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Introduction

Reliability, availability, safety and so on are now major qualities that a product must have, irrespective of the industrial application field (automobile, avionics, rail, etc.) of its use. A significant literature related to these fields can be readily accessed, and is generally grouped under the umbrella concept of “dependability”.

During the whole lifecycle of a product, from specification to operation by the end user, a large number of actions are implemented in order for it to meet the specified requirements. Reliability is the quantitative basis for dependability activities, as poor reliability can lead to insufficient availability, for example, although it should be reached as soon as the products are in service.

The maturity of a product is therefore its capacity to reach the desired reliability level, from its launch into service until the end of its operation. Due to technical and economic challenges, it is very difficult to reach product maturity. Indeed, defects are very often generated during various phases of the lifecycle, reflected by failures that occur very early on in product operation (a manufacturing defect, for example), or during its operation (design flaw, integration flaw, etc.). This is particularly true for products whose service life is becoming longer (e.g. 30 years for components in the rail industry). It is important to note that this activity makes sense for maintained products, which are predominantly in industrial applications.

There is abundant information on maturity, but this applies mostly to process implementation within a company, and it is therefore often at the project management level. Detailed literature describing the main theories (worst-case analysis, derating analysis, etc.) and practical techniques (accelerated tests, burn-in, etc.) for building product maturity is actually scarce, and many manufacturers often use obsolete standards, which, at best, they modify according to their experience.

The main objective of this book is to fill this knowledge gap, which is often detrimental to many manufacturers.