Recent Advances in Reliability and Quality in Design

Engineering organisations often discover reliability and quality problems late: during validation testing, at commissioning or in the field. The causes are familiar. Requirements are incomplete, FMEAs are completed as paperwork after the design is fixed, tolerances are set by habit, test programmes cannot demonstrate reliability targets, and field data do not flow back into design. Newer tools such as digital twins and predictive analytics are adopted without the basic discipline that makes them useful.

This programme follows the design process and shows where each method adds most value. It moves through five stages: translating customer and mission needs into design requirements, analysing design risk, designing for robustness, testing and predicting reliability, and using digital engineering and field data to improve designs across the life cycle.

Built on recognised practice. The programme references design and development requirements in ISO 9001, the IEC 60300 dependability management series, IEC 60812 on failure modes and effects analysis, IEC 61025 on fault tree analysis, the AIAG and VDA FMEA Handbook approach, Design for Six Sigma and established statistical methods for reliability and experimentation. Recent developments are covered with a practical view of their benefits and limits.

Decisions this programme improves. Which reliability and quality requirements to set and how to verify them; where to focus design risk analysis; which parameters to control and how tightly; what test plan is needed to demonstrate a reliability target; when a design is ready to release; and how to use field and sensor data to improve the next design.

How it is delivered. Twenty hours across five sessions, built around one running case: an engineered product or equipment package moving from concept to field service. Participants deploy customer requirements with QFD, carry out a design FMEA, plan a designed experiment, analyse life data with Weibull methods in a spreadsheet, and propose a reliability growth and field feedback plan.

In-house option. For organisations, the programme can be tailored to your own products, assets, design procedures and failure data, and delivered to design, reliability, quality and maintenance engineers together.

Who Should Attend

Design engineers: mechanical, electrical, systems and product design engineers

Reliability and quality engineers responsible for design assurance and testing

Engineering managers: heads of engineering, product development and technical departments

Asset and maintenance engineers who specify equipment and feed field data back to design

Project engineers in manufacturing, energy, utilities, defence and infrastructure organisations

Objectives

Translate customer and operational needs into measurable reliability and quality requirements

Apply quality function deployment to link requirements to design characteristics

Carry out a design FMEA using a current structured approach and prioritise actions

Use fault tree and reliability block diagrams to assess system reliability

Plan and interpret designed experiments to identify critical design parameters

Apply robust design and tolerance analysis to reduce sensitivity to variation

Analyse life data using Weibull methods and estimate reliability measures

Plan accelerated and reliability demonstration tests that support release decisions

Explain how digital twins, model-based systems engineering and prognostics support design decisions

Design a feedback loop that uses field and sensor data to improve reliability

Course Outline

Designing In Quality: From Needs to Requirements

Why reliability and quality are decided at the design stage
Design and development controls and the IEC 60300 dependability approach
Capturing customer and mission needs, including operating environment and use profile
Quality function deployment and critical to quality characteristics
Setting reliability, availability and maintainability requirements
Design for Six Sigma and the DMADV approach

Analysing Design Risk

Design FMEA using a structured, function-based approach
Prioritising actions: severity, occurrence, detection and action priority logic
Fault tree analysis and reliability block diagrams
Physics of failure and failure mechanism thinking
Design reviews that challenge risk rather than confirm progress
Linking design risk to process controls and maintenance strategies

Designing for Robustness

Variation and its effect on performance
Design of experiments: factorial and fractional designs
Robust design and parameter design principles
Tolerance analysis and allocation
Design for manufacture, assembly and maintenance
Material, supplier and component quality in design

Testing, Measuring and Predicting Reliability

Life data analysis and Weibull methods
Reliability prediction: uses and limitations
Accelerated life testing and highly accelerated testing
Reliability demonstration and test planning
Reliability growth during development
Deciding when a design is ready for release

Recent Advances: Digital Engineering and Data-Driven Reliability

Model-based systems engineering and traceable requirements
Simulation, virtual testing and digital twins
Condition monitoring, prognostics and health management
Machine learning for failure prediction: realistic benefits and limits
Sustainability, durability and circular design considerations
Field data feedback and an improvement plan for your design process

Competencies

Reliability and quality requirements setting

Quality function deployment

Design FMEA and fault tree analysis

Design of experiments and robust design

Tolerance analysis and design for manufacture

Weibull life data analysis

Accelerated and reliability demonstration testing

Digital twins and prognostics in design

Field data feedback for design improvement

Dubai

Elite Academy can deliver its complete portfolio of professional training programs in Dubai. With a global business, aviation and services hub with excellent international accessibility, the destination suits both scheduled learning and tailored arrangements for organizations or individual professionals. As an Elite Academy training destination, Dubai provides access to our full portfolio rather than a city-specific set of specializations. The city is a global business, aviation and services hub with excellent international accessibility, creating a suitable environment for organizations developing their teams and for professionals attending independently. Upcoming scheduled courses are listed on this page, while any other Elite Academy program can also be requested for delivery in Dubai, subject to scheduling and delivery requirements. Explore the schedule or browse our training areas to find the right option.