Reliability Engineering consists of the systematic application of time-honored engineering principles and techniques throughout a product lifecycle and is thus an essential component of a good Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) program. The goal of reliability engineering is to evaluate the inherent reliability of a product or process and pinpoint potential areas for reliability improvement. Realistically, all failures cannot be eliminated from a design, so another goal of reliability engineering is to identify the most likely failures and then identify appropriate actions to mitigate the effects of those failures.

The reliability evaluation of a product or process can include a number of different reliability analyses. Depending on the phase of the product lifecycle, certain types of analyses are appropriate. As the reliability analyses are being performed, it is possible to anticipate the reliability effects of design changes and corrections. The different reliability analyses are all related, and examine the reliability of the product or system from different perspectives, in order to determine possible problems and assist a reliability engineer in analyzing corrections and improvements.

Reliability engineering can be done by a variety of engineers including a reliability engineer, quality engineer, test engineer, systems engineer, or design engineer. In highly evolved teams, all key engineers are aware of their responsibilities in regards to reliability and work together to help improve the product using reliability engineering tools and software.

The reliability engineering activity should be an ongoing process starting at the conceptual phase of a product design and continuing throughout all phases of a product lifecycle. The goal always needs to be to identify potential reliability problems as early as possible in the product lifecycle. While it may never be too late to improve the reliability of a product, changes to a design are orders of magnitude less expensive in the early part of a design phase rather than once the product is manufactured and in service. Reliability engineering tools play a vital role in the development of all products.

Relex Software presents an integrated approach to reliability engineering. View our product line to learn more about how Relex Software can help you meet your goal of creating a more reliable and cost-effective product or process.

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