How to design a better reliability test program

More and more industries are competing on reliability, and companies need to develop more reliable products faster. However, reliability test plans are often generic or blindly following industry standards. Test plans must be tailored to fit customer use profiles. Also, reliability testing often occurs too late in the process. Tests and improvements often are performed when: 1) time is short 2) development is nearly complete 3) engineering corrections are difficult and costly 4) the product is nearly frozen. This paper will offer a solution to these two fundamental issues of: a) Testing too little solved with more robust test plans b) Testing too late solved with Early Reliability Testing.