Implementing total quality management into reliability and maintainability

The authors outline the reliability and maintainability (R&M) strategies necessary for the measurement and pursuance of continuous process improvement and for developing reliable and maintainable systems and subsystems. They discuss how implementing total quality management (TQM) and other quality engineering concepts can be applied to R&M and they identify those quality attributes necessary for evolving a defined R&M development process on system/subsystem front-end design. Additional attributes vital to improving the defined process are identified, with emphasis on warranty-type quality designed into the system/subsystem. The focus is on resolving the two issues most critical to the success of any R&M TQM program: (1) selection of efficient vendors capable of providing best quality components, and (2) the establishment of a design process that is defined, measurable (through testing), and continuously improving while in the customer´s use