Track 2 Session 6
10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Wednesday June 10, 2009

Reliability Performance and Metrics of Repairable Systems

Many multi-component systems such as semiconductor equipment, automobiles, aircraft engines, computer servers, and power generation units are repairable in the field. It is also known that reliability performance metrics and analysis methodologies for non-repairable systems versus repairable systems are quite different. For most repairable systems “downing,” both the event and its duration, usually has a big impact on the bottom line of a business. Many manufacturers actually guarantee certain levels of availability of their systems. When involved in design for reliability of repairable systems, the author was surprised that the reliability theory for repairable systems is so immature and incomplete. Most reliability engineering practices for repairable systems are directly adopted from methodologies for non-repairable systems. This presentation reviews the existing reliability metrics and methodologies for repairable systems, shows the behavior of reliability performance of repairable systems from recent studies and real industrial cases, and concludes with a discussion on the characteristics of reliability behavior of repairable systems and hence metrics, which can be utilized in engineering practices.

Key Words: Specifying Reliability, Reliability Metrics, Design for Reliability, Repairable Systems, System Reliability