In the telecom sector, the largest failure-cost categories affected by unreliability are maintenance labor, material, and capital.
More specifically, the cost of lost time and effort, the cost of loss of coverage while the failed asset is unavailable to perform its intended function, and the cost of callout, failure analysis and replacement hardware.
Within that, the cost of callout is often overlooked and for a RAN, the cost of a truck-roll and accessing the top of an antenna tower is significant.
The cost of reliability includes many other aspects that are fundamentally linked to achieving benefits in those areas based on the evaluation, testing and ultimately the proven reliability of the products they use, including:
- Improved end-customer (network operator) relationships
- Reduced OPEX costs of field-replacement of hardware
- The effect of the efficiency of power conversion on energy consumption
- Improving (reducing) the CAPEX related to spares and repairs inventory
- Focusing engineers on developing new designs instead of troubleshooting issues related to poor network performance
- Engineering schedules being maintained with better team efficiency
- Happier engineers
Reliability tasks are customized to fit the needs of specific products and implemented throughout the product life cycle. In the product realization process, reliability tasks are especially important because of the amount of value that they can add to products.
Experts in this field contend that reliability techniques are aimed at building reliability into products and reducing the cost and time associated with the process. To maximize efficiency, reliability tasks should be incorporated into the engineering activities that take place in this process.
A comprehensive reliability program adds value to the product life cycle even after a product enters the field deployment phase.
Want to learn more? Tonex offers Cost of Reliability: Maximizing Product Life Cycle Value training, a 2-day course where participants learn to define the Cost of Reliability and understand its significance in product and system life cycles.
Participants also learn to identify and quantify various costs associated with achieving and maintaining reliability as well as analyze the trade-offs between different reliability strategies and their associated costs.
This course is ideal for product managers, reliability engineers, maintenance managers, design engineers, and other professionals involved in product development, maintenance, and life cycle management across various industries.
For more information, questions, comments, contact us.