Asking a Vendor for Reliability Data

Selecting as a supplier for components or subsystems involves many aspects, including the desired reliability performance.

Once selected, the ability of the supplier to provide items that meet or exceed the reliability requirements relies on their understanding of the requirements and operational conditions related to the specific item within the system.

It also relies on the supplier’s knowledge of their own design and manufacturing processes as it relates to reliability performance.

Specifying reliability tasks, such as FMEA, HALT, ALT, demonstration testing, etc.

It does little to guarantee the item meets requirements unless the implementation of the activities is of value to the supplier. The specific activities described in other parts of this section outline how to evaluate the effective application of the activity.

One way to assist suppliers is not to make specific activity requirements.

The objective is to receive items that meet the requirements of the end users, not to practice using various reliability-related tasks.

Instead, ask the supplier to provide the accumulated evidence at specific points in the program, detailing the current estimates related to the reliability requirements.

The evidence presented is at the supplier’s discretion and evaluated by the program for suitability. Does the evidence come to the natural conclusions presented?

They should provide a logical, coherent argument.

This Accendo Reliability webinar originally broadcast on 15 September 2015.