The importance to reliability of such factors as vendor selection, parts screening tests, electronic packaging selections, in-process inspection and test, and maintenance by the user, to name a few, is loudly proclaimed, yet accurate quantitative assessment has not been achieved.
The data to be presented in this paper put some of these reliability prediction factors in perspective to show which produce the greatest gains in reliability. The theme is factory-to-target reliability, emphasizing that the practices selected in design, in manufacture, in test, and in operational use have a lasting impact on survival of our products and, ultimately, the future of our companies.