A comprehensive reliability allocation method for design of CNC lathes

In the design and development of computerized numerical control lathes, an effective reliability allocation method is needed to allocate system level reliability requirements into subsystem and component levels. During the allocation process, many factors have to be considered. Some of these factors can be measured quantitatively while others have to be assessed qualitatively. In this paper, we consider seven criteria for conducting reliability allocation. A comprehensive failure rate allocation method is proposed for conducting the task of reliability allocation. Example data from field studies are used to illustrate the proposed method. © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd.