During reliability growth testing, it is common that multiple systems are tested concurrently. The cumulative test hours and failure information from all the systems under test are used for reliability growth modeling. For this analysis, it is critical to track all the cumulative test hours from all the systems using the same configuration (i.e. with the same "fixes" implemented). When a failure occurs during reliability growth testing, a fix will be implemented not only on the system that has the failure, but also on other systems in the same test. Ideally, all the systems should be stopped and the same fix should be implemented before resuming the test. However, in reality it is rare that the same fixes will be implemented simultaneously on each system. Delays are common and it complicates the calculation for cumulative test hours. In this article, we will illustrate how to correctly get the cumulative test hours for each failure mode and use them to build an equivalent single system (ESS) for reliability growth modeling and prediction using RGA 7.

To read more, see http://www.weibull.com/hotwire/issue112/hottopics112.htm 

To read more, see http://www.weibull.com/hotwire/issue112/relbasics112.htm 

• In Xfmea 5/RCM++ 5, is there a quick way to build a phrase set library based on records that have been defined in an existing FMEA?
• In BlockSim is there a way to turn off the confirmation window when I use the Active Block drop-down list to move from the Block Properties window of one block to another?

To read more, see http://www.weibull.com/hotwire/issue112/tooltips112.htm