RELIABILITY ENGINEERING

INTRODUCTION FOR RELIABILITY ENGINEERING​

1. Reliability Engineering is a discipline focused on ensuring that systems and components perform their intended function without failure over a specified period of time and under stated conditions.
2. It plays a critical role in product design, manufacturing, and maintenance by identifying potential failure modes and implementing strategies to mitigate them.
3. This training provides practical tools and techniques to predict, analyze, and improve the reliability of products and processes, ultimately enhancing performance, safety, and customer satisfaction.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

In this course, the participants will :

1. Understand the fundamental concepts and significance of reliability engineering in design, manufacturing, and maintenance.
2. Apply key reliability metrics and statistical models to assess and predict system performance and failure behavior.
3. Utilize practical tools such as FMEA, FTA, and Weibull analysis for failure analysis and decision-making.
4. Develop and implement effective reliability testing strategies, including accelerated life testing and reliability growth modeling.
5. Integrate reliability principles into maintenance planning using Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) and lifecycle cost analysis.

LEARINING METHODOLOGY

1. Activities, discussions, videos and case studies with frequent activities & quiz for a deeper understanding.
2. Each participant to have their own computer during training for hands on application.
3. Minitab software will be used for statistical simulations.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

This seminar will benefit :

1. Reliability engineers/managers
2. Designers engineers/managers
3. Quality engineers/managers
4. Manufacturing engineers/managers
5. Project managers
6. System engineers
7. Maintenance engineers and managers
8. Safety engineers

COURSE CONTENTS

DAY 1: Reliability Fundamentals and Design Tools

1. Introduction to Reliability Engineering

1. Definition and importance of reliability
2. Difference between quality and reliability
3. Basic terms: MTBF, MTTF, failure rate (λ), reliability function R(t)
4. The bathtub curve: life cycle of a product
5. Reliability in systems and components

Activity: Group brainstorm on real-life reliability failures and their consequences

2. Reliability Metrics and Models

1. Probability distributions: Exponential, Weibull, Normal
2. Reliability function, hazard rate, cumulative failure function
3. Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) vs Mean Time To Failure (MTTF)
4. Series, parallel, and redundant systems reliability

Exercise: Calculating system reliability for various configurations

3. Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA)

1. Purpose and benefits of FMEA
2. Types: Design FMEA (DFMEA) vs Process FMEA (PFMEA)
3. Risk Priority Number (RPN) and action prioritization
4. Linkage with APQP and ISO 14971 (for medical devices)

Workshop: Conducting an FMEA on a simple system (e.g., coffee machine or pump)

4. Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)

1. Top-down failure analysis method
2. Logical gates (AND, OR) and event trees
3. Qualitative and quantitative FTA
4. Software tools for FTA

Exercise: Create a basic fault tree diagram for a hypothetical failure

DAY 2: Reliability Prediction, Testing, and Maintenance

5. Reliability Prediction and Modeling

1. Prediction standards: MIL-HDBK-217F, Telcordia, NSWC
2. Parts count vs Parts stress analysis
3. Software reliability overview
4. Environmental and operational stresses

Exercise: Use prediction tables to estimate failure rate of an electronic system

6. Weibull Analysis

1. Why use Weibull distribution
2. Shape parameter (β) interpretation
3. Reliability estimation using Weibull
4. Confidence intervals and censored data

Hands-on: Perform Weibull analysis using Excel or software (e.g., ReliaSoft, Minitab)

7. Reliability Testing and Growth

1. Types of reliability testing:
   • Life testing
   • Accelerated Life Testing (ALT)
   • Highly Accelerated Life Testing (HALT)
2. Test planning: Test to pass vs test to fail
3. Reliability Growth Models (e.g., Duane model)

Case Study: Designing an ALT for a consumer electronic device

8. Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM)

1. Basics of RCM and Preventive vs Predictive maintenance
2. Failure consequences and maintenance strategies
3. RCM analysis process
4. Tools: FMECA, maintenance task selection

Workshop: Mini-RCM analysis on an industrial pump or fan system

9. Wrap-up, Final Q&A and Feedback

1. Review of key concepts
2. Group reflection: Key takeaways & next steps
3. Participant feedback and training evaluation

Ready to Boost Your Reliability Skills?

Join our 2-Day Reliability Engineering Training!