A new approach to reliability of commercial and military aerospace products: Beyond military quality/reliability standards

Abstract

AbstractRecent changes in the commercial and military aerospace industries have caused us to question the traditional ways of measuring, predicting and assuring product reliability. These industries have been unique in that both quality and reliability have been almost completely controlled by government standards, a condition that will not survive the current upheaval in these markets. Traditional reliability prediction methods for military and commercial aerospace products use a probabilistic approach, such as that of MIL‐HDBK‐217, and Reliability Assurance relies on fixed quality levels in design and manufacture. These approaches almost uniformly assume that predicted equipment reliability is the sum of the predicted reliabilities of the electronic and electromechanical parts in the equipment and that once designed, reliability is a fixed attribute of the hardware. This paper describes a comprehensive approach to avionics reliability assurance which addresses all potential causes of unreliability. It is applicable to both commercial and military products. The approaches described here may be viewed as the next logical step beyond the traditional approach to quality and reliability found in current Military Standards.This paper is a call to change the way we think about reliability assurance in the military and aerospace markets. Six new approaches are suggested: (1) Adopt a continuous improvement, zero‐defects mentality in the design of military and aerospace products; (2) develop a design‐to‐world‐class cost and schedule mentality; (3) adapt world‐class process control methods to low‐volume, high‐reliability manufacturing; (4) accept ownership for quality and reliability of all components and materials; (5) adapt world‐class design practices to military and aerospace products; and (6) recognize that quality and reliability of parts, materials, and systems are the responsibility of those who manufacture them.Although ELDEC Corporation is installing a system with the above features, the implementation of these approaches will be unique to each user. The system described in this paper involves the use of many currently popular TQM methods, such as statistical process control, design of experiments and concurrent engineering. It also involves interaction of many functions within the manufacturing organization, as well as with suppliers and customers. Our listing of methods is not intended to be comprehensive, just illustrative.