ABSTRACT
Reliability theory is substantially the “science of failures,” in the same way in which medicine is the “science of diseases,” directed toward curing or preventing them. However, because each failure virtually implies the exis tence of customer dissatisfaction and complaints, reliability is in some ways the science of complaints also and, during the warranty period, the science of claims. Besides, to fully exploit it in the context of quality management, we must always remember that its operative meaning is “the probability that a system possesses and keeps its quality throughout tim e”
In general, reliability is a characteristic of systems that possess and keep during their life the working qualities for which they were designed and realized. In this sense reliability is a time-oriented quality characteristic [1] that can also be referred to technical, productive, commercial, and service activities that perform their tasks timely and effectively. Technically, relia bility is quantified as the probability of no failures (i.e., of performing the required function) under given environmental and operational conditions and for a stated period of time.
