Practical Considerations in SPC and Reliability

In applying reliability and statistical process control (SPC) techniques to military systems/operations a number of practical issues arise in both technical and management areas. This presentation reviews some such issues in the following applications: 1) Component part and repairable system reliability data from the field, 2) Management and SPC. In collecting and analyzing military reliability data there are considerable obstacles to conventional statistical analysis, such as grouped data, changing parts lists/inventories, homogeneity and measurement noise. Some suggestions for approaching data analysis are given. In applying SPC in industry and to military organizations, the management aspects are as important as the statistical techniques. Some management considerations are reviewed with implications for statistical practitioners.