Beyond FRACAS: Integrating field failures and field data

Field data is one of the most important resources that can be used by any reliability program. No data will better demonstrate the true reliability of a product, or identify the failure modes that exist in the field. Without an understanding of these failure modes, improving the reliability of a product is impossible. The first step in creating a comprehensive reliability database is to create a Failure Reporting And Corrective Action System (FRACAS). A large amount of planning is required to create a useful FRACAS, and many pitfalls exist which must be avoided. A FRACAS, however, is only the first step to developing a useful reliability database. While this will allow general reliability calculations to be made, it does not provide the necessary data to make specific calculations based on the various types of stresses inflicted on the products. By incorporating field usage data into the database, a more comprehensive reliability database can be created. Through recording the stress levels and other important field usage information for both failed and active units, more sophisticated reliability calculations can be performed. The information gained through the creation of a comprehensive FRACAS and complementary field data usage database has become incredibly powerful to this company. This information provides a much better understanding of failure modes under specific operating conditions, which allows for improved designs and operational practices to mitigate these failure modes. This in turn leads to higher reliability of upper level systems, and reduces the risk of catastrophic failures.