Accelerated life tests for new product qualification: a case study in the household appliance

Abstract

The increasing competition of global markets requires companies to focus their attentions on two main aspects of a production system: cost reduction and product quality. Product reliability performance is strongly correlated with the customer satisfaction and with its perception of the goods quality; in fact, product failures can represent one of the most serious damages for the manufacturer image. Reliability estimation through testing activities should be carried on in accordance with a time&cost saving strategy looking also at the product warranty period. Accelerated life tests (ALT) represent a methodology able to investigate product reliability performance in a shorter time respect to the classical testing methods, both in the design and in the production phase. The aim of this paper is the development of a procedure based on ALT in order to evaluate reliability performances of a new product; the use of such testing method is useful to systematically support the design phase and to help the service forecasting before the product launch. The methodology has been tested on a case study regarding a new model of washing machine for domestic use. The application of accelerated life tests was able to stress one of the most important failure mode of the product, returning important validation data for the design phase.