Quality and Reliability of Technical Systems - Theory, Practice, Management (2nd ed.)

Citation

(1998), "Quality and Reliability of Technical Systems - Theory, Practice, Management (2nd ed.)", Assembly Automation, Vol. 18 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/aa.1998.03318dad.012

Quality and Reliability of Technical Systems - Theory, Practice, Management (2nd ed.)

Quality and Reliability of Technical Systems ­ Theory, Practice, Management (2nd ed.)

Alessandro BiroliniSpringer Verlag1997502 pp.ISBN 3 540 63310 3£76

With this book the author sets out to offer the state of the art in the methods and procedures for effective quality and reliability assurance during the design, development and production of equipment and systems. Written in the light of total quality management and concurrent engineering, both theoretical and practical considerations of quality and reliability are addressed in the text. The work is aimed at all scientific, engineering and management staff with responsibility towards the final quality and reliability of a product or process in industry, as well as students of engineering and computer science

The material sets out with the basic concepts and rules of quality and reliability assurance of systems, moving on to the application of reliability analysis during the design phase of a project. A chapter on qualification tests for components and assemblies offers some excellent information, particularly on the selection of electronic components and their likely failure modes. Maintainability analysis merits its own chapter, which is followed by design guidelines for reliability and maintainability including a section on software quality. Again the theoretical content is supplemented by much highly relevant practical data, particularly for the electronic engineer. A chapter on reliability and availability of repairable systems is followed by the final two chapters which concern the quality and reliability issues of production and the essence of statistical quality control. The extensive appendices that make up some two-fifths of the book's pages give access to terms, definitions, references and checklists in addition to some mathematical basics in probability and stochastic process theory.

Overall the breadth and depth of content is very impressive, supplementing the quantities of probabilistic mathematics with a large quantity of practical reliability data for electronic devices in particular. Procedures and checklists are clearly tabulated for easy incorporation into management schedules, and solved problems give insights into particular techniques. On first inspection the book's style is densely packed and even austere, though the content is actually clearly written despite the author's predilection for italics. A good manual for the subject with much to offer readers from any of the target disciplines.