#446 – RELIABILITY SPECIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS – FRED SCHENKELBERG

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The communication between suppliers or vendors and their customers is often using a mix of specifications and requirements.

Customers set requirements and suppliers offer specifications. When they match, or when a supplier component specifications meet the customer’s requirements, we have the potential for a transaction. Continue reading

#445 – SUPPLIER RELIABILITY PROGRAM MATURITY – FRED SCHENKELBERG

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It was late Friday afternoon and the phone rang. Which is rarely a good thing.

There seems to a significant spike in field failures due to one component. The initial failure analysis work reveals the issue started with a batch of parts received about two months ago and the flaw continues to appear in subsequent batches. Continue reading

#444 – SUPPLY CHAIN PROCESS CONTROL AND CAPABILITY – FRED SCHENKELBERG

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If you buy more than one of an item used in your product, you will have to deal with variability. In general, the variability from part to part is minimal and expected. Occasionally, the variability is large and causes reliability problems.

According to O’Connor and Kleyner, “The main cause of production-induced unreliability, as well as rework and scrap, is the variability inherent in production processes.” O’Connor, Patrick D. T. and Andre Kleyner. 2012. Practical Reliability Engineering. Chicester: John Wiley and Sons. Web. Continue reading

#442 – RELIABILITY BENEFITS OF ALPHA AND BETA TESTING – FRED SCHENKELBERG

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Your customers are your best testers for your next product. They will explore the features. Expose the product to use conditions in unconscious ways. And, they will let you what they consider failures without needing the specification document. Continue reading

#441 – USING A DELTA PROGRAM TO MINIMIZE EARLY FIELD FAILURES – FRED SCHENKELBERG

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Failures happen. Sometimes product failures happen quickly.

You just bought a new feature rich computer and discover it doesn’t work. Right out of the box, it will not power up. Conversations with the tech support and it’s a trip back to the store. Continue reading