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The applied reliability engineering field has been evolving to be in sync with industrial and societal developments.

Applied reliability engineering has necessitated continuous advancement of technical knowledge and ability. In the current scenario of technological development, with strong digitalization and interconnection at all levels of cyber-physical systems and in all industrial sectors, applied reliability engineering is faced with new challenges but it is also exposed to new opportunities of improvement.

It is generally agreed that the value of reliability assessment lies not in the figure obtained for system reliability, but in the discovery of the ways in which reliability can be improved.

A reliability engineer’s primary job is to test current processes and note any failures. They also look for ways to cut costs while maintaining reliable products and production methods, such as adjusting materials, equipment and employees used in the production process.

It relates closely to safety engineering and to system safety in that they use common methods for their analysis and may require input from each other.

Some of the key elements that applied reliability engineering can affect include:

  • Competitiveness
  • Profitability
  • Repair and maintenance costs
  • Delays further up supply chain
  • Reputation
  • Goodwill
  • Safety

The goal of applied reliability engineering is to carry out an assessment as to the reliability of facility equipment and identify potential areas for improvement. This includes improvement not only in equipment design but also in terms of how it is operated and how it is maintained.

From a pragmatic perspective, all failures cannot be eliminated, consequently, reliability engineering also focuses on identification and mitigation of the high-probability failures and their effects.

It’s also important to note that applied reliability engineering for complex systems requires a different, more elaborate systems approach than for non-complex systems. Applied reliability engineering for complex systems can involve such things as:

  • System availability and mission readiness analysis and related reliability and maintenance requirement allocation
  • Functional system failure analysis and derived requirements specification
  • Inherent (system) design reliability analysis and derived requirements specification for both hardware and software design
  • System diagnostics design
  • Fault tolerant systems (e.g., by redundancy)

Want to learn more? Tonex offers Applied Reliability Engineering Training, a 3-day course that covers the concepts, tools, and techniques required for implementing successful reliability engineering.

Applied Reliability Engineering Training course also discusses reliability and maintenance program management, integrated logistics support (ILS), reliability centered maintenance (RCM), FMECA and FTA.

For more information, questions, comments, contact us.

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