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| In this
issue: |
Issue
13, March 2002 |
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Reliability HotWire is a service of ReliaSoft
Corporation
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| Hot Topics |
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Using Reliability
Information Throughout the Organization
The information generated via a reliability engineering program or from other
life data analysis activities has a usefulness that extends beyond the group
that generated it. It should seem obvious that information regarding the
failure behavior of a product would be useful to groups in an organization
other than just reliability engineers. However, it is a sad but true fact
that some organizations use the reliability information on their products
for little more than a specification check. In this article, we will take
a look at how life data can be used in other parts of a manufacturing or
business organization.
To
read more, see http://www.weibull.com/hotwire/issue13/hottopics13.htm
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| Reliability
Basics |
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| The
purpose of this section is to offer background and advice to the novice
reliability engineer.
Defining Distributions - Part 2: Deriving Reliability Functions
In last month's Reliability Basics, we took a look at the mathematical
function that is the basis for many useful reliability and life data
metrics, the probability distribution function, or pdf. The pdf
function is essentially a continuous form of a histogram, which is a bar
chart that characterizes the relative frequency of an occurrence. In this
month's article, we will look at how the pdf is used to derive
other frequently-used life data metrics.
To read more, see http://www.weibull.com/hotwire/issue13/relbasics13.htm
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| Tool
Tips |
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The
Tool Tips section addresses helpful hints and frequently asked questions
about ReliaSoft software products.
To read more, see http://www.weibull.com/hotwire/issue13/tooltips13.htm
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| Hot
News |
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MSG-3 Maintenance
Program Creator in Beta Testing -
ReliaSoft's MPC 3, an MSG-3 compliant maintenance program creator, is
currently in the final stages beta testing. Developed with Honeywell Aircraft Engines
& Systems Group, this software package is specifically designed for
the aerospace industry. Current scheduled release date is early April 2002. For more information, see
http://MPC.ReliaSoft.com.
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Next
Seminar in Tucson, May 20 - 24 - The next ReliaSoft
"Master the Subject, Master the Tools" seminar will be
held in Tucson from May 20 - 24, 2002 at the Sheraton Hotel
and Suites. For more information on
course content and how to register, see http://www.ReliaSoft.com/seminars/master.htm.
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ReliaSoft
at MRO -
ReliaSoft will be participating in the Maintenance, Repair and
Overhaul (MRO) Conference and Exhibition, to be held April 9 - 11,
2002 at the Phoenix Civic Plaza and Convention Center in Phoenix,
Arizona. ReliaSoft will have a booth in the
vendors area where you can get information on ReliaSoft's products and
services. For more details, see http://www.awgnet.com/conferences/mromain.htm. |
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Accelerated
Testing Training - ReliaSoft will
again teach the RAC's
Accelerated Testing Training Course on March 12 - 14, 2002 in San
Diego, CA. Topics for this course include accelerated life testing
and how it is applied, overview of stress loading models and
analysis, applicable stress-life relationship models and predicting
reliabilities, warranty times and MTTFs (MTBFs) using accelerated life
data. For more information on
course content and how to register, contact RAC at
1.888.RAC.USER
or +1.315.337.0900. |
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Reliability
Training at GM Knowledge Center -
We are pleased to announce that once again ReliaSoft will be
providing training classes for GM employees at the General Motors
Knowledge Center in Warren, Michigan. The courses offered will cover
three diverse disciplines of reliability engineering and include
life data analysis, accelerated life test data analysis and system
reliability, maintainability and availability analysis. For more
information, visit the GMU Knowledge Center Web site at http://www.gmulearning.com or contact ReliaSoft at
+1.520.886.0410. Class size
is limited. GM suppliers should check with GM for class
availability. The remaining 2002 class schedule is as follows:
May 6 - 8, 2002 - Life Data Analysis
May 9, 2002 - System Reliability
August 5 - 7, 2002 - Life Data Analysis
August 8, 2002 - Accelerated Life Testing
October 14 - 16, 2002 - Life Data Analysis
October 17, 2002 - System Reliability
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| From
The Edge |
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In addition to the
monthly Reliability HotWire, ReliaSoft publishes Reliability
Edge, a printed journal that includes articles and information
related to the field of reliability engineering. Articles of interest in
the current edition:
- Analyzing Accelerated Test Data with Time-Varying Test and Use
Stress Profiles - Accelerated testing is becoming more widely
used in order to obtain life data in a relatively short amount of
time. The use of sophisticated tools, such as ReliaSoft’s ALTA PRO software, allows the reliability engineer to design and analyze
tests that would have been impossible to do a few years ago. This is
particularly true if the test or use stress varies with time. In
this article, we will look at an analysis in which the test and the
use stress levels have different time-varying profiles. See http://www.ReliaSoft.com/newsletter/4q2001/accel_profiles.htm.
- Competing Failure Modes Analysis - For many products, there
are multiple failure modes that can result in the failure of an
individual unit. When performing reliability analysis on this type
of product, you can take the view that each individual unit could
fail due to any one of the possible failure modes and, since an item
cannot fail more than one time in a non-repairable system, that
there can only be one failure mode for each failed unit. Competing
failure modes analysis, which segregates the analysis of failure
modes and then combines the results to provide an overall
reliability model for the product in question, can be used to
analyze data of this type. This article presents an overview of
competing failure modes analysis and an example to illustrate the
techniques. See
http://www.ReliaSoft.com/newsletter/4q2001/modes.htm.
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Share
Your Experience
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Reliability Specification Experiences Wanted
Reliability specifications
are a central component of most reliability analyses. Despite their
central importance, there is wide variation within industry as to the
format and meaning of reliability specifications. In many cases, there
are serious deficiencies in the specifications on which manufacturers
base important business decisions. In a future issue of our printed
newsletter, the Reliability
Edge, we will examine the reliability specifications that
are commonly used in industry today. We
invite you to participate by sharing non-confidential/non-proprietary
information about the reliability specifications that you work with in
your day-to-day efforts. Do you have experience with particularly
effective reliability specifications? Have you struggled to educate
decision makers in your organization about the inadequacies of the
specifications that they have adopted? Have you received specifications
from a client that just do not make sense?
Please send feedback to us at ReliabilityEdge@ReliaSoft.com,
or by standard mail at 1450 S. Eastside Loop, Tucson, AZ 85710-6703, USA.
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Copyright © 2002 ReliaSoft
Corporation, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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