Use of a field failure database for improvement of product reliability

Before any reliability improvement can be made to a product it is necessary to assess the current reliability in the field. This can be achieved by collecting field failure information throughout a products' life and performing analysis on this data. This reliability analysis enables the manufacturer to assess and improve the dependability of the product and improve the performance of the next generation of products. The aim of this paper is to guide the would-be data collector into the correct methodology for data collection and to give some examples of the kind of analysis possible when sufficient data has been collected. A description of the equipment behaviour model used at IERI is given and examples of some forms of analysis and the sort of conclusions that can be drawn are presented. (C) 1977 Elsevier Science Limited.