Field reliability prediction in consumer electrons using warranty data

In innovative fast product development processes, such as consumer electronics, it is necessary to check as quickly as possible, using field data, whether the product reliability is at the right level. In consumer electronics, some major companies use the Warranty Call Rate (WCR) for this purpose. This paper discusses extensively the theoretical and practical drawbacks of the WCR. Subsequently, it is demonstrated, using a Weibull failure distribution, that only a few months after product launch, say three months, the warranty data offer the opportunity to estimate the parameters of the failure distribution. Of course, this requires that the warranty data are available in the quality department. Unfortunateky, for some companies the field feedback information process from the repair centres to the quality department causes a delay of several months. These companies have to speed up their field feedback information process before they can fully take advantage of the proposed estimation procedure. Copyright (C) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.