Practical Reliability Engineering, 5th Edition

Preface to the Second Edition

I have received much helpful criticism of the first edition of my book since it appeared in 1981. Whilst the reviews have generally not been unfavourable, critics have pointed out that, despite the title, the book was not quite practical enough in some areas. I have also come to realize this through my own work, particularly on the application of mathematical modelling and statistics to reliability problems. Consequently, much of the revision for the second edition has been to add to what I consider to be the practical aspects of management and engineering for reliability.

I have added to the sections on reliability prediction, demonstration and measurement, to explain and to stress the fundamental and considerable uncertainty associated with attempts to quantify and forecast a property of engineered products which is inherently non-deterministic. I believe that when people involved in reliability work manage to unshackle themselves from the tyranny of the ‘numbers game’ the way is cleared for the practical engineering and management approaches that are the only ways to achieve the highly reliable products demanded by the markets of today. I have not removed the descriptions of the methods for quantifying reliability, since I believe that, when these are applied with commonsense and understanding of their inherent limitations, they can help us to solve reliability problems and to design and make better products.

I have added three new chapters, all ...