Cost Optimizing System to Evaluate Reliability (COSTER)
Abstract
Specific attention is currently being addressed to the overall cost of the reliability specification as early as the development stage in an equipment's life cycle. In order to assess the impact of changes in an equipment's reliability specification, it must be possible to predict and monitor the effects of such changes on an equipment's reliability testing and field support costs. This research report elaborates the respective cost and reliability improvements resulting from six major reliability program efforts prior to an equipment's field deployment. The six efforts are: (1) the design review; (2) the reliability prediction program; (3) the failure mode, effects, and criticality analysis (FMECA); (4) the parts program, in which MIL-STD and high reliability parts are selectively used in place of commercially available parts; (5) the reliability testing programs; and (6) the Burnin test. One hundred sixty exhaustive 'policies' are analyzed with respect to their cost and resultant reliability. Each policy is a specific combination of the reliability program tasks imposed. The total policy cost is the sum of the reliability program cost and the expected field support cost after the equipment is deployed. The Field Support costs are assumed inversely related to the reliability level, as measured by the Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF), achieved prior to deployment. The model is computerized and sorts the total policy cost in ascending order. The optimal policy and the resultant MTBF corresponding to the minimum total cost are the outputs of the model. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1977
- Accession Number
- ADA038761
Entities
People
- Grace A. Marseglia
- John P. Solomond
Organizations
- United States Army Communications-Electronics Command