ABSTRACT
Reliability is the ability of something to perform as specified, under the specified conditions, for the specified period of time. When concerned with productivity, it is the reliability of the manufacturing process that is important. Process reliability is simply the definition of reliability applied to a process rather than a product; that is, the ability of the process to produce parts as specified, under the specified conditions, for the specified period of time. The “parts as specified” is just another way of saying parts that meet the design intent and all applicable specifications, or to put it more simply, good parts. The phrase “under the specified conditions,” when talking about a process, means all the process parameters and the processing environment. The “specified period of time” can be the time between maintenance intervals or the length of a production run. It may even be the time from one annual factory shutdown to the next one. In other cases it may be essentially continuous. It all depends on your production requirements and company operations.
