Track 2 Session 9

2:20 to 3:20 p.m. Thursday, June 14, 2012

Test Laboratory Management: The Glue That Binds Reliability Together

This presentation discusses the architecture and requirements for an effective lab management system. With all the reliability tools available and used, no one has discussed how it all comes together. In most cases, the testing laboratory is where the actual work is either performed or realized. This presentation discusses the laboratory management and infrastructure necessary to actually execute design controls from design FMEAs, perform accelerated tests or perform reliability demonstration tests. This is how the information is gathered, stored, managed and made available to other parts of the organization. Lab management is a set of processes and procedures that commission the work, track its progress, gather the detail data and report the results. Reliability tools in and of themselves do not allow for the detailed understanding of how all the parts come together.

Key Words: Laboratory Management, FMEA, ALT, HALT, Design Validation Plan, Reliability Demonstration, System Architecture

G. Michael Smith

Magna Powertrain of America

Waterford, Michigan