be significantly reduced

Reference: CRE Primer, Section VIII – 33/38 (and logic).

8.24. The principal objective of reliability centered maintenance RCM is which of the
following?
a. Properly analyze the underlying life cycle curve
b. Collect and analyze downtime data for major sources of failures
c. Utilize numerous techniques to keep the system functional
d. Train both the maintenance and production workers to quickly repair the
system

References: CRE Primer, Section VIII – 7/13 (and logic).

8.25. Fault isolation is best facilitated by using which of the following?

I. Built-in test equipment

II. Part interchangeability
III. Corrective maintenance
IV. Design simplification
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 a. I and II only
b. I, II and IV only
c. II, III and IV only
d. I, II, III and IV

Reference: CRE Primer, Section VIII – 33/34, 39, & 41/44.

8.26. The use of plug-in devices improves all of the following EXCEPT:

a. Mean time to repair

b. Design – reliability
c. Interchangeability
d. Fault isolation time

Reference: CRE Primer, Section VIII – 39.

8.27. What is System Effectiveness, if Operation Readiness is 0.89, Design Adequacy is

95%, Availability is 98% , Maintainability is0.93, and Mission Reliability is 0.99?

a. 0.763
b. 0.881
c. 0.837
d. 0.820

References: Dodson, B. and Nolan, D., Reliability Engineering Bible, Chapter 6. CRE
Primer, Section VIII – 4.

8.28. Measures of availability include:

I. Effectiveness
II. Inherent
III. Achieved
IV. Dependability
V. Capability

a. I, III and IV only

b. II and III only
c. II, III and IV only
d. III, IV and V only
Reference: CRE Primer, Section VIII – 4, 20/22.
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8.29. Maintenance times are usually assumed to be distributed:

a. Normally
b. Gamma
c. Lognormally
d. Chi-squared

References: CRE Primer, Section VIII – 26/27. O’Connor, Patrick, D.T., Practical
Reliability Engineering.

8.30. What is the expression for operational availability?

a. Operate time/(operate time/ total down time)

b. Active down time/operate time
c. Operate time/total down time
d. Off time/operate time

References: CRE Primer, Section VIII – 22.

8.31. Preventive maintenance is characterized by:

I. Replacing failed/defect items as they are found in normal service use
II. A planned program of tests, inspections, and/or replacements
III. Replacing items just before they fail

a. I only
b. II only
c. I and III only
d. I, II and III

Reference: CRE Primer, Section VIII – 33/35 & 38.

8.32. The effectiveness of a maintenance program is affected most by:

a. Availability of spare parts

b. Designed ease of installation and removal of components
c. Reliability of installed, replaceable items
d. Skill level of the maintenance personnel

Reference: CRE Primer, Section VIII – 39.

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8.33. Corrective maintenance is best defined as:

I. Maintenance performed on a routine basis

II. Maintenance performed as a result of failure or out of tolerance condition
III. Advance action to forestall failure

a. III only
b. II only
c. I and II only
d. I, II and III

Reference: CRE Primer, Section VIII – 38.

8.34. Which of the following is an appropriate definition for availability?

I. All actions necessary for retaining an item or restoring it to a specified

condition
II. Being in an operable and committed state at the start of a mission
III. The measure of the ability of an item to be retained or restored to a specified
condition for a specified mission
IV. The probability that an item can perform its intended function for a specified
interval under stated conditions

a. I only
b. II only
c. III only
d. IV only

Reference: CRE Primer, Section II – 48 and VII – 20.

8.35. For a critical complex system, which of the following best expresses the ideal
relationship between the planned cost of preventive maintenance (CPM) and cost of
corrective maintenance (CCM)?
a. The CPM should be significantly higher than CCM
b. The CPM should be significantly higher than CPM
c. The CPM should be slightly higher than CCM
d. The CCM should be slightly higher than CPM

Reference: CRE Primer, Section VII – 33/38 & 45/49 (plus logic and experience).
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8.36. Maintenance times on simple systems with straightforward repair tasks will fit
which of the following distributions?

a. Normal
b. Exponential
c. Lognormal
d. Geometric

Reference: CRE Primer, Section VIII – 26/27.

8.37. An air handling system has a MTBF of 8000 hours, MTTR of 120 hours, and MMT
(mean maintenance action time) of 230 hours. Determine the potential availability.
a. 0.9866
b. 0.9852
c. 0.9721
d. 0.9575

Reference: CRE Primer, Section VIII – 20.

8.38. Equipment and machinery do break down and require repairs over time. As plant
engineer, which of the following guidelines should you follow?

I. Keep the repair rate as low as possible

II. Keep the failure rate as low as possible
III. Keep the repair rate as high as possible
IV. Keep repair times independent of required production time

a. I and II only
b. II and III only
c. II and IV only
d. I, II and III only

References: CRE Primer, Section VIII-(multiple locations). Locks, M.O. (1995) Reliability<
Maintainability and Availability Assessment, Page 196.

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8.39. Routine replacement of parts with a constant hazard rate will:

a. Reduce the failure rate

b. Not reduce the failure rate
c. Increase the failure rate
d. Have an unknown effect

Reference: CRE Primer, Section VIII – 37.

8.40. A preventive maintenance program that follows the philosophy of Optimum Pars
Replacement will have:

a. No failures
b. Some failures
c. Frequent maintenance operations
d. Minimal parts replacement costs

Reference: CRE Primer, Section VIII – 45/50.

8.41. A Total Productive Maintenance is a program in which:

a. Productive time is maximized by performing preventive maintenance at off shift times

b. Every productive machine in the plant is maintained by the maintenance
department
c. Production is maximized by minimizing preventive maintenance
d. Equipment maintenance is shared between operators and maintenance
personnel

Reference: CRE Primer, Section VIII – 11/13.

8.42. Most authors state that the most common distribution for maintenance repair
times is the lognormal distribution. a characteristic of the lognormal distribution that
makes this true is:

a. The distribution is symmetrical in time

b. The distribution is skewed towards longer times
c. The distribution is skewed towards shorter times
d. The distribution is easy to use
Reference: CRE Primer, Section VIII – 26/27.
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8.43. One equation used to estimate MTTR is:

In this equation, what is ?

a. The time to the first failure

b. The time to the ith failure
c. The time to repair the ith failure
d. The time to wear-out of the ith part

References: CRE Primer, Section VIII – 17. O’Connor, Practical Reliability Engineering.

8.44. In approaching software versus hardware maintainability, what major differences

are noted?

I. Software cannot wear-out

II. Software updating is more economically feasible
III. Software defects and enhancements are more visible to the user

a. I and II only
b. II only
c. II and III only
d. I, II and III

Reference: CRE Primer, Section VIII – 51.

8.45. Traditinally, reliability and maintenance engineers deal principally with areas of
corrective and preventative maintenance, with an occasional necessary modification.
Which of the following areas is NOT a major focus in software maintenacne?

a. Preventive maintenance
b. Corrective maintenance
c. Adaptive maintenance
d. Perfective maintenance

Reference: CRE Primer, Section VIII – 53.

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