Abstract

Kirk and Fred discussing the classic bathtub curve used in reliability engineering to define the life cycle of electronics and systems.

Key Points

Join Kirk and Fred as they discuss customer reliability expectations and what section of the bathtub curve is flat
Topics include:

• Infant mortality is the definition of the bathtub curve for the early failures and the most costly for any company producing a new product
• Kirk mentions a $5.00 LED photovoltaic cell outdoor light lasting many years outdoor in Colorado without failure illustrating that cheap doesn’t mean unreliable
• Customers don’t really care about the bathtub curve, just that the product does not fail.
• Reliability issues may also be from other packaging, instructions on assembly or how to use, and companies may or may not include these in the failure rates.

Enjoy an episode of Speaking of Reliability. Where you can join friends as they discuss reliability topics. Join us as we discuss topics ranging from design for reliability techniques to field data analysis approaches.

SOR 554 Do Customers only Want the Flat Part of the CurveKirk Gray

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Show Notes

Here is a link to Kirk’s book co-authored with John J. Paschkewitz available from Amazon “Next Generation HALT and HASS: Robust Design of Electronics and Systems”

Here is the link to the US ARMY/CALCE PAPER presented at the 2013 RAMS conference event mentioned in this podcast– “Reliability Prediction – A Continued Reliance on a Misleading Approach” . This is a government document that is in the public domain and should be distributed a read by any engineer that believes failure prediction methodology is useful or beneficial during product development.