Reliability Engineering: Theory and Practice, 4th edition

Citation

Narasimhan, K. (2005), "Reliability Engineering: Theory and Practice, 4th edition", The TQM Magazine, Vol. 17 No. 2, pp. 209-210. https://doi.org/10.1108/09544780510583272

One of the key components of customer satisfaction (a pillar of the total quality management movement) is the reliability of a product. Hence, knowledge of both theory and practices of reliability engineering (RE) will aid in the pursuit of improving reliability, maintainability, availability and safety of components, equipment and systems.

This book is based on Birolini‘s 30 years experience in this field both in industry and academia. Alessandro Birolini is Professor emeritus and was full Professor of Reliability Engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich.

The book comprises eight chapters and nine appendices. The text is supported by 130 figures, 60 tables, and 110 examples. Chapter 1 introduces basic concepts showing how they are related to cost/system effectiveness, and discusses the tasks required to assure quality and reliability of complex equipments and systems. Terms most commonly used in RE and their definitions are given in Appendix 1. In Appendix 2, standards for quality management systems are very briefly (four pages) discussed. Important aspects in defining and realising quality and reliability requirements are discussed in Appendix 3. Check lists for design reviews and requirements for quality data reporting systems are covered respectively in Appendices 4 and 5.

Reliability analysis during the design phase is the topic of the second chapter. This chapter presents techniques and tools, in seven sections, for failure rate and failure mode analysis of complex equipment and systems considered as non‐repairable up to system failure.

Chapter 3 focuses on qualification tests (such as environmental tests, reliability tests, and failure analysis) for components and subassemblies of electrical and electronic equipment and systems. Maintainability, which is a important parameter in the optimization of availability and life‐cycle costs of equipments, is the focus of Chapter 4 and is covered in some depth in six sections by considering also spare parts reservation. In Chapter 5, attention is turned to design rules for reliability, maintainability and software quality, incorporating in particular software of the right quality, at the design and development phase, to improve reliability and maintainability of complex equipment and systems.

Chapter 6 is the longest chapter (100 pages) in which reliability and availability of repairable systems is covered in nine sections. The mathematical foundations of basic probability theory are covered in Appendix 6 and the foundations of stochastic processes (Markov, semi‐Markov, and semi‐regenerative) are given in Appendix 7. Most of the reliability models for systems with redundancy are systematically investigated in this chapter by considering in particular fault tolerant reconfigurable repairable systems including imperfect switching, incomplete coverage, items with more than two states, and phased‐mission systems, as well as reward and frequency/duration aspects. A large number of approximations are given.

The last two chapters respectively deal with statistical quality control and reliability tests and the basic aspects of quality and reliability during production including testing and screening procedures for electronic components and assemblies. Theoretical foundations for Chapter 8 are given in Appendix 8 and Appendix 9 contains all relevant charts and tables.

The book also contains useful acronyms and 20‐page references used in the text.

All in all, the book of Professor Birolini can be highly recommended. It is more engineering than management oriented and it is thus written as a text book for those versed in maths and working in the field of RE, and as reference book for other including project managers.