Introduction to Reliability and Failure

Prepared by Tesfaye S.
 Contents
❖ Introduction
❖ Definition
❖ Failure Rate
❖ Basic Derivations (MTBF, MTTF,)
 Definition
o Reliability is the ability of an apparatus, machine, or system to consistently perform its
intended or required function and mission without degradation or failure.

o The quality of being trustworthy or of performing consistently.

 Reliability

 Generally defined as the ability of a product to perform as expected over time.

 It is the probability that a product, piece of equipment, or system performs its intended function
for a stated period of time under specified operating conditions.
The reasons for wanting high product or system reliability are:
• Higher customer satisfaction
• Increased sales
• Improved safety
• Decreased warranty costs
• Decreased maintenance costs, etc.
 Why is Reliability Important?

 Reputation. A company's reputation is very closely related to the reliability of its

products. The more reliable a product is, the more likely the company is to have a
favorable reputation.

 Customer Satisfaction. While a reliable product may not affect customer satisfaction but
an unreliable product will negatively affect customer satisfaction severely.

 Thus high reliability is a mandatory requirement for customer satisfaction.

Cont….

 Warranty Costs. If a product fails to perform its function within the warranty period, the
replacement and repair costs will negatively affect profits, as well as gain unwanted
negative attention.

 Repeat Business. A concentrated effort towards improved reliability shows customers

that a manufacturer is serious about its product, and committed to customer satisfaction.

 This type of attitude has a positive impact on future business.

Cont…
 Customer Requirements. Many customers in today's market demand that their suppliers
have an effective reliability program. These customers have learned the benefits of
reliability analysis from experience.

 Competitive Advantage. Many companies will publish their predicted reliability

numbers to help gain an advantage over their competitors who either do not publish their
numbers or have lower numbers.
Some related terms Name Definition

An assurance given by the manufacturer to the vendor that the product will
Guarantee
work without failure for a stated period of time then repair or replace the
product.
A written guarantee given to the purchaser of a new product by the
Warranty manufacturer or dealer, usually specifying that the manufacturer will make
any repairs defective parts free of charge for a stated period of time.

Maintainability The measure of the ability of an item to be retained in or restored to a

specified condition when maintenance is performed.
A tool for measuring the percent of time an item or system is in a state of
Availability readiness where it is operable and can be committed to use when called
upon.
 Failure Rate
▪ Failure is the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or
intended objective
▪ The opposite of success.
▪ Failure: The termination of the ability of an item to perform its
required function.
▪ Failure rate refers to how often something fails, such as a component or
system.
▪ We usually express it in failures per unit of time, i.e., failures per hour,
day, week, etc.
 Failure rate
 Failure rate is the frequency with which an engineered system or component
fails, expressed in failures per unit of time.

 It is often denoted by the Greek letter λ (lambda) and is highly used

in reliability engineering.

 The failure rate of a system usually depends on time, with the rate varying over
the life cycle of the system.
Cont…

Some of the typical early failures are:

 Poor welds
 poor connections

 contamination on surface in materials

 incorrect positioning of parts, etc.

 Basic Derivations of failure (MTBF, MTTR,)

❖MTBF(mean time between failure): refers to the average amount of time that a
device or product functions before failing.

❖This unit of measurement includes only operational time between failures and does not
include repair times, assuming the item is repaired and begins functioning again.

❖The average time from one failure (or breakdown) to the next.
 Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF)

 Is a reliability term used to provide the amount of failures per million hours for a
product.

 This is the most common inquiry about a product’s life span, and is important in the
decision-making process of the end user.
 Mean Time To Repair (MTTR)

 Is the time needed to repair a failed hardware module.

 In an operational system, repair generally means replacing a failed hardware part.

 Thus, hardware MTTR could be viewed as mean time to replace a failed hardware
module.
Cont…

 To minimize MTTR, many companies purchase spare parts so that a replacement can be
installed quickly.