The 25th anniversary volume of Quality and Reliability Engineering International

Abstract

The recently completed volume of Quality and Reliability Engineering International is its 25th anniversary. The mission of the journal is to provide information on new developments in many aspects of the discipline to professionals with research articles, review papers, and applications and case study papers. It is appropriate to look back over this anniversary volume and identify some important themes, highlight some of the significant papers that contribute to those themes, and discuss what we hope to see in the future. Statistical Process Control (SPC) and related topics continue to be an important area of research and applications. The journal published many noteworthy papers in this area, including the papers on adaptive procedures by Li et al.1 and Kooli and Liman2, run-to-run control3, integration of SPC with other techniques4, 5, design of control charts6, 7, and methods for identifying the change point in high-yield processes8. Reliability engineering and the associated statistical methods continue to be a key focus area for the journal. Koka et al.9 present an interdisciplinary approach to reliability in design and Samet10 discusses fault-tolerant computing. Accelerated life testing techniques are discussed by Liu and Tang11 and Pan12. Remenyte-Prescott and Andrews13 present a new real-time method for the efficient analysis of non-coherent fault trees. Anderson-Cook et al.14 investigate resource allocation for a complex system with aging components. Designed experiments and robust design are an integral part of both product design and process improvement. Methodology for robust product or process design is considered by Shaibu et al.15, Steenackers et al.16 and Rodriguez et al.17. Hazelrigg18 discusses many interesting aspects of engineering design. Other extremely useful papers include Gaudard et al.19 on the interaction between data mining and designed experiments, Guo et al.20 on the general balanced metric for mixed-level fractional factorial designs, Wesley et al.21 on prediction variance in split-plot designs, Guo et al.22 on optimal fold-over designs for mixed-level fractional factorial designs, and Jones and Johnson23 on designs for computer experiments. The journal also presented several interesting case studies, including Monroe and Pan24, Carmignani25, Magniez et al.26, Johnson et al.27 and Aksoy and Orbak28. Case studies are an important part of this journal. We have a high standard for these papers. They must represent the best of contemporary practice either through the application of new methodology or the application of existing methods in unique environments. Quality and reliability engineers are knowledge workers. They accumulate, generate and deploy knowledge with the express objective of improving products, processes, services and society. Case studies facilitate the generation and widespread adoption of new methods or provide insight about how existing methods can be used in novel situations. These types of papers can perform a valuable service to our profession. We encourage potential authors of case studies to contribute to our journal.