Reliability Lab Testing, Consulting, Training.

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Engineering Success with Reliable Products.

End-of-Life Assessment

End-of-Life Assessment

DEFINITION

An End-of-Life Assessment consists of determining when the product or pieces of the product will start approaching End-of-Life.

SITUATION

After the product has been in the field for a period of time, product End-of-Life decisions must be made. The Reliability Prediction and FMECA predict when End-of-Life is likely to occur and Accelerated Life Tests measure End-of-Life (for those components susceptible to it). Now, decisions must be made based on these analyses and tests, as well as the trend of data from the field to determine when to stop sending failed products back out in the field, and when to start offering upgrades and trade-ins.

OBJECTIVE

We Perform End-of-Life Assessments to

  • determine when a product is starting to wear-out in case the product needs to be discontinued.
  • monitor preventive maintenance strategy and modify as needed.
  • monitor spares requirements to determine if a change in allocation is necessary.
  • tie back to End-of-Life Analysis done in the Design Phase to determine accuracy of analysis.

VALUE TO YOUR ORGANIZATION

Knowing when a product has reached or will reach End-of-Life is crucial because an unexpected End-of-Life situation can lead to unhappy customers and high field return/high warranty $.

RELIABILITY INTEGRATION

An example of Reliability Integration during the End-of-Life Asessment is as follows:

End-of-Life used in conjunction with Reliability Predictions

During the Design Phase, we perform reliability predictions. One element of the prediction is to estimate the End-of-Life. This can then be compared with actual data once we start collecting field data.

METHODOLOGY

End-of-Life Prediction

The Reliability Prediction and FMECA (if performed) shall be reviewed to determine which components in the system have a dominant wearout mechanism. For these components, an End-of-Life Prediction shall be performed. Any data from Accelerated Life Tests shall also be used to help in this prediction process. Note that this service is usually performed during the Design Phase along with the FMECA and as part of the Preventive Maintenance strategy. However, if it has not been done up to this point, it must be done here so that we have something to compare with the field data. See the “Bathtub” Curve below for where the end-of-life portion of the curve lies.

End-of-Life Assessment

Field data shall be plotted against time to determine if the product is approaching wearout. This shall be compared with the predicted estimate for confidence in results. Then, an estimate shall be made as to when End-of-Life is occurring, along with the slope of the end-of-life curve. See Weibull Plot below for an example of a product entering its end-of-life phase. From this, the cost impacts shall be examined and recommendations shall be made for when to stop sending failed products back out in the field and when to start offering upgrades and trade-ins.

Specific failure trends shall also be compared with predicted trends and corrective actions shall be taken.

CASE STUDIES/OPTIONS

The following case studies and options provide example approaches. We shall tailor our approach to meet your specific situation.

  1. Modifying Preventive Maintenance Strategy Based on End-of-Life Results

    A Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment company had instituted a 5 year Preventive Maintenance schedule on their belts and asked us to review their field data to find out how much fallout they were getting in the 5 years to determine if the Preventive Maintenance time needed to be changed. We determined from the data that the 5 years initially set forth was too optimistic and that it needed to drop down to every 3 years.

  2. Making Design Changes Based on End-of-Life Results

    A Networking Equipment company was experiencing a high fallout on their CPU fan. We reviewed the field data and plotted it and determined that the fan was approaching End-of-Life after 2 years. No End-of-Life prediction was ever performed and no Preventive Maintenance strategy was ever put in place. We performed an End-of-Life Assessment on the fan and determined that the fan was undersized for the application. We recommended a slightly larger fan that had a 5 year life and helped them institute a strategy on how to roll-out this new fan.

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Email Us: info@OPSaLaCarte.com

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OPS A La Carte, Engineering Success with Reliable Products. We are a leading reliability engineering consulting firm since 2001. We have helped many companies create robust products and elevate them to great success, even become the leader in their industry. We are known for providing the whole gamut of reliability lab testing, consulting, and training. With over 25 reliability engineer-experts around the world, with diverse backgrounds and experience, we serve both domestic and global businesses in all areas of reliability, in depth and width. Hi, my name is Jay Muns, owner and CEO. I have more than 30 years of experience in engineering and business operations.

OPS A La Carte have produced very high-quality results for us, with fast turnaround times. Their engineers are the best in their field, are a pleasure to work with, and their work is of the highest standards available. This has helped us obtain critical product approvals…” We help companies see from outside of their forest and understand what they didn’t know before. Companies come to us out of three scenarios: First, when their products fail. We help put out the fire by identifying problems and providing solutions. Second, after a product is designed, to check the box and move on with getting their product into the marketplace. The best is third: to get engaged early, by including reliability as a part of their initial product design goals. This will save time, money and energy. It is much better to have a worry-free product that addresses reliability issues upfront, than dealing with deficiencies after a product is developed, or worse, already manufactured and sold to the end users. Being proactive with reliability engineering will save a business tons of money and trouble. In all scenarios, you receive professional expertise with integrity and at a fair price. Many of our clients are repeat customers for years because of the value we consistently deliver.

Our ENGINEER-consultants each have over 20 years of experience and perform lab testing, consulting and training based on actual reliability science. They follow well established industry standards, such as “HALT” (highly accelerated life test,) and “HASS” (highly accelerated stress screen.) These engineers evaluate, make recommendations and validate results based on highly relevant lab data, co-relating to real world data. Whether your company has a reliability department or not, you can take advantage of our entire testing-consulting-training package, or any portion of it. We also offer Failure analysis and safety certification services such as UL, CE, and other environmental testing services, like solar, UV, SALT spray testing, ESD (electro-static discharge,) and EMC (electro-magnetic compatibility.)

“Ops A La Carte trained us to use HALT methodology as a proactive tool, to root out key failures in our early and advanced prototypes, and that made it possible for us to deliver dependability that our customers demand, in pilot and production units."“...OPS has played a key role in our evolution from a research company to a manufacturer of ‘mission-critical’ components.” A couple of companies describe our HALT/HASS training as “highly informative, engaging and exciting.” “The benefit far exceeds the price."

Our mission is to enable companies to create their happy customers, with a well-engineered product. By helping our clients understand the real problems and the real solutions, we help improve their careers and reputations. Achieving the win-win-win results for our clients and their customers is our ultimate satisfaction. We have a family-like company culture with positive energy and great teamwork. An improved and reliable product is our own small way to contribute to a better humanity and a slightly better world. Call us at (408) 654-0499, or email us at info@opsalacarte.com, or visit our website www.opsalacarte.com. Thank you!

A couple of our clients' testimonials:

"The expert team at OPS assisted us in evaluating the available reliability testing possibilities, and with their help, we crafted a customized test program precisely sized to meet the needs of our project. The resulting program proved to our team, our customers, and our regulatory auditors that our product was robust, met its reliability goals effectively, and satisfied all safety risk factors."

"...Ops A La Carte worked with us to develop a testing program based on HALT and HASS to effectively assess low-temperature operation capability and screen the boards for assembly and component defects. They then facilitated and supported the HALT and HASS testing effort. It was quicker and more efficient than we had expected. The boards for the first four strings have been delivered. We are looking forward to working with them through completion of the project."