IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON RELIABILITY, VOL. R-33, NO. 1, APRIL 1984 21

Reliability Education: A Historical Perspective

D i m i t r i Kecec iog lu , M e m b e r I E E E T h e Univers i ty of Ar izona , T u c s o n

Key Words—Reliability education, History.

Summary & Conclusions—This paper provides a historical over­view of the development of reliability in the USA: where have we been? where are we today? and where are we heading? It presents the begin­nings and the current status of: undergraduate and graduate courses be­ing taught, graduate degree programs, short courses, institutes, train­ing courses, symposia and their transactions, texts and other publica­tions, newsletters, societies involved, videotapes, televised courses, and movies.

Textbooks of not too highly mathematical nature, emphasizing practical applications, are needed, as well as university courses in the product assurance technologies. Professional engineering societies should sponsor more sessions of papers; more courses in the product assurance technologies should be videotaped; and more such movies produced. More courses should be beamed live to local industry and government organizations. Summer institutes for college teachers spon­sored by the National Science Foundation and other groups should be revived. Industry management should emphasize the training of their product assurance personnel. At least one course in statistics and one in reliability engineering should be required of all engineering students at the undergraduate level. These efforts will help our industry design and produce competitively priced products with the reliability, main­tainability, safety, and quality that the buyer wants.

1. C O U R S E S A T UNIVERSITIES A N D G O V E R N M E N T O R G A N I Z A T I O N S

Prominent efforts in product assurance education have been made in the following institutions:

US Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), Dayton, Ohio 45433 USA. [phone: 513-255-4845} was the first educational institutions to initiate a Master 's degree program in system reliability engineering (in the spring of 1962) [1] for govern­ment and military personnel. It was a 6-quarter, 18-month program consisting of three basic sequences in mathematics, engineering, and socio-humanistics. It provided competence in contract administration, budgetary management, system reliability requirements, specifications, quantitative systems reliability and maintainability studies, linear programming, human factors and engineering, operations research in reliability, physics of failure, system effectiveness, and design of reliability and maintainability experiments.

Since 1974 the degree has been a Systems Engineering Master 's Degree in the Reliability Engineering Option. Five courses for 18 credit units are being taught in the product assurance area.

US Naval Post-Graduate School, Monterey, California 93932 USA [phone: 408-646-2558] started its instructional program in 1960, making it the first institution to teach

product assurance courses. Currently, four courses per year are taught to serve Master 's and PhD programs in opera­tions research, mechanical engineering, electrical engineer­ing, and others. All qualified officers of the US Military and Coast Guard, officers of Allied Countries, and selected US Department of Defense civilian personnel may participate in this program.

A joint effort between the (now) US Army Development & Readiness Command Intern Training Center, Red River Army Depot, Texarkana, Texas, and Texas A&M University, Col­lege Station was instituted in 1966 January , which led, in two years, to an industrial engineering Master 's degree with a maintainability engineering, system safety engineering, or product design engineering option [2]. Carefully recruited graduate engineers were hired as civilian employees of the Development & Readiness Command (DARCOM) and im­mediately underwent an intensive 2-year education program by D A R C O M with Texas A&M University under contract. Upon completion of the program they were carefully placed in a career position in the D A R C O M complex. A total of 21 courses were required for a total of 72 credit units, plus a seminar of 1 unit and 2 to 8 units of Special Problems. This unique program was discontinued in 1977. The status of the program since 1977 at the D A R C O M Intern Training Center is discussed under Army Intern Program. Texas A&M University does not currently have a joint effort with this center. However four courses in product assurance sciences are taught in their Industrial Engineering Depart­ment. For details contact: Dr. Joe Foster, Head; Industrial Engineering Department; Texas A&M University; College Station, Texas 77843 USA. [phone: 409-845-5531}

The US Army Management Engineering Training Activity (AMETA), Rock Island, Illinois has been training many government personnel in programs of 1-week to up to 6-months duration. Statistical quality control courses have been taught since 1952, and reliability and maintainability engineering courses since 1961. Courses of two or more weeks duration are worth 3 units of graduate credit. There have also been 6-month internship programs for quality assurance specialists. From 1963 to 1979 a 1-year program in reliability engineering was offered, which was thereafter transferred to the D A R C O M Intern Training Center in Texarkana, Texas. Currently 19 courses are offered in areas of product assurance, out of which 10 are primarily in quali­ty assurance and 9 in reliability, maintainability and statistical quality control. Each course consists of from 40 to 80 class-contact hours. Every year 1500 to 2000 students par­ticipate in these 19 courses in the USA and overseas. Details can be obtained from: Director, AMETA; Attn: D R X O M -QA; Rock Island Arsenal; Rock Island, Illinois 61299 USA. [phone: 309-794-4041]

The University of Arizona; Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Dept.; Tucson, Arizona 85721 USA. [phone:

0018-9529/84/0400-0021 $01.00 © 1984 IEEE

22 IEEE T R A N S A C T I O N S O N RELIABILITY, V O L . R-33, N O . 1, A P R I L 1984

602-621-2495] initiated reliability engineering courses in 1963 [3-9], built it up to 9 courses by 1969, and began to offer an aerospace engineering or mechanical engineering Master's degree with a reliability engineering specialization. The curriculum includes introductory and advanced courses in quality control, in reliability engineering, in probabilistic design, and in reliability and quality analysis, as well as a course in reliability testing.

So far, 158 candidates have received Master 's degrees, and 16 Phi) candidates have minored in reliability engineer­ing. During the 1983-1984 academic year 52 students were enrolled in the program. The National Science Foundation granted The University of Arizona $35 000 and $36 000 in 1965 and 1966 respectively for two summer institutes in reliability engineering for college teachers. Participants were taught 3 courses and a seminar in product assurance, with the objective that they would initiate the instruction of reliability engineering courses at their own universities and incorporate reliability engineering concepts into existing courses [4].

Other universities that offer four or more courses directly in areas of product assurance are listed in table 1. There are only 18 such universities, and only 4 universities offering 7 or more such courses.

US Department of Defense Intern Programs are also available whereby interns are exposed to training in areas of product assurance. Two such programs, in addition to those offered at AMETA and the US Naval Post Graduate School are listed here.

Army Intern Program — This center, in conjunction with Texas A&M University, had the 2-year industrial engineering Master 's program with a specialization in reliability engineering from 1965-1977 as discussed above. Since 1977 a 1-year maintainability engineering program has been accredited by the American Council of Education for 12 hours of graduate credit. Since 1980 there has been a 1-year quality and reliability engineering program which is in the process of being accredited. In conjunction with Texas A&M, this center had a 2-year industrial engineering Master's degree program with a safety engineering specialization from 1969-1979. Since 1979 there has been a 1-year safety engineering program, as well as a similar pro­gram in product/production engineering, both accredited for 12 hours of graduate credit. For details contact Dr. George Messer, PE, Course Director; Maintainability Program; US Army Intern Training Center; Attn: D R X M C - I T C - E ; Red River Army Depot; Texarkana, Texas 75507 USA. [phone: 214-838-2309} or [AV829-2027]

Navy Intern Program — This program is for Civil Service personnel working for the US Naval Materiel Com­mand (NAVMAT). Twenty courses, over a period of 26 weeks, are taught to classes of 12-20 such people on quality control, reliability engineering, maintainability engineering, testing, configuration management, mechanical stress analysis, electrical stress analysis, etc. The participants are primarily college graduates. After 6 months of this training, the participants go through five rotations of 6-month dura-

TABLE 1 Universities in the USA Teaching Four or More Courses in

Areas of Product Assurance

* Number of courses taught.

tion in various N A V M A T organizations, at the end of which they are placed in organizations of N A V M A T Command. For details contact Calvin Dean, Head; Fleet Analysis Center; NAVSEA Product Assurance Division; Code 865; Corona, California 91720 USA. [phone: 714-736-5447] or [A V 933-544 7]

The University of Phoenix; 1427 North Third Street; Phoenix, Arizona 85004 USA. [phone: 602-258-3366] ini­tiated in 1981 January a Bachelor of Arts program in management and quality control [10]. It consists of a 10-course, 30-credit-unit curriculum core in management and

University/Institution Courses*

Air Force Institute of Technology 5 Wright-Patterson AFB Dayton, Ohio 45433

The University of Arizona 9 Tucson, Arizona 85721

Columbia University 4 New York, New York 10027

Iowa State University 5 Ames, Iowa 50011

Marquet te University 5 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53233

North Carolina State University 5 Raleigh, North Carolina 27650

Princeton University 5 Princeton, New Jersey 08544

Penn State University 4 University Park, Pennsylvania 16802

University of Rhode Island 4 Kingston, Rhode Island 02881

University of South Florida 8 T a m p a , Florida 33620

University of Texas 5 Arlington, Texas 76019

University of Toledo 4 Toledo, Ohio 43606

University of Tennessee 4 Knoxville, Tennessee 37916

Texas A&M University 4 College Station, Texas 77843

University of Utah 4 Salt Lake City, Utah 84112

US Naval Post-Graduate School 4 Monterey, California 93943

Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University 11 Blacksburg, Virginia 24061

Wayne State University 7 Detroit, Michigan 48202

K E C E C I O G L U : R E L I A B I L I T Y E D U C A T I O N : A H I S T O R I C A L P E R S P E C T I V E 23

quality control, plus additional courses for a total of 120 credits needed for graduation. The program is also offered in Tucson, Arizona; San Jose and Los Angeles, California; and in San Juan , Puerto Rico. A pilot curriculum for a degree of Master of Arts in management and quality control was started in 1981 February with 25 companies from the San Jose, California area. It is an 8-course curriculum, plus a project thesis. Both degree curricula are primarily for prac­ticing quality control and management people in industry.

Home Study Courses — The Reliability Division of ASQC, under Dr. Max Woods, is putting together a home study course [11] for reliability engineers, senior reliability engineers, and reliability managers. Those interested may write to Dr. Max Woods; 22594 Veronica Drive; Salinas, California 93908 USA. [phone: 408-646-2558]

In the IEEE Reliability Society Newsletter of 1984 April it was announced that " the efforts to develop a home study course in Reliability Engineering have almost come to fruition. , , Details may be obtained from Naomi J . McAfee, President; IEEE Reliability Society; Westinghouse; Box 746, MS 433; Baltimore, Maryland 21203 USA.

Reliability Engineering Career Booklet — The Reliability Division of ASQC and the Reliability Society of IEEE have jointly published a 12-page booklet titled, "Reliability Engineering — A Career For Y o u " to inform and challenge high school and college students, working technicians, and engineers about a career in reliability engineering. Free copies of the booklet can be obtained from J im Whittaker; 884 Pepper Tree Lane; Santa Clara, California 95051 USA. [phone, work: 408-742-2937, home: 408-248-6864].

Colleges of Engineering should initiate Bachelor of Science, and Master 's and PhD programs in reliability engineering. At least one course in probability and statistics, plus one in reliability engineering should be required of all engineering students. Faculty knowledgeable in product assurance, preferably with experience in industry or govern­ment, should be attracted to our universities to train the much needed supply of reliability engineers. Industry-university cooperation is increasingly needed to fund more faculty positions, initiate scholarships, and provide leaves of absence to qualified industry and government personnel to teach courses and do research in new product assurance areas at our universities.

2. T E X T S

Over 200 books have now been published in reliability and maintainability engineering and more are coming out every year. The first book (edited) appeared in 1956 as in­dicated in the sampling of typical books given in table 2.

There is a need at the undergraduate level for reliability and maintainability engineering textbooks. Most available books are highly mathematical and not suitable for most undergraduate and first-year graduate instruction. Further­more, practical industrial application and related examples do not abound in them. Increased effort should be expended to produce such textbooks.

T A B L E 2 A Sampling of Reliability and Maintainability Books*

1. Keith Henney, Editor, Reliability Factors for Ground Electronic Equipment. McGraw-Hil l , 230 pp , 1956. (R)*

2. D . N . Chorafas, Statistical Processes and Reliability Engineering. Van Nostrand Co . , 438 pp , 1960. (R)

3. Igor Bazovsky, Reliability Theory and Practice. Prentice-Hall, 292 pp, 1961. (R&M)*

4. S. R. Calabro, Reliability Principles and Practices. McGraw-Hil l , 371 pp, 1962.(R&M)

5. W. R. Barlow, L. Hunter , F. Proschan, Probabilistic Models in Reliabili­ty Theory. J o h n Wiley & Sons, 1962. (R)

6. Gerald H . Sandier, System Reliability Engineering. 221 pp , 1963. (R&M) 7. Richard H . Myers , Kam L. Wong, Harold M . Gordy, Editors.

Reliability Engineering for Electronic Systems. John Wiley & Sons, 360 pp, 1964. (R&M)

8. Alan S. Goldman, T . B. Slattery, Maintainability: A Major Element of System Effectiveness. J o h n Wiley & Sons, 282 pp , 1964. (M)*

9. Grant Ireson, Editor, Reliability Handbook. McGraw-Hill , 720 pp, 1966. (R&M)

10. Mart in L. Shooman, Probabilistic Reliability: An Engineering Approach. McGraw-Hil l , 524 pp , 1968. (R&M)

11. Benjamin S. Blanchard, E. Edward Lowery, Maintainability Principles and Practices. McGraw-Hil l , 336 pp , 1969. (M)

12. A. E. Green, A. J . Bourne, Reliability Technology. J ohn Wiley & Sons, 636 pp , 1972. (R&M)

13. Mitchell O . Locks, Reliability, Maintainability and Availability Assessment. Hayden Book Co . , 205 pp , 1973. (R&M)

14. Nancy R. M a n n , Ray E. Schäfer, Nozer D. Singpurwalla, Methods for Statistical Analysis of Reliability and Life Data. John Wiley & Sons, 564 pp , 1974. (R&M)

15. David K. Lloyd, Myron Lipow, Reliability: Management, Methods and Mathematics. Second Edition, David K. Lloyd, 201 Calle Miramar , Redondo Beach, CA 90277, 589 pp , 1977. (R)

16. K. C. Kapur , L. R. Lamberson, Reliability in Engineering Design. John Wiley & Sons. 586 pp , 1977. (R)

17. B. S. Dhillon, C. Singh, Engineering Reliability: New Techniques and Ap­plications. Wiley Inter-Science (John Wiley & Sons) 339 pp, 1981. (R)

18. Wayne Nelson, Applied Life Data Analysis. J o h n Wiley & Sons, 634 pp, 1982. (R)

19. Harry F. Mar tz , Ray A. Waller, Bayesian Reliability Analysis. John Wiley & Sons, 745 pp , 1982. (R)

20. R. Billinton, R. Allan, Reliability Evaluation of Engineering Systems: Con­cepts and Techniques. Plenum Publishing, 359 pp , 1983. (R&M)

21 . Ernst G. Frankel, Systems Reliability and Risk Analysis. Mart inus Nijhoff, Publishers, c/o Kluwer Boston, Inc. , 190 Old Derby Street, Hingham, M A 02043, 423 pp , 1984. (R&M)

*The letter (R) at the end of a book signifies that it covers primarily Reliability Engineering, the letter (M) Maintainability Engineering, and (R&M) both.

Those over 10 years old are likely to be out-of-print, although a few have been reprinted by the authors.

3. T R A I N I N G SEMINARS

Serious efforts in training engineering and management personnel in reliability engineering through seminars and short courses began circa 1960 [3]. Prominent university ef­forts have been those at The University of California at Los Angeles; The George Washington University Continuing Education Division, Washington DC; The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Wayne State University, Detroit; and The University of Arizona, Tucson.

24 IEEE T R A N S A C T I O N S O N RELIABILITY, V O L . R-33, N O . 1, A P R I L 1984

Prominent training efforts by professional societies began circa 1959 by ASEE Electrical Engineering Division with its " First Annual Workshop on Reliability Engineering Theory and Practice" directed by Dr. Frank M. Gryna, J r . at HT . ASQC and IEEE followed soon thereafter with the Reliability Training Conference in 1959 by the Electronics Division of ASQC and subsequently jointly with the IEEE Reliability Society (as it is now known); and the "Manage­ment of Quality Control and Reliability in the Automotive Industry" 1965 November 17-19, by the Automotive Divi­sion of ASQC.

Today ASQC through its Education and Training In­stitute and its Reliability Division provide many short courses. There is a good set of tutorials at the Reliability and Maintainability Symposia. For ASQC address and phone, see section 6.

The Reliability Analysis Center; Rome Air Develop­ment Center (RADC); Griffiss AFB, NY 13441 USA [phone: 315-330-4151] offers the Design Reliability Training Course several times a year at various locations in this coun­try and Canada. RAC also provides consulting services in microelectronic component and circuit reliability and has an extensive library of in-house or contract generated reports on these, as well as, on non-electronic component reliability.

STAT-A-MATRIX Institute; 2124 Oak Tree Road; Edison, N.J . 08820 USA [phone: 201-548-0600] is a non­profit educational institute that puts on seminars for industry on productivity, quality, reliability and maintainability improvement techniques.

JBF Associates, Inc., 1000 Technology Park Center, Knoxville, Tennessee 37932, [phone: 615-966-5132], also of­fers several courses in various product assurance areas.

There are many similar organizations, whose ads may be seen in trade and other publications. The Reliability Review has a rather complete calendar of reliability-related symposia and short courses.

4. SYMPOSIA

The most prominent symposium is the "Annual Reliability and Maintainability Symposium" (RAMS) held in January of each year. The 1985 RAMS, cosponsored by IEEE, ASQC, IES, AIAA, ASME, HE, SOLE, SSS, and SRE will be held in the Franklin Plaza Hotel, Philadelphia, 1985 January 22-24. This symposium was preceded by the "Annual Reliability and Maintainability Conference," sponsored by AIAA, SAE, ASME, ASTME and ASTM; and the "Annual Symposium on Reliability" and "National Symposium on Reliability and Quality Control" sponsored by IEEE, ASQC, and IES.

Other current symposia include: • "International Reliability Physics Symposium" spon­

sored by the IEEE Electron Devices and Reliability Societies • " A n n u a l In t e r - r am: In te rna t iona l Rel iabi l i ty ,

Availability, Maintainability Conference for the Electric Power Industry" sponsored by IEEE Reliability Society, ASQC Reliability Division, Electric Power Research In­

stitute, American Nuclear Society, SRE, ASME, UE, System Safety Society, and Edison Electric Institute

• " A n n u a l Seminar of Reliability and Quali ty Control" of the Society of Reliability Engineers

• "International Conference on Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology" held every four years. The next one is scheduled for 1985 August 19-23, at the Centre de Con­ferences Albert Borschette, Brussels, Belgium

• "Total System Reliability Symposium" cosponsored by the IEEE Computer Society and the National Bureau of Standards. The next one is scheduled for 1984 December 12-14, at the National Bureau of Standards site in Gaithersburg, Maryland. More information can be obtained from the IEEE Computer Society [phone: 301-589-8142] or the National Bureau of Standards, Liaison, Roger Martin [phone: 301-921-3545].

5. PUBLICATIONS

Publications, in addition to the books covered earlier, are 1) Conference Proceedings and Transactions, 2) Periodicals, 3) Trade Magazines, and 4) Newsletters.

Conference Proceedings and Transactions — Prominent cur­rent proceedings and transactions are listed in table 3.

Periodicals — Prominent periodicals in the product assurance area are listed in table 4.

Trade Magazines — Trade magazines which occasionally have articles in areas of product assurance are listed in table 5.

Newsletters — Product assurance related newsletters abound. The key ones are listed in table 6.

TABLE 3 Prominent Conference Proceedings/Transactions in Product Assurance

1. Proceedings Annual Reliability and Maintainability Symposium, obtainable from IEEE (see address and phone on inside front cover); or ASQC (see address and phone in section 6); or Annual Reliability and Main­tainability Symposium; c/o Evans Associates; 804 Vickers Avenue; Durham, North Carolina 27701 USA. The first symposium under this name was held in 1972; predecessor symposia began in 1954. Pro­ceedings are available only for 1973 and later.

2. Proceedings International Reliability Physics Symposium, obtainable from the IEEE (see address and phone on inside front cover).

3. Proceedings Inter-ram: International Reliability · Availability · Main tainability; Conference for The Electric Power Industry, obtainable from ASQC (see address and phone in section 6). The name of this con­ference has been changed.

4. Proceedings Annual Seminar on Reliability and Quality Control, obtainable from Society of Reliability Engineers; Kenneth H . Eagle; 2304 Rockwell Road; Wilmington, Delaware 19810 USA; or Society of Reliability Engineers (see address and phone in Section 6).

5. Proceedings Annual Total Systems Reliability Symposium, obtainable from IEEE (see address and phone on inside front cover).

6. Proceedings Annual Product Liability Prevention Conference, obtainable from R. M . J a c o b s ; 23 Rumson Road; Livingston, NJ 07039 USA. [phone: 201-992-3811].

7. Proceedings Annual Technical Meeting of the IES. Institute of Environmen­tal Sciences (see address and phone in section 6).

(continued on next page)

KECECIOGLU: RELIABILITY EDUCATION: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 25

TABLE 3 (continued)

8. Transactions International Conference on Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology. Alex P. Michalopoulos, Executive Director; D'Appolonia Consulting Engineers; Chaussee de la Hulpe 181; B-1170 Brussels, BELGIUM.

9. Reliability and Life Testing. Proceedings of the pertinent meetings of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), 33 South 17th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103 USA. (See the references in the preceding Barlow paper.)

TABLE 4 Prominent Periodicals in The Product Assurance Area

1. IEEE Transactions on Reliability, obtainable from IEEE (see address and phone on inside front cover). Published five times a year. This is the journal you are reading.

2. Technometrics. (The American Society for Quality Control and the American Statistical Association); POBox 587, Benjamin Franklin Station; Washington, DC 20004 USA. Published quarterly.

3. Reliability Engineering. Edited by F. R. Farmer. Elsevier Applied Science Publishers Ltd.; 22 Rippleside Commercial Estate, Barking; Essex IG11 08A, ENGLAND. Published quarterly.

4. Microelectronics and Reliability. Pergamon Press; 4401 21st Street; Long Island City, New York 11101 USA. An international research journal and world abstracting service. Published quarterly and printed in Great Britain.

5. Quality Assurance. The Institute of Quality Assurance; 54 Princes Gate, Exhibition Road; London SW7 2PG, ENGLAND. Published quarterly.

6. Journal of Quality Technology. ASQC (see address and phone in section 6). Published quarterly.

7. Reliability Review. Reliability Division of ASQC (see address and phone in section 6). Published quarterly.

8. Quality. European Organization for Quality Control Journal, The In­ternational Quality Centre; POBox 299; Weena 700; Rotterdam-3, The NETHERLANDS.

9. EOQC Quality. European Organization for Quality Control Secretariat; POBox 2613; CH 3001 Berne, SWITZERLAND. Five issues per year.

10. Structural Safety. Elsevier Scientific Publishing Co.; POBox 211; 1000 AE, Amsterdam, The NETHERLANDS. Published quarterly.

11. Quality Progress. ASQC (see address and phone in section 6). Published monthly.

12. Communication in Statistics: Theory and Methods. Marcel Dekker, Inc.; 270 Madison Avenue; New York, NY 10016 USA. Published 15 times a year.

13. Quality Control and Applied Statistics Abstracts. Executive Sciences In­stitute, Inc.; Whippany, NJ 07981 USA. Published monthly.

14. Applied Statistics. Royal Statistical Society; 21 Bentinck; London WIM 6AR, ENGLAND. Published three times a year.

15. Biometrika. Biometrika Trust; Biometrika Office; University College, London. Printed in Great Britain by John Wright and Sons Ltd.; The Stonebridge Press; Bristol BS4 5 NU, ENGLAND. Editor: Biometrika, Department of Mathematics; Imperial College; London SW7, ENGLAND. Published quarterly.

16. Journal of the American Statistical Association. American Statistical Association; 806 15th Street, NW; Washington, DC 20005 USA. Published quarterly.

17. International Journal of Aviation Safety. The Capstan Press Ltd.; Queen Street Chamgers; Queen Street, Exeter, Devon, U.K.

18. SAE Journal. Society of Automative Engineers (see address and phone in section 6).

19. Operations Research. Operations Research Society of America; Mt. Royal and Gilford Avenues; Baltimore, MD 21202 USA.

20. Astronautics & Aeronautics. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AI A A). (See address and phone in section 6). Published monthly.

21. Journal of the Structural Division. American Society of Civil Engineers; 345 East 47th Street; New York, NY 10017 USA. Published monthly.

22. Journal of the Engineering Mechanics Division. American Society of Civil Engineers; (See address in #21 above). Published bimonthly.

TABLE 5 Trade Magazines Which Occasionally Publish Product Assurance Articles.

1. Quality. The Hitchcock Publishing Co.; Hitchcock Building; Wheaton, Illinois 60188 USA. Published monthly.

2. Evaluation Engineering. A. Verner Nelson, Editor and Publisher; A. Verner Nelson Associates; The Nelson Bldg.; 1282 Old Skokie Road; Highland Park, Illinois 60035 USA. Published ten times yearly.

3. Test-Engineering and Management. The Mattingley Publishing Co., Inc. ; Ray H. Mattingley, Editor and Publisher; 61 Monmouth Road; Oakhurst, NJ 07755 USA. Published bimonthly.

4. Test and Measurement World. Interfield Publishing Co., Inc.; 215 Brighton Ave.; Boston, MA 02134 USA. Published monthly.

5. Electronic Industries. Chilton Co.; Chestnut and 56th Street; Philadelphia, PA 19602 USA.

6. Space/Aeronautics. Conover-Mast Publications, Inc.; 205 E. 42nd Street; New York, NY 10036 USA.

7. Machine Design. Penton Publishing Co.; Penton Bldg.; Cleveland, Ohio 44114 USA.

8. Electronics Week. McGraw-Hill, Inc.; 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020 USA.

9. Environmental (Quarterly. Environmental Publications, Inc.; Martin Z. Post, Editor and Publisher; 254-46 Leeds Road; Little Neck, NY 11362 USA.

10. Electronics Test. Morgan-Grampian Publishing Co.; 1050 Com­monwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215 USA. Published monthly.

TABLE 6 Product Assurance Related Newsletters

1. IEEE Reliability Society Newsletter. (See address and phone on inside front cover). Published quarterly.

2. RAC Newsletter. Reliability Analysis Center; Rome Air Development Center; Griffiss AFB, NY 13441 USA. Published quarterly.

3. The GIDEP Newsletter. GIDEP Operations Center; Department of the Navy; Naval Weapons Station; Seal Beach, Corona Annex; Corona, California 91720 USA.

4. ARINC Newsletter. ARINC Research Corporation; 2551 Riva Road; Annapolis, Maryland 21401 USA. Published quarterly.

5. R.Q Newsletter. British Productivity Council in cooperation with the National Council for Quality and Reliability; Vintry House; Queen Street Place; London EC4, ENGLAND.

6. Plane Talk. Aeronautical Radio, Inc.; 2551 Riva Road; Annapolis, Maryland 21401 USA. About avionics maintenance. Published bimonthly and sometimes monthly.

26 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON RELIABILITY, VOL. R-33, NO. 1, APRIL 1984

6. SOCIETIES

Professional societies in the USA have recognized the importance of implementing reliability engineering prin­ciples in industry and government. Most of them now have adjunct reliability societies, divisions, sections, or commit­tees. The societies that stand out are:

1. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). See address and phone on inside front cover. The IEEE (then IRE) was instrumental in initiating in 1954 the " N a ­tional Symposium on Reliability and Quality Control ," in cooperation with ASQC and IES. This became the ' 'Annual Symposium on Reliability" in 1966. In 1972 it merged with the ''Reliability and Maintainability Conference," initiated by AIAA, SAE, ASME and later joined by ASTM.

IEEE (then IRE) in 1949 July initiated its Professional Group on Quality Control, in 1955 July the Reliability and Quality Control Society, and in 1978 September the IEEE Reliability Society. It publishes this IEEE Transactions on Reliability. Its quarterly Reliability Society Newsletter brings the membership up-to-date on all product assurance activities. It is a cosponsor of the Annual R A M S .

2. The American Society for Quality Control (ASQC); 230 West Wells Street; Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53203 USA. [phone: 414-272-8575}. The ASQC, through its Electronics Division, was instrumental in initiating in 1954, with IEEE, IES, and ASNT, the "National Symposium on Reliability and Quality Control" . Its Electronics & Reliability Divi­sions are cosponsors of the successor Annual R A M S . ASQC publishes the monthly Çhiality Progress magazine, the quarter­ly Journal of Çhiality Technology, and the quarterly Reliability Review. ASQC holds its Annual Quality Congress with several sessions on reliability engineering, whose papers are published in its Transactions.

3. The American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics; 1290 Avenue of the Americas; New York, NY 10019 USA. [phone: 212-581-4300}. The AIAA initiated in 1962 the "An­nual Reliability and Maintainability Conference" in cooperation with SAE and ASME. Its intent was to em­phasize mechanical reliability, since much of the emphasis up to that time had been on electrical and electronics reliability. It has a System Effectiveness and Safety Technical Committee that is a cosponsor of the Annual RAMS, and that sponsors sessions at national and regional AIAA conferences on reliability engineering, product assurance, and system effectiveness.

4. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers', 345 East 47th Street; New York, NY 10017 USA. [phone: 212-644-7722}. The ASME was one of the initiators in 1962 of the "Annual Reliability and Maintainability Conference." It cosponsors the Annual RAMS, through its Aerospace and Design Engineering Divisions, and has a Reliability, Stress Analysis and Failure Prevention Committee within its Design Division, which puts together at least two sessions at the ASME Annual Winter Meetings and the Design Conferences.

5. The Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc.; 400 Com­monwealth Drive; Warrendale, Pennsylvania 15086 USA.

[phone: 412-776-4841}. The SAE has an Aerospace Coor­dinating Committee which is a standing committee of the Engineering Activity Board. It sponsors at least two sessions on reliability engineering, maintainability engineering and product assurance, at the SAE International Congress and Exposition in Cobo Hall, Detroit, and at the Aerospace Con­gress and Exposition.

6. The Society of Reliability Engineers; POBox 131 ; Crum Lynne, Pennsylvania 19022 USA. The SRE sponsors its own "Annual Reliability and Quality Control Conference," with emphasis on reliability engineering, and cosponsors the Annual R A M S .

7. The Institute of Environmental Sciences; 940 East Northwest Highway; Mount Prospect, Illinois 60056 USA. [phone: 312-255-1561}. The IES has been a cosponsor of most past symposia and conferences on reliability and main­tainability, including the RAMS. It has a design, testing & evaluation division; and a reliability division. It has its own annual conferences, where several sessions deal with the im­pact of environmental stresses on the reliability and quality of components and equipment. The IES holds a "National Conference and Workshop on Environmental Screening of Electronic Hardware" . It generated Assembly Level Screening Guidelines Document in 1981, which is superseded by the 1984 edition, and in turn will be supplemented in 1985 by a Parts Level Document.

8. The System Safety Society; Suite A261; 14252 Culver Drive; Irvine, California 92714 USA. The SSS is a cospon­sor of the Annual R A M S .

9. The Institute of Industrial Engineers; 25 Technology Park/Atlanta; Norcross, Georgia 20092 USA. [phone: 404-449-0460}. The HE is a cosponsor of the Annual R A M S .

10. The Society of Logistics Engineers; Suite 2; 3322 South Memorial Parkway; Huntsville, Alabama 35801 USA. [phone: 205-539-3800}. The SOLE is a cosponsor of the Annual R A M S .

7. VIDEOTAPES, TELEVISION I N S T R U C T I O N , AND MOVIES

Recently product assurance courses have become available on videotapes. The following are among the promi­nent sources:

1. MICROCAMPUS; Eileen M. Matz, Director; Building 76, Box 4, Room 135; The University of Arizona; Tucson, Arizona 85721 USA. [phone: 602-621-1735, or 602-621-5084}.

2. AMCEE, Association for Media-Based Continuing Education for Engineers; 225 N. Avenue, NW; Atlanta, Georgia 30332 USA. [phone: 404-894-3362}.

3. Engineering Renewal and Growth; W. L. Somervell J r . , Director; Engineering Research Center; Colorado State University; Fort Collins, Colorado 80523 USA. [phone: 303-491-8417}.

4. Juran Institute, Inc.; 88 Danbury Road; Wilton, Connecticut 06897-9980 USA. [phone: 203-834-1700}.

K E C E C I O G L U : RELIABILITY E D U C A T I O N : A H I S T O R I C A L P E R S P E C T I V E 27

5. Center for Advanced Engineering Study\ Mr. Richard Noyes; Dept. 8IB, Room 9-234; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; 77 Massachuse t t s Ave . ; C a m b r i d g e , Massachusetts 02139 USA. [phone: 617-253-7030, or 617-253-7444}.

Televised live courses beamed to local industries and government organizations by universities via microwave are becoming available. It is anticipated that this medium will increasingly be used as local industries and government organizations begin to allow time off for employees to attend such courses beamed live to their own premises, and provide rooms with microwave receiving equipment.

Instructional movies in areas of product assurance are also available. A compendium of movies and videotapes covering the areas of reliability, testing, maintainability, quality control, and safety is available [12].

8. C O N C L U S I O N S A N D R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S

I estimate that industry and government in the USA need upwards of 3000 formally trained reliability engineers. Universities, government, professional societies, and train­ing organizations need to increase their product assurance education activities to meet this potential demand. Profes­sional engineering societies should increase the number of sessions devoted to product assurance, and in particular to mechanical reliability. They should develop reliability or product assurance divisions.

Textbooks on reliability engineering, mechanical reliability, maintainability engineering, system effec­tiveness, reliability and life testing, Bayes testing, product safety quantification, software reliability, and life-cycle costing are needed; they must not be highly mathematical, so that practicing product assurance engineers can easily apply the knowledge given therein to their problems.

Videotaped courses on subjects of product assurance are needed; as well as high quality, up-to-date movies on the theory and the practice of the product assurance technologies. Movies and videotapes showing product assurance technologies in action and the resulting cost sav­ings are greatly needed.

Summer institutes for college teachers in reliability engineering should again be funded by the National Science Foundation and by the National Academy of Engineers, to train faculty to develop reliability engineering courses and to incorporate such concepts into their engineering design courses.

Above all, management in industry and government needs to be shown the benefits of applying product assurance concepts to their products and systems from birth to death. It must be shown that a single dollar spent at the front end to * 'do it right the first time' ' saves industry and government three to twelve dollars later in correcting problems when the product is fielded and its reliability and maintainability turn out to be wanting. Documented case histories should be prepared and shown to management to convince them that reliability engineering pays back manyfold the money spent to implement it.

Reliability, maintainability, and product assurance managers should support the educational media presented here. They should initiate inplant training programs and continuously upgrade their personnel. They should send their engineers to universities offering courses in product assurance, and encourage them to get advanced degrees. These personnel in turn can expose their colleagues to the product assurance techniques they have learned. Managers should encourage attendance at night, as well as day courses in product assurance technologies in nearby educational in­stitutions, as well as in short courses, training seminars, sym­posia and conferences. They should also encourage their staff to write papers on the application of reliability and maintainability engineering methologies to their products and on the cost benefits thereof.

Concerned university faculty should convince the deans of the colleges of engineering and their fellow faculty to re­quire of all engineering students at least one course in statistics and probability and one course in reliability engineering.

We must recognize that product assurance is a relatively young profession, about 25 years old, and is experiencing many growing pains. A major problem is the lack of suffi­cient in-depth trained personnel. Industry, government, and universities should get together to lay down an ambitious plan for training the large number of product assurance engineers that will be needed.

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T

I gratefully acknowledge the support provided by Dr. Thad L. D. Regulinski of Goodyear Aerospace in preparing this paper, and the sources of information consulted. Apologies are in order for any inadvertent omission of items pertaining to the subject of this paper. I shall appreciate receiving pertinent information that has not been covered.

REFERENCES

[1] Thaddeus L. Regulinski, " G r a d u a t e degree program in systems reliability engineer ing," Annals of Reliability and Maintainability, 1966, pp 907-910,

[2] Ronald S. Morris , Robert L. Street, "Advanced education for the product assurance technologies," Annals of Tenth Reliability and Main­tainability Conf, 1971 J u n , pp 122-125.

[3] Dimitri Kececioglu, Joe McKinley, "Reliability engineering educa­tion activities in the United States and overseas ," Annals of Reliability and Maintainability, 1966, pp 911-934.

[4] Dimitri Kececioglu, " T h e National Science Foundation efforts in quality control, reliability and statistics t r a in ing , " Industrial Quality Control, vol 23, 1967 J u n , pp 619-622.

[5] Dimitri Kececioglu, " T h e reliability engineering education program at The University of Ar izona , " Annals of Reliability and Maintainability, 1970, pp 197-204.

[6] Dimitri Kececioglu, " A new instructional program in reliability engineer ing," presented at 36th Annual Meeting, Pacific Southwest Section, American Society for Engineering Education, Pomona, California, 1970 Dec, 19 pp .

[7] Dimitri Kececioglu, "Reliabili ty, maintainability and safety educa­tion and t r a in ing , " Annals of Reliability and Maintainability Conference, 1971, pp 119-121.

28 IEEE T R A N S A C T I O N S O N R E L I A B I L I T Y , V O L . R-33, N O . 1, A P R I L 1984

[8] Dimitri Kececioglu, " A university reliability engineering education p r o g r a m , " Engineering Education, 1973 Apr, pp 527-531.

[9] Dimitri Kececioglu, "Sta tus and future trends of reliability education in the United S ta tes , " Annals of Reliability and Maintainability, 1970, pp 186-187.

[10] William E. Laird, John J . Heldt, " N e w dimensions in quality educa­t ion , " Quality Progress, 1981 Ju l , pp 20-22.

[11] " H o m e s tudy , " Reliability Review, vol 3, 1983 J u n , p 35. [12] Dimitri Kececioglu, Manual of Product Assurance Films/Videotapes on

Reliability Engineering and Management, Reliability Testing, Maintainability, Quality Control, and Safety, 7340 N. La Oesta Avenue; Tucson, Arizona 85704 USA; 1980, 327 pp .

AUTHOR

Dr. Dimitri Kececioglu, PE; Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Dept.; The University of Arizona; Tucson, Arizona 85721 USA.

Dr. Dimitri Kececioglu, a Fulbright Scholar, received his BSME degree from Robert College, Istanbul, Turkey in 1942, his M S Ind. E. degree in 1948 and his P h D in Eng. Mechanics in 1953, both from Purdue University.

He was Engineering - Scientist-in-Charge, Mechanical Research Laboratories; Assistant to the Director of Mechanical Engineering; Cor­porate Consulting Engineer; and Director of Corporate Reliability, all at the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co. from 1952 to 1963. In 1963 he joined The University of Arizona, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department to initiate a reliability engineering curriculum which now has grown to nine courses leading to an aerospace or mechanical engineering Master ' s degree with a reliability engineering specialization. He is Director of the Annual Reliability Engineering and Management Institute and the Annual Reliability Testing Institute, and has conducted over 185 seminars, institutes and short courses.

Dr . Kececioglu is a Registered Professional Quality Engineer; has been given the 1977 Ralph Teetor Award of SAE as "Outs t and ing Engineering Educa to r ; " the ASQC 1980 Reliability Education Advance­ment Award; the A S Q C 1981 Allen Chop Award for his "Outs tand ing Contributions to Reliability Science and Technology.

Dr. Kececioglu is listed in Who ' s Who , and other biographies; is a member of IEEE Reliability Society, ASQC Reliability Division, SRE, A S M E , ASEE, SESA, SAE, Sigma Xi , and Tau Beta Pi; and Honorary Member of the Golden Key National Honor Society.

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