What is a ?Reasonable? failure rate for an electronic device in the 1st year?

What is a “Reasonable” failure rate for an electronic device in the 1st year?

Hi ,

I am seeking for your advice:
What is considered to be “reasonable” failure rate of an electronic device?
failure rate= [Number of units need to be serviced in their 1st year of use] / [Number of sold units during that specific year].

Practically –
What the percentage number above it I need to invest massive resources to improve the customer satisfaction.

Thanks
Nissim Shaked

Re: What is a “Reasonable” failure rate for an electronic device in the 1st year?

Nissim Shaked said:

Hi ,

I am seeking for your advice:
What is considered to be “reasonable” failure rate of an electronic device?
failure rate= [Number of units need to be serviced in their 1st year of use] / [Number of sold units during that specific year].

Practically –
What the percentage number above it I need to invest massive resources to improve the customer satisfaction.

Thanks
Nissim Shaked

Click to expand...

There is no "reasonable" failure rate that can be applied to all electronic devices. If, in general, your customers are unhappy with the failure rate, you need to do something about it. If what you do about it requires "massive resources," you probably have a poor design.

If you can tell us what type of electronic device you're dealing with, the present failure rate and reasons for failure, you'll get better answers.

Re: What is a “Reasonable” failure rate for an electronic device in the 1st year?

Have you compiled a MTBF or MTTF model based on the individual FIT rates? If so, bench mark the failure mode you are seeing against it to determine where the model and reality are in conflict and look at that part of the design. This is a simplistic approach but it gets you started. We used these models in the design of electronic systems and found with a little bit of fudging and a lot of experience/tribal knowledge from our engineering guru's we could come up with a fairly accurate model and predictability over time.
We used this approach several years ago so I am sure there are software packages that can do this for you I am just not aware of what they are.
Good luck.

Re: What is a “Reasonable” failure rate for an electronic device in the 1st year?

Nissim Shaked said:

Hi ,

I am seeking for your advice:
What is considered to be “reasonable” failure rate of an electronic device?
failure rate= [Number of units need to be serviced in their 1st year of use] / [Number of sold units during that specific year].

Practically –
What the percentage number above it I need to invest massive resources to improve the customer satisfaction.

Thanks
Nissim Shaked

Click to expand...

This is an interesting question, however this is impossible to answer without being more specific. Can you be more specific in what area of electronics manufacturing you are in? In my area we consider a 2-3% failure rate a low one. But the gadgets we in my business have a lot of sensitive components on them and are not expected to last for too many years

Re: What is a “Reasonable” failure rate for an electronic device in the 1st year?

Anything above zero.:mg: I don't care what industry your in, that is a target always. Accepting defects (despite sensitivities) never allows for the pursuit of improvement.

Do analysis/breakdown and pareto of top problems to resolve and then drill down to a goal of zero.
This is too aggressive to many people, often dubbed "unrealistic", but I see no other way to aim for perfection.




A top athlete does not set out to be flawed by any percentage, if she did, she would never see first place.

Re: What is a “Reasonable” failure rate for an electronic device in the 1st year?

DanteCaspian said:

Anything above zero.:mg: I don't care what industry your in, that is a target always. Accepting defects (despite sensitivities) never allows for the pursuit of improvement.

Do analysis/breakdown and pareto of top problems to resolve and then drill down to a goal of zero.
This is too aggressive to many people, often dubbed "unrealistic", but I see no other way to aim for perfection.

Click to expand...

The problem is that aiming for perfection will, in most cases, result in disappointment, fear and loathing. The goal should be to understand what's possible, and improve it to the extent that it's economically responsible. There are many processes that could be made to produce no defects, but what it would take to get you there would also get you bankrupt. The idea that "accepting defects...never allows for the pursuit of improvement" is just wrong. The prudent path is to understand the variation in the process, and how much of it you can live with. Just hollering ZERO DEFECTS!!! doesn't help anything, and is an easy way to avoid thinking about what you're trying to do.

Re: What is a “Reasonable” failure rate for an electronic device in the 1st year?

Jim,

Agreed. First the vision, then the practicality.
By the way, I don't believe perfection is possible, just that it is possible to peruse it-- it is madness I know!!!

Re: What is a “Reasonable” failure rate for an electronic device in the 1st year?

Basically, if I can prove a return on investment I will continue to aim for zero. When that is lost, I find a different low lying apple to attack.

On this question,

In the 1st year, it should be <.5%. After that it will rise just due to use and wear and who knows what the end user will do to it (I was previously in the electronics industry - scary what some end users try to do!).

Having dealt with a failure of an electronic gadget inside of a year AND the manufacturer basically telling me that it must be defective send it to Montreal for exchange AND I have to foot the bill to ship it to Montreal just irked me to no end.

Fortunately, I bought it at Costco and have the receipt. So back to Costco I go and then buy a replacement from one of their competitors. Yes, I have told them that I will doing this as well! I got NO response from them in an effort to keep me as a customer now or in the future.