The Certified Reliability Engineer Handbook

Reliability engineers are professionals who understand the principles of performance evaluation and prediction to improve product/systems safety, reliability, and maintainability. This handbook s chapters and sections match the Body of Knowledge (BOK) specified for ASQ s Reliability Engineer certification, which includes design review and control; prediction, estimation, and apportionment methodology; failure mode effects and analysis; the planning, operation, and analysis of reliability testing and field failures, including mathematical modeling; understanding human factors in reliability; and the ability to develop and administer reliability information systems for failure analysis, design and performance improvement, and reliability program management over the entire product life cycle. This handbook provides reliability engineers with the theory and tools needed to meet ever-increasing reliability requirements. An accompanying CD contains supplementary problems covering each chapter and a simulated exam that has problems distributed among the chapters according to the scheme published in the BOK. Cover ......Page 1 Title Page......Page 4 Copyright Page......Page 5 Table of Contents......Page 6 CD-ROM Contents......Page 10 List of Figures and Tables......Page 11 Preface......Page 13 Acknowledgments......Page 14 Part I Reliability Management......Page 16 1. Benefits of Reliability Engineering......Page 17 2. Interrelationship of Quality and Reliability......Page 18 3. Role of the Reliability Function in the Organization......Page 20 4. Reliability in Product and Process Development......Page 21 5. Failure Consequence and Liability Management......Page 22 6. Life-Cycle Cost Planning......Page 23 7. Customer Needs Assessment......Page 24 8. Project Management......Page 28 1. Terminology......Page 32 2. Elements of a Reliablity Program......Page 35 3. Product Life-Cycle and Costs......Page 37 4. Design Evaluation......Page 40 5. Requirements Management......Page 42 6. Reliability Training Programs......Page 43 1. Roles and Responsibilities......Page 45 2. Ethical Issues......Page 46 3. System Safety Program......Page 48 Part II Probability and Statistics for Reliability......Page 50 1. Statistical Terms......Page 51 2. Basic Probability Concepts......Page 53 3. Discrete and Continuous Probability Distributions......Page 62 4. Statistical Process Control (SPC)......Page 73 1. Point and Interval Estimates of Parameters......Page 76 2. Statistical Interval Estimates......Page 79 3. Hypothesis Testing (Parametric and Non-Parametric)......Page 86 4. Bayesian Technique......Page 107 Part III Reliability in Design and Development......Page 110 1. Use Factors......Page 111 2. Stress-Strength Analysis......Page 112 3. Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) in Design......Page 113 4. Failure Mode Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) in Design......Page 115 5. Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) in Design......Page 116 6. Tolerance and Worst-Case Analyses......Page 117 7. Robust Design Approaches......Page 119 8. Human Factors Reliability......Page 138 9. Design for X (DFX)......Page 139 1. Parts Selection......Page 141 2. Material Selection and Control......Page 142 3. Derating Methods and Principles......Page 143 4. Establishing Specifications......Page 144 Part IV Reliability Modeling and Predictions......Page 148 1. Sources of Reliability Data......Page 149 2. Reliability Block Diagrams and Models......Page 150 3. Simulation Techniques......Page 161 1. Part Count Predictions and Part Stress Analysis......Page 166 2. Advantages and Limitations of Reliability Predictions......Page 168 3. Reliability Prediction Methods for Repairable and Non-Repairable Devices......Page 169 4. Reliability Apportionment/Allocation......Page 170 Part V Reliability Testing......Page 174 1. Elements of a Reliability Test Plan......Page 175 2. Types and Applications of Reliability Testing......Page 177 3. Test Environment Considerations......Page 181 1. Accelerated Life Tests......Page 183 2. Step-Stress Testing......Page 186 3. Reliability Growth Testing......Page 188 4. Software Testing......Page 190 1. Qualification/Demonstration Testing......Page 192 3. Stress Screening......Page 197 4. Attribute Testing......Page 198 6. Software Testing......Page 201 Part VI Maintainability and Availability......Page 204 1. Maintainability and Availability Planning......Page 205 2. Maintenance Strategies......Page 206 3. Maintainability Apportionment/Allocation......Page 207 4. Availability Tradeoffs......Page 209 1. Maintenance Time Distributions......Page 211 2. Preventive Maintenance (PM) Analysis......Page 213 3. Corrective Maintenance Analysis......Page 214 5. Spare Parts Strategy......Page 216 Part VII Data Collection and Use......Page 220 1. Types of Data......Page 221 2. Data Sources......Page 222 3. Collection Methods......Page 223 4. Data Management......Page 224 1. Data Summarization......Page 226 2. Preventive and Corrective Action......Page 231 3. Measures of Effectiveness......Page 234 1. Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)......Page 238 2. Failure Mode Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA)......Page 240 3. Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) and Success Tree Analysis (STA)......Page 241 4. Failure Reporting, Analysis, and Corrective Action Systems (FRACAS)......Page 244 Part VIII Appendices......Page 246 Appendix A: Reliability Engineer......Page 247 Appendix B: ASQ Code of Ethics......Page 256 Appendix C: Control Limit Formulas......Page 258 Appendix D: Constants for Control Charts......Page 259 Appendix E: Areas under Standard Normal Curve......Page 260 Appendix F: F Distribution F0.1......Page 262 Appendix G: F Distribution F 0.05......Page 266 Appendix H: F Distribution F0.01......Page 270 Appendix I: Chi Square Distribution......Page 274 Appendix J: Values of the t Distribution......Page 276 Appendix K: Statistical Tolerance Factors for at Least 99 Percent of the Population......Page 278 Appendix L: Critical Values for the Mann-Whitney Test......Page 279 Appendix M: Critical Values for Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test......Page 280 Appendix N: Poisson Distribution......Page 281 Appendix O: Binomial Distribution......Page 283 Appendix P: Exponential Distribution......Page 285 Appendix Q: Median Ranks......Page 287 Glossary......Page 290 References......Page 312 Index......Page 314 CRE-Study Questions from CD-ROM......Page 322 Sample Examination from CD-ROM......Page 342