Powertrain Design for Reliability

Component and System reliability have long been the Achilles heel in engineering-and for that matter any domain. With increasing importance for customer satisfaction and safety, high reliability and product quality have become basic requirements for a successful and returns-yielding product.

In a strong and competitive powertrain market, complex and critical components are developed in an extremely short time, yet are expected to have long service-maintenance intervals, thus making the need for reliability a necessity to avoid major warranty and lifecycle costs. Short development periods and inconsistent design also lead to an unreliable product, generating customer dissatisfaction, product recalls and negative impact on brand image. Design for reliability thus is now being adopted at early stages in the product-development cycle. Continuous research and standards are being developed to incorporate advanced methodologies at early design stages to develop reliable and robust products.