Creating reliability in the design process : an evaluation approach, design tool, and example application

This research is conducted to provide insight into the current issue of implementing designer reliability analysis in the early stages of development and production for a truly superior product or process. Additionally, the research suggests a solution by providing a simplified reliability analysis approach and design tool for use by the designer in the early design stages, to enable more effective and efficient reliability improvements to be made to engineered systems. The reliability design tool is based on the universally accepted Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) technique through an automated information management and reliability analysis calculation program. The software program is specifically created to provide easily interpreted results for making reliability improvement decisions through a simple, easy-to-use format. An example case study is provided to demonstrate the approach and the software, and to provide useful reliability assessment and improvement information. The subject of the case study is a current graduate research project at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, aimed at developing and marketing a low-cost, cartesian co-ordinate robot.