Availability

The probability that a system is operational when called upon to perform its function. The
numerical value of availability is expressed as a probability from 0 to 1. Availability
calculations take into account both the failures and the repairs of the system.
Bill of Materials (BOM)
Fixed-format ASCII files where each piece of information appears between certain
columns.
Burn-in
The process of operating devices or equipment often under accelerated voltage,
temperature, or load in order to screen out infant mortality failures.
Common Cause Failure Group
An event or mechanism that can cause two or more failures simultaneously is called a
common cause. The failures are referred to as common cause failures.
Cost Analysis
Analyzing the cost of a product or system over its entire lifetime, including design,
development, and replacement costs.
Criticality
A relative measure of the consequence of a particular failure mode and its frequency of
occurrence.
Criticality Matrix
A graphical representation of the failure mode and effects, usually graphed as probability
of occurrence vs. severity level.
Design FMEA
A failure modes effects analysis that studies how a system design reacts to various
failure modes.
Event Tree Analysis
A process designed to determine the probability of an event based on the outcomes of
each event in the chronological sequence leading up to it.
Failure Data Analysis
A type of reliability analysis used to study a variety of fields, practices, and disciplines,
including mechanical, chemical, electrical, electronic, materials, and human failures. It is
useful for maintenance planning, developing cost-effective replacement strategies, spare
parts forecasting, and warranty analysis.
Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA)
An inductive, bottoms-up method of analyzing system design and performance. At the
core of a FMEA is the determination of the effects of various types of failures on a
system. Various standards such as SAE J1739, AIAG Potential Failure Mode and Effects
Analysis, as well as documents from Ford, Chrysler, and GM, provide instructions and
formats on performing FMEAs.
Failure Mode, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA)
An inductive, bottoms-up method of analyzing system design and performance. At the
core of a FMECA is the determination of the effects of various types of failures on a
system. A criticality factor, assigned to each failure mode, allows ranking the most severe

failure modes and the ones most likely to occur. The analyst may then target these
failure modes in order to reduce their probability of occurrence.
Failure Rate
The number of failures experienced or expected for a device divided by the total
equipment operating time. For constant failure rate items, i.e. exponentially distributed
failures, the failure rate is the numerical inverse of the mean time between failures
(MTBF).
Fault Tree Analysis
A deductive, top-down method of analyzing system design and performance. It involves
specifying a top event to analyze, followed by identifying all of the associated elements
in the system that could cause that top event to occur. Fault tree analyses are generally
performed graphically using a logical structure of AND and OR gates. Sometimes certain
elements, or basic events, may need to occur together in order for that top event to
occur. In this case, these events would be arranged under an AND gate, meaning that all
of the basic events would need to occur to trigger the top event. If the basic events alone
would trigger the top event, then they would be grouped under an OR gate. The entire
system as well as human interactions would be analyzed when performing a fault tree
analysis.
FRACAS
(Also known as Failure Reporting, Analysis, and Corrective Action System.) A closedloop system that consists of identifying failures, analyzing the causes of those failures by
performing a failure analysis, deciding corrective actions, and implementing those
corrective actions back into the design and/or manufacturing process. A good FRACAS
system is essential to healthy reliability improvement.
HRD5
A reliability standard developed by British. In general, HRD5 is similar to CNET 93, but
provides simpler models and requires fewer data parameters for analysis.
Life Cycle Cost (LCC)
A method of analyzing the cost of a piece of equipment over its entire life, including
development costs, production costs, warranty costs, repair costs, and disposal costs.
Maintainability Prediction
The measure of the ability of an item to be retained in or restored to a specified condition
when skilled personnel perform the maintenance
Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)
The mean time expected between failures, typically measured in hours. MTBF is a
statistical value and is meant to be the mean over a long period of time and large
number of units. For constant failure rate systems, MTBF is the inverse of the failure
rate. If failure rate is in failures/million hours, MTBF = 1,000,000 / Failure Rate for
components with exponential distributions. Technically MTBF should be used only in
reference to repairable items, while MTTF (Mean Time to Failure) should be used for
non-repairable items, but MTBF is commonly used for both repairable and nonrepairable items.

Mean Time to Failure (MTTF)

The mean time expected to the first failure of a piece of equipment. It is a statistical
value and is meant to be the mean over a long period of time and large number of units.
For constant failure rate systems, MTTF is the inverse of the failure rate. If failure rate is
in failures/million hours, MTTF = 1,000,000 / Failure Rate for components with
exponential distributions. Technically MTBF should be used only in reference to
repairable items, while MTTF should be used for non-repairable items, but MTBF is
commonly used for both repairable and non-repairable items.
Mean Time to Repair (MTTR)
The total amount of time spent performing all corrective maintenance repairs divided by
the total number of those repairs.
Measures of Reliability
When performing a reliability prediction analysis, there are several calculated values that
provide measures of reliability. These values include failure rate, mean time between
failures (MTBF), reliability and availability.
Net Present Value
(Also known as NPV.) The cost of a product or system calculated in the present-day
currency.
Normal Distribution
An important and widely-used distribution in the field of statistics and probability. All
Normal distributions are symmetric, and the mean and standard deviation values are
used as its two distribution parameters.
Reliability
The ability of an item to perform a required function under stated conditions for a stated
period of time. The numerical value of reliability is expressed as a probability from 0 to 1
and is also sometimes known as the probability of mission success. Reliability is the
probability, assuming the system was operating at time zero, that it continues to operate
until time t.
Reliability Analysis
A method of analyzing a system design evaluating reliability-related issues. The goal is
to improve the field reliability of the system.
Reliability Allocations
Performed early in a design to allocate a given failure rate or MTBF goal across the
equipment in the system. Various weights are assigned to each piece of equipment
during the reliability allocations process.
Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)
Methodology used to define a maintenance program while having reliability as an input
to the decision making process.
Reliability Prediction
A primary component of reliability analysis is referred to as the failure rate, or the number
of failures expected during a certain period of time. Calculation of equipment failure rate,
and the related MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures), is the basis of performing a
reliability prediction analysis.

SAE
Society of Automotive Engineers.
Single Point Failure
Used to describe an item that, if failed, would cause a failure of the system.
Uniform Distribution
The simplest of all failure distributions. it can be interpreted as meaning that the random
variable can only exist in the range A to B (lower to upper) and that the probability of
occurrence is directly proportional to the interval length.