Cost of Reliability: Maximizing Product Life Cycle Value Training

Cost of Reliability is a 2-day course where participants 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.

In technical terms, reliability is defined as the probability that a product performs its intended function without failure under specified conditions for a specified period of time.

Reliability has three key elements

• Intended function
• Specified period of time
• Specified conditions

As reliability is quantified by probability, any attempts to measure it involve the use of probabilistic and statistical methods. Consequently, probability theory and statistics are important mathematical tools for reliability engineering.

Product life cycle refers to sequential phases from product planning to disposal. A reliability program consists of a series of reliability tasks that are well sequenced to achieve the reliability target and customer satisfaction.

The 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 are quick to point out 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.

The costs of reliability are often invisible, but they can be very important.

Reliability becomes more important with scale. Large organizations have more rules and procedures than small ones, and this is rational. Accordingly, they pay more costs in reliability.

One reason is that the attack surface for errors grows with the number of individuals involved. For instance, large organizations often have rules against downloading software onto company computers without permission.

The chance that any one person downloads malicious software that seriously harms the company is small, but the chance that at least one person does rises with the number of employees.

Typically in quality engineering, cost of reliability refers to spending money upfront on improving the quality and reliability of the product.

On the other hand, if you don’t spend an adequate amount on improving the quality and reliability of the product then you will end up spending money on improving returned products from the field. The latter is not where you want to be, because most of the time the ‘pay me later’ costs are much more than the ‘pay me now.’

The cost of reliability can generally be divided into:

• Includingprevention costs (how we can prevent failures from happening) and appraisal costs (inspecting, testing, and evaluating designs, components, materials, and the product itself)
• Including internal failures(fixing things that are failing before you even ship the product) and external failures (dealing with a high return rate and other things that are happening outside the company once you have shipped the product)

Cost of Reliability: Maximizing Product Life Cycle Value Training by Tonex

This course explores the concept of the Cost of Reliability (COR), a critical metric in assessing the total costs associated with the reliability of a product or system over its life cycle. Participants will learn about the methods and tools used to quantify and manage reliability costs, including the trade-offs between upfront investment in reliability and the long-term costs of failures. The course emphasizes practical applications and strategies to integrate reliability considerations into the product design and development process to optimize performance and value.

Learning Objectives: Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Define the Cost of Reliability and understand its significance in product and system life cycles.
• Identify and quantify various costs associated with achieving and maintaining reliability.
• Analyze the trade-offs between different reliability strategies and their associated costs.
• Implement reliability-centered maintenance strategies to optimize life cycle costs.
• Integrate reliability analysis into the product development process to enhance overall value.

Target Audience: 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.

Course Outline:

Fundamentals of Reliability

• Definitions and principles of reliability
• Reliability metrics and objectives

Understanding the Cost of Reliability

• Direct and indirect costs of reliability
• Life cycle cost modeling

Reliability and Design

• Design for reliability (DfR) principles
• Reliability prediction during design

Reliability Testing and Costs

• Planning and conducting reliability tests
• Costs associated with testing and data analysis

Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA)

• Identifying potential failure modes
• Assessing risks and prioritizing actions

Reliability and Maintenance Strategies

• Preventive vs. predictive maintenance
• Reliability-centered maintenance (RCM)

Quantifying Reliability Costs

• Data collection and cost tracking
• Return on investment (ROI) for reliability initiatives

Reliability in the Supply Chain

• Supplier quality and reliability issues
• Cost impacts of supply chain reliability

Case Studies: COR in Practice

• Industry-specific examples of COR management
• Lessons learned from real-world scenarios
• Integrating COR into Business Decisions

Risk Management and COR

• Risk assessment in reliability engineering
• Mitigation strategies and their cost implications

Creating a Culture of Reliability

• Organizational challenges in adopting COR
• Training and leadership for reliability-focused culture

Technology and COR

• Impact of new technologies on reliability and costs
• Predictive analytics and Internet of Things (IoT) in reliability management

Sustainable Reliability Practices

• Environmental factors in COR
• Sustainable practices that affect product reliability and costs

Workshops and Simulations

• Hands-on exercises with reliability tools
• Simulations to practice cost and reliability trade-off decisions

Capstone Project

• Participants will work on a project relevant to their organization to apply COR principles and present their findings.

The course structure will include lectures, interactive discussions, group exercises, case studies, and a project work component that allows participants to directly apply the concepts learned to real-world challenges in their organizations. This practical approach ensures that the knowledge gained is not only theoretical but also applicable to the participants’ daily professional activities.