Reliability Engineering

8Reliability Capability

The last decade of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first have witnessed the rapid globalization of many industries. Competitive and regulatory pressures have driven companies to low-cost manufacturing and to the evolution of a worldwide supply chain. Today, external sourcing of components and contract manufacturing is widespread. Companies are dependent upon worldwide suppliers who provide them with materials, parts, and subassemblies. Therefore, for any product design, it is essential that the reliability requirements be applied to all the incoming subcontracted elements so that reliability can be managed across all the tiers of the supply chain. The ultimate goal is that each supplier's reliability practices will be adequate to satisfy the end-product requirements of their customers.

System integrators, who are at the top of the supply chain, generally set the requirements for system reliability. Parts and manufacturing processes purchased on the market as commodities are selected based on information provided by suppliers. However, system integrators cannot wait until they receive purchased parts or subassemblies to assess whether they are reliable. This would lead to an expensive iterative process of part delivery, product assembly, and reliability testing followed by part respecification. An upfront evaluation of suppliers based on their ability to meet reliability requirements can provide a valuable competitive advantage. A ...