ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on reliability growth management and planning in a commercial environment. Accelerated testing is, without question, the featured reliability growth tool for industry. It is important to devise reliability planning during development that incorporates the most time- and cost-effective testing techniques available. There are numerous types of accelerated tests including highly accelerated life test, step-stress, highly accelerated stress screening, environmental stress screening, failure-free accelerated testing, reliability growth, and accelerated reliability growth. Accelerated test practices promote aggressive reliability growth to achieve improved reliability beyond the warranty period. It is important, when possible, to use the idealized accelerated reliability growth equations and curves; these are integral to reliability growth and in establishing interim goals. Integral to accelerated reliability growth planning are idealized accelerated reliability growth equations and curves that characterize realistic growth for complex subsystems across the major test phases.
