Principles of successful reliability growth applications

This paper discusses the successful application of integrated reliability growth testing (IRGT) to the development of a large switching system, and demonstrates the results obtained using a case study. In usual applications of reliability growth testing, it is customary to dedicate development test items for a period of time and implement design changes to improve the reliability of a fielded product. In IRGT, reliability growth is demonstrated through design changes which occur during development testing. This paper identifies the lessons learned from this application of IRGT principles. The success of the IRGT program provided the Switching System Pilot Project with several benefits, including: timely analysis of failed items; accurate problem classification; timely and accurate laboratory failure rates; early identification of pattern failures; metrics demonstrating; achieved reliability growth during development testing. While the Switching System Pilot Project IRGT effort was largely successful, a configuration management problem area was identified in terms of providing adequate configuration data for reliability analysis