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In this paper, a model to estimate travel time reliability is proposed assuming a stochastic user equilibrium. Travel time reliability is defined as the probability that travel time between the origin and destination does not exceed a standard travel time corresponding to each service level. Also it is shown how to calculate travel time reliability in a large-scale network. This model is applied to the road network in the Hanshin area to evaluate new lines in the national road plan from the viewpoint of travel time reliability. Some important links and lines in the future road network are evaluated from the viewpoint of travel time reliability.

The lubricating oil is a non‐renewable source of energy and its useful life is limited due to deterioration during its usage. It is desirable to maximize its use to conserve this scarce resource. At present, continuation or change of the engine oil is decided, based on the manufacturer's recommendation and experience. The suggested engine oil change period is conservative and results in non‐efficient usage of engine oil. This practice needs refinement to include all possible properties/attributes of engine oil and use of appropriate procedure to assess its realistic performance. The paper aims to analyze the procedure.

Oil reliability polygraph is used to analyze the engine oil performance during operation. Reliability analysis of the engine oil is carried out by comparing the area of oil reliability polygraph at a given operation time with the area for the fresh engine oil. The suggested procedure is illustrated by means of an example.

Physical and chemical properties responsible for performance degradation of the engine oil are considered as engine oil reliability attributes. The value of these attributes from time to time, obtained by analyzing samples drawn from the system, is analyzed through oil reliability polygraph. In this approach, the engine oil reliability attributes at a given operation time are represented in terms of reliability value to obtain the “oil reliability polygraph”.

The suggested procedure will be helpful for maintenance personnel in taking planned maintenance action.

The purpose of this study is to highlight special characteristics of building services systems and investigate how practitioners view reliability and maintenance. These characteristics include energy‐hungry services systems, operating modes, maintenance types, the relationship between procurement costs and maintenance costs.

The practitioners' viewpoints on reliability and maintenance are explored through a workshop. The authors wish to draw the attention of researchers in the reliability and maintenance community and furthermore emphasise the difference between building services systems and systems in industries other than construction.

It is shown that a lack of failure data and maintenance data is the main problem from both academic researchers' and industrial practitioner's points of view. The paper suggests that there exists no fixed cost ratio available to apply to building services systems; the analysis of RAMS (Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety) should include duty cycles and the environment; and clients of the construction industry would benefit from mandating a LCC to be applied to the build.

The gap between academia and practitioners should be bridged through better understanding each other's needs. Accurately estimating the ratio between procurement and maintenance costs is needed from a whole life costing perspective.

This paper is a good reference for building designers, facility managers and maintenance staff of building services systems. It also offers reliability researchers references on special characteristics of building services systems.

Shows that the new ISO 9000‐4 has covered the dependability aspects of IEC 300‐1. Dependability is defined as a collective term used to describe availability performance and its influencing factors, such as reliability performance, maintainability performance and maintenance support performance. Among these factors, reliability is the major quality assessment of a product during the operation period. With reliability as a necessary requirement, the quality assurance activities taken by suppliers should be extended, especially to cover the survey of the environmental condition, and maintenance planning for the purposes of reliability assurance. Summarizes the characteristics of reliability assurance in the ISO 9000‐4 aspect and, by applying the system engineering concept, proposes a systematic approach for a reliability management programme based on ISO 9000‐4. Believes that, after tailoring in practices, the merits of this approach will be evident in project management.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the reliability of individual software components in terms of the probability that each software component performs its intended functionality successfully. The overall software system reliability is evaluated.

This paper incorporates the reliability behavior of component‐based software system using Markov process.

It is found that the component‐based software system reliability increases as the component reliability increases.

This paper explores new directions in evaluating the reliability of component‐based software systems for software reliability and offers practical help to researchers and software industries in reliable software development. The proposed software simulation technique will act as a tool for the software quality assurance team for evaluating the reliability of component‐based software systems.

Argues that in the coming years the present methods of demonstrating reliability will no longer be feasible and alternative methods must be found. Deals with building‐in reliability (BIR) and the necessity to change from the standard end‐of‐line‐measurement technique of life test to a more proactive in‐line approach, where reliability can be measured by process parameters and reaction time is immediate, resulting in a continuous flow of reliable product to the end user. This approach will not eliminate the use of end‐of‐line monitoring, but will reduce the amount which needs to be carried out. Suggests that it will only be done to demonstrate that processes are operating to certain maximum failure rates, where the online controls will in fact guarantee that the reliability is much greater than that being demonstrated. Examines the customers’ attitude towards reliability, and points out that sharing of data will be essential if the BIR approach is to be successful. Outllines two examples which demonstrate the effectiveness of a BIR program and explains how, if implemented, it can be used to prevent the manufacture of potentially unreliable product.

This article sets out to prove that the basic concepts and techniques of reliability engineering, which are normally applied to material products, can also be applied effectively to intangible services. It deals in some detail with the power and communication industries and refers also to government.

The quality performance of a firm is often assessed by the reliability of the firm’s equipment or machinery. Yet, reliability has not received the same attention as quality. Several organizations today function effectively because the machinery which provides the “system of operation” is highly dependable and reliable. In this paper, we develop a framework that establishes the link between quality, reliability, and maintainability. The aim of this framework is to get corporate attention to focus on reliability issues and also, to establish the link between reliability, company’s bottom line, and corporate survival. A greater focus on “total reliability management (TRM)” will help firms to improve their productivity and efficiency while reducing cost and increasing their competitiveness.

The techniques and procedures available to assist the customer in his quest for a reliable product are reviewed. The blending of these techniques and procedures into a cohesive and fully integrated programme spanning the equipment life cycle is discussed along with those characteristics that have a significant effect on the success or failure of such a programme.

The problem of optimal software reliability design is considered. Allocation models are usually used to compute the target reliability for each module of a software system to maximize the overall system reliability. This objective can also be achieved by employing redundancy, e.g. N‐version programming technique (NVP). A method bridging the allocation model and redundancy approach is derived. The proposed model simultaneously determines both the optimal amount of redundancy and target reliability for each module to achieve the best reliability while the total cost stays within the budget.