The reliability case in the REMM methodology

Recent thinking within reliability practice has led to a move away from the specification of a set of prescriptive methods that the supplier must undertake to a co-operative approach which requires the exchange of information between the customer and the supplier in order to provide assurance that the product will meet the reliability requirements. This approach is known as the "reliability case" and it has some parallels with, but is not the same as, the better known "safety case" as used particularly in the aerospace and nuclear industries The reliability case approach is being supported by the UK Ministry of Defence, who originated the idea and have used it as a basis for their reliability standard documents and current practices and also by some civil aerospace companies. It is felt by the companies in the REMM programme that in the longer term the reliability case will become a more often quoted reliability requirement with commonly used MTBF becoming an just element of the requirements. Generally however the aerospace industry has been in something of a quandary about how to react to this sea change in thinking and has been struggling to decide what an appropriate response to a request to a reliability case should be. The holistic approach used by the REMM methodology is ideal suited to provide the basis for a reliability case and this is seen as the ultimate output from the REMM method. To this end the REMM partners have been developing a generic approach to the case. This paper will describe this generic REMM consortium response to a reliability case and how it will be generated by the REMM methodology.