For almost every sensationalized media report of product failure, a closer look often determines these failures occurred due to inadequate reliability theory and methodology. Current theories and practices cannot solve these problems, mainly because test specifications, especially lifetime tests, express their results as either pass or fail; these results thus provide little useful quantitative information. In a clear, concise presentation, Improving Reliability and Quality for Product Success discusses how to eradicate failures in hardware products and, consequently, achieve greater success in the marketplace.

Evolved from the author s more than thirty years of experience, the book redefines quality and reliability terminology, explains failure mechanics, and analyzes why reliability accidents occur in the products of established corporations. The author presents a new prevention methodology in easily understood qualitative and scientific terms. Without excess discussions of the complex related mathematics, he creates principles that enable readers to identify problems before product release into the market. These novel concepts and methodology can reduce product troubles by establishing test specifications that produce quantified outcomes that constitute conclusive judgment data.

Many books that cover reliability theory/engineering/practice are geared towards professionals with advanced mathematical skills and would not necessarily be of use to executives and CEOs, who may not be quality or reliability experts but need to understand these principles when making decisions. This book addresses this important but neglected audience, introducing novel ideas based on back-to basics quality/reliability concepts in an easily understood manner. In addition, it explains basic, fresh new methods for maximizing customer satisfaction and securing a competitive edge in performance.

As a society, we tend to reward problem solvers, rather than those who prevent problems at their source. In other words, we focus on after-the-fact occurrences (appraisal activities) instead of trying to eliminate these occurrences (preventing activities). Discussing and evaluating the core requirements of quality efficiency and improvement, 10 Essentials for High Performance Quality in the 21st Century proposes an approach to help shift the paradigm of quality from appraisal mode to preventing mode. Identifying 10 steps readers can follow to optimize the quality of products and improve customer satisfaction, the book explains the rationale behind each of the steps in separate chapters. It addresses specific quality issues in six different sectors of the economy and provides statistics, tables, and figures from various organizations that support the need for a paradigm shift. Outlining a systematic process to guide your organization along the path toward improvement, the book covers risk and quality, multicultural management, empowerment, error analysis, team building, advanced quality planning, and quality operating systems. The accompanying downloadable resources provide tips and tools to help you implement all the necessary improvement initiatives under the umbrella of quality.

During day-to-day use, thousands of lives are lost each year due to accidents, directly or indirectly, resulting from poor transportation system reliability and safety. In the United States, automobile accidents alone result in around 42,000 deaths per year, costing billions of dollars to the economy each year. A common subject in journal articles and conference proceedings, most of the recent research on transportation systems reliability and safety is scattered in different resources. Until now. Drawing together the latest research spread throughout the literature, Transportation Systems Reliability and Safety eliminates the need to consult many different and diverse sources to obtain up-to-date information and research. It contains a chapter on mathematical concepts and another chapter on reliability and safety basics that form a foundation for understanding the contents of subsequent chapters. The book also presents a chapter devoted to methods for performing transportation system reliability and safety analysis. It includes a reference section at the end of each chapter for readers who wish to delve deeper into a specific area. The author clearly and concisely covers topics in such a manner that readers require no previous knowledge to understand the concepts. He provides examples and their solutions as well as numerous problems at the end of each chapter to test reader comprehension. The presentation of historical information paired with recent research give readers a foundation for understanding where the field is now and snapshot of where it may be going.

Considering that the biggest machines that do the most work are made up of smaller machines and components, it becomes obvious that when a large machine breaks, it is normally due to small components acting antagonistically. Detailing a time-tested method for increasing productivity and lowering operational costs, Spend Analysis and Specification Development Using Failure Interpretation explains how to establish performance-based procurement specifications for the components, devices, and items that contribute the most to operational downtime and repair/replacement costs. The book emphasizes the critical need to perform both spend and failure analysis in order to develop a procurement document, which will ultimately reduce overall costs. Accompanied by downloadable resources with helpful material such as, specification checklists, case study worksheets, form letters, and return on investment (ROI) worksheets that you can customize to your needs, the text discusses how to: Identify the products that will cost the most if they fail Develop performance-based procurement specifications to reduce direct and indirect costs Examine cost analysis as it relates to operations, maintenance, and production Determine effective criteria based on properties, test results, and standards for each operation Written by an industry expert with decades of experience giving seminars, training customers and associates, and authoring numerous papers and articles, the text provides the real-world understanding of the influential components and materials' physical properties needed to engage in effective failure and spend analysis. It addresses product submission and monitoring and includes helpful tools so you can immediately get started on conducting your own cost-saving analysis.

An effective visual communication system can help manufacturing employees eliminate significant waste from daily tasks. From work-zone color coding to posted metrics, visual controls clarify and simplify the path to enhanced processes and profits. Leaving little to chance, Visual Controls: Applying Visual Management to the Factory provides a detailed explanation of how to apply the Lean principles of 5S to convert your factory to a fully functioning Visual Workplace. It covers the range of methods that collectively compose an effective visual management system and clearly explains management's role in creating a Lean strategy to accomplish the transformation. This book: * Considers visual Kanban, material replenishment, and the implementation of a visual maintenance department * Details management's role in implementing and sustaining a visual factory * Covers the range of visual tools -- including tool boards, shadow boards, metrics communication boards, and tool check cards From plant layout and department setup to visual tools and parts, this book facilitates the comprehensive understanding required to initiate positive change through visual communication. The authors supply authoritative insight on how to hasten the required cultural changes, as well as step-by-step instruction for creating visual shadow boards. They also highlight time-tested methods for measuring progress and performance with improved accuracy.

Since the publication of the second edition in 2013, there has been an increasing interest in asset management globally, as evidenced by a series of international standards on asset management systems, to achieve excellence in asset management. This cannot be achieved without high-quality data and the tools for data interpretation. The importance of such requirements is widely recognized by industry.

The third edition of this textbook focuses on tools for physical asset management decisions that are data driven. It also uses a theoretical foundation to the tools (mathematical models) that can be used to optimize a variety of key maintenance/replacement/reliability decisions. Problem sets with answers are provided at the end of each chapter. Also available is an extensive set of PowerPoint slides and a solutions manual upon request with qualified textbook adoptions.

This new edition can be used in undergraduate or post-graduate courses on physical asset management.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction. 2. Reliability Improvement Through Component Replacement. 3. Reliability Improvement Through Inspection Decisions. 4. Capital Equipment Replacement. 5. Maintenance Resource Requirements. 6. The Role of Emerging Technologies in Physical Asset Management. Statistical Tables. Answers to Problems.

Today, multi-functional materials such as piezoelectric/ferroelectric ceramics, magneto-strictive and shape memory alloys are gaining increasing applications as sensors, actuators or smart composite materials systems for emerging high tech areas. The stable performance and reliability of these smart components under complex service loads is of paramount practical importance. However, most multi-functional materials suffer from various mechanical and/or electro-magnetical degra-dation mechanisms as fatigue, damage and fracture. Therefore, this exciting topic has become a challenge to intensive international research, provoking the interdisciplinary approach between solid mechanics, materials science and physics. This book summarizes the outcome of the above mentioned IUTAM-symposium, assembling contributions by leading scientists in this area. Particularly, the following topics have been addressed: (1) Development of computational methods for coupled electromechanical field analysis, especially extended, adaptive and multi-level finite elements. (2) Constitutive modeling of non-linear smart material behavior with coupled electric, magnetic, thermal and mechanical fields, primarily based on micro-mechanical models. (3) Investigations of fracture and fatigue in piezoelectric and ferroelectric ceramics by means of process zone modeling, phase field simulation and configurational mechanics. (4) Reliability and durability of sensors and actuators under in service loading by alternating mechanical, electrical and thermal fields. (5) Experimental methods to measure fracture strength and to investigate fatigue crack growth in ferroelectric materials under electromechanical loading. (6) New ferroelectric materials, compounds and composites with enhanced strain capabilities.

This text provides the reader with a general and widely-applicable problem solving strategy for use in quality improvement. It covers a variety of statistical and "non-statistical" problem-solving tools, and discusses techniques that are useful when problems are solved by groups or teams of people. It also shows how the success of problem solving is influenced by the style of management and the type of management-employee interaction.

Updated to account for ISO 55000, Benchmarking Best Practices for Maintenance, Reliability and Asset Management, Third Edition,  now includes an overview of this seminal and long-awaited standard and identifies the specific points where ISO 55000 will impact maintenance and reliability. New graphics to enhance the text’s main points have been added throughout. As with past editions, the third edition provides a logical, step-by-step methodology that will enable any company to properly benchmark its maintenance function. It presents an overview of the benchmarking process, a detailed form for surveying and “grading� maintenance management, and a database of the results of more than 100 companies that have used this survey. Widely used, Benchmarking Best Practices for Maintenance, Reliability and Asset Management, Third Edition, has proven to be an invaluable planning guide and on-the-job reference for maintenance managers, plant engineers, operations managers, and plant managers.   Analyzing Maintenance Management Benchmarking Fundamentals Maintenance Organizations Maintenance Training Work Order Systems Maintenance Planning and Scheduling Preventive Maintenance Maintenance Inventory and Purchasing Maintenance Management Reporting and Analysis World Class Maintenance Management Integration of Maintenance Management Best Practices in Maintenance Management

Richard Bellmann developed a theory of dynamic programming which is for many reasons still in the center of great interest. The authors present a new approach in the ?eld of the optimization and multi-objective control of time-discrete systems which is closely related to the work of Richard Bellmann. They develop their own concept and their extension to the optimization and multi-objective control of time-discrete systems as well as to dynamic networks and multilayered structures are very stimulating for further research. Di?erent perspectives of discrete control and optimal dynamic ?ow problems on networks are treated and characterized. Together with the algorithmic solutions a framework of multi-objective control problems is - rived. The conclusion with a real world example underlines the necessity and - portance of their theoretic framework. As they come back to the classical Bellmann concept of dynamic programming they stress and honor his basic concept without debase their own work. Multilayereddecisionprocessesaspartofthedesignandanalysisofcomplexsystems and networks will be essential in many ways and ?elds in the future.

Analyzing maintenance as an integrated system with objectives, strategies and processes that need to be planned, designed, engineered, and controlled using statistical and optimization techniques, the theme of this book is the strategic holistic system approach for maintenance. This approach enables maintenance decision makers to view maintenance as a provider of a competitive edge not a necessary evil. Encompassing maintenance systems; maintenance strategic and capacity planning, planned and preventive maintenance, work measurements and standards, material (spares) control, maintenance operations and control, planning and scheduling, maintenance quality, training, and others, this book gives readers an understanding of the relevant methodology and how to apply it to real-world problems in industry. Each chapter includes a number exercises and is suitable as a textbook or a reference for a professionals and practitioners whilst being of interest to industrial engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and industrial management students. It can also be used as a textbook for short courses on maintenance in industry. This text is the second edition of the book, which has four new chapters added and three chapters are revised substantially to reflect development in maintenance since the publication of the first edition. The new chapters cover reliability centered maintenance, total productive maintenance, e-maintenance and maintenance performance, productivity and continuous improvement.

Complexity in automation- and safety systems in railway as well as automotive applications are dominated more and more by formal description means, methods and tools. Formal techniques provide next to correctness and integrity checkups - especially for safety relevant systems - the possibility to model, prove, simulate and check the specification of the system as well as to generate the system implementations. Requirements of the CENELEC- and IEC-Standards on formal techniques, particularly with regard to the handling of safety analysis, are to be treated in FORMS/FORMAT 2010. The main focus lies on topics facing formal techniques for railway applications and intelligent transportation systems as well as for automotive applications. Gained findings, experiences and also difficulties associated with the handling of the subject matter as well as description means and tools are to be shown.

Offering a model, an implementing strategy, as well as traditional and nontraditional methods for the successful enhancement and maintenance of quality, this work establishes a rationale for the continuation of Total Quality Management (TQM) in all organizations. It considers leading quality-related topics, such as unusual charts, supplier-organization-customer relationships, customer needs and expectations, instructional design, adult learning, advanced quality planning, and reliability.

This second edition details all productivity and quality methodologies, principles and techniques, and demonstrates how they interact in the three phases of the productivity and quality management triangle (PQMT): measurement, control and evaluation; planning and analysis; and improvement and monitoring. This edition features material on practical strategies for implementing quality programmes, balancing productivity and quality results , resolving quality problems and empowering employees.

"Real-time Systems Quality of Service" examines the attainability of efficiency, economy, and ease of use, which make up the quality of service of technologically advanced products.

"Real-time Systems Quality of Service" reviews the state of the art in quality of service evaluation for real-time systems. It gives a classification of the relevant parameters for quality of service evaluation and also determines the critical points in the design and development process of real-time systems where performance criteria should be applied or checked. Then, software development and certification standards are assessed, and finally the authors elaborate on how the suggested criteria should be applied to the design, development, and certification process of real-time systems.

"Real-time Systems Quality of Service" will guide researchers and postgraduates in embedded and real-time systems through the process of introducing quality of service parameters into real-time systems.

Historically, the term quality was used to measure performance in the context of products, processes and systems. With rapid growth in data and its usage, data quality is becoming quite important. It is important to connect these two aspects of quality to ensure better performance. This book provides a strong connection between the concepts in data science and process engineering that is necessary to ensure better quality levels and takes you through a systematic approach to measure holistic quality with several case studies. Features: Integrates data science, analytics and process engineering concepts Discusses how to create value by considering data, analytics and processes Examines metrics management technique that will help evaluate performance levels of processes, systems and models, including AI and machine learning approaches Reviews a structured approach for analytics execution

We all know that safety should be an integral part of the systems that we build and operate. The public demands that they are protected from accidents, yet industry and government do not always know how to reach this common goal. This book gives engineers and managers working in companies and governments around the world a pragmatic and reasonable approach to system safety and risk assessment techniques. It explains in easy-to-understand language how to design workable safety management systems and implement tested solutions immediately.

The book is intended for working engineers who know that they need to build safe systems, but aren’t sure where to start. To make it easy to get started quickly, it includes numerous real-life engineering examples. The book’s many practical tips and best practices explain not only how to prevent accidents, but also how to build safety into systems at a sensible price. The book also includes numerous case studies from real disasters that describe what went wrong and the lessons learned.

See What’s New in the Second Edition:

New chapter on developing government safety oversight programs and regulations, including designing and setting up a new safety regulatory body, developing safety regulatory oversight functions and governance, developing safety regulations, and how to avoid common mistakes in government oversight

Significantly expanded chapter on safety management systems, with many practical applications from around the world and information about designing and building robust safety management systems, auditing them, gaining internal support, and creating a safety culture

New and expanded case studies and "Notes from Nick’s Files" (examples of practical applications from the author’s extensive experience)

Increased international focus on world-leading practices from multiple industries with practical examples, common mistakes to avoid, and new thinking about how to build sustainable safety management systems

New material on safety culture, developing leading safety performance indicators, safety maturity model, auditing safety management systems, and setting up a safety knowledge management system

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface to the Second Edition

Preface to the First Edition

Acknowledgments

Author

Introduction

Why Do We Need Safety Engineering?

What Is Safety Analysis?

System Safety and Risk Assessment

Government Safety Regulations versus Safety from Industry’s Point of View

Brief History of Safety

References

Further Reading

Definitions and Concepts

Makeup of an Accident

How Safe Is Safe Enough?

Case Study: Black Swan Extreme Events, Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

The Accident

What Went Wrong?

Media Nightmare

Lessons Learned of What Could Have Been Done Differently

What Is a Hazard and Other Important Concepts

System Safety versus Safety Management System

System Safety Process

Hazard Identification

Hazard Control

Risk Acceptance

Risk Management versus Safety Management

Hazard Reduction Precedence

Design Out the Hazard

Safety Devices

Warning Devices

Special Procedures and Training

Safety Maturity Model and Safety Management Systems

Leading and Lagging Safety Performance Indicators

Use of Standards in Safety

Government Standards

Industry Standards

Regional Standards, Example: Interoperability in the European Union

International Standards

References

Further Reading

Safety Analysis in Engineering: How Is It Used?

Manufacturing

Consumer Products

Chemical Process and Oil and Gas Industry

Aviation

Mass Transit

Military and Space

Commercial Nuclear Power

References

Further Reading

Safety Management Systems

Safety in the System Life Cycle

System Life Cycle

Safety and the System Life Cycle

Case Studies of Poor Application of Safety in the System Life Cycle

Developing a Robust Safety Management System

Elements of a Safety Management System

Conducting a Diagnostic of Your Safety Management System

Organizational Management and Safety

Management Commitment

Suggested Ideas to Enhance Management Involvement

Safety Management System Organization

System Safety Program: Keystone to a Robust Safety Management System

Elements of a System Safety Program

Setting Up a System Safety Program

Evaluating Contractors and Subcontractors

Emergency Preparedness Programs

Case Study: How a Leading Global Personal Care Products Company Created a Best Practice Safety Program

Common Mistakes in Implementing Safety Programs

Closed-Loop Process

Hazard Tracking and Resolution

System Safety Reviews and Audits

Case Study: Special Commission of Inquiry, Waterfall Rail Accident Safety Management System Audit

Some Words on Safety Governance

Voluntary Protection Program

Safety Culture

What Is Safety Culture?

Measuring Safety Culture

Designing Sustainable Safety Culture: Fitting a Global Company’s Corporate Safety Program into the Local Culture

References

Further Reading

Hazard Analysis

Hazard Analysis Methodology

Preliminary Hazard List

Passenger-Carrying Submersible Example

Hazard Analysis: Preliminary, Subsystem, and System

Facility Hazard Analysis

Operations and Support Hazard Analysis

Examples of Hazard Analyses

Example Hazard Analysis of NASA Laser

Brief Example of a Hazardous Waste Storage Facility Hazard Analysis

References

Further Reading

Process Safety Analysis

Process Hazard Analysis

HAZOP

What-If Analysis and Safety Checklists

Brief HAZOP Example of an Ammonia Fill Station

Example What-If/Safety Checklist for Pressure Test Equipment

References

Further Reading

Fault Tree Analysis

Fault Tree Symbols and Logic

Finding Cut Sets

Fault Tree Quantification

Example of a Fault Tree Construction of a Motor–Pump Pressure System

Common Mistakes in Fault Trees

References

Further Reading

FMECA, Human Factors, and Software Safety

Failure Modes and Effects Analysis

Conducting a Failure Modes and Effects Analysis

Failure Modes, Effects, and Criticality Analysis

Human Factors Safety Analysis

Performance and Human Error

Conducting Human Factors Safety Analysis

Brief Example of Human Factors Safety Analysis: Manual Switchover to Auxiliary Feedwater System

Software Safety

Software Safety Analysis

Software Testing and IV&V

References

Further Reading

Other Techniques

MORT

Energy Trace Barrier Analysis

Sneak Circuit Analysis

Cause–Consequence Analysis

Root Cause Analysis

Bow Tie Analysis

Dispersion Modeling

Test Safety

Comparing the Various Techniques

Advantages and Disadvantages

References

Further Reading

Data Sources and Training

Government Data Banks

Industry Data Banks

Creating Your Own Safety Knowledge Management System: Some Suggestions

Safety Training

Employee Safety Training

Emergency Preparedness and Response Training

Personnel Certification for Hazardous Operations

Sample Safety Training Course Outline for a Microprocessor Production Plant

Safety Awareness Training

References

Further Reading

Accident Reporting, Investigation, Documentation, and Communication

Anatomy of an Accident

Accident Investigation Board

Reporting the Accident

Setting Up a Closed-Loop Reporting System

Example of an Automated System

Forming an Investigation Board

Selecting the Investigation Board

Conducting the Investigation

Investigation Report

Documenting the Accident

Retention of Records

Public Release of Information

Accident Investigation Lessons Learned

Communicating the Accident to the Public

Developing a Crisis Communication Plan

Common Mistakes: What Not to Say and Do

References

Further Reading

Government Regulations and Safety Oversight

Safety Regulatory Oversight

Key Components of a Safety Regulatory Regime

Description of Different Regulatory Oversight Models

Case Study: Setting Up a Safety Oversight Body from Scratch

Safety Oversight Functions and Governance

More Effective Safety Service Delivery

Safety Oversight Organization Options

Sample Safety Oversight Organization

Example Process Safety Oversight in the United States

Aligning Resource Needs to the Oversight Organization: How to Do More with Less

Case Study: U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, Improving Oversight through System Safety

Common Mistakes in Government Oversight Programs

References

Further Reading

Risk Assessment

What Is Risk?

Risk Perception

Risk Assessment Methodology

Identifying Risk in a System

Risk Communication

References

Further Reading

Risk Evaluation

Probabilistic Approach

Risk Analysis Model

Developing Accident Scenarios and Initiating Events

Event Trees

Consequences Determination

Uncertainty

Risk Evaluation: The Use of Risk Profiles

Calculating Safety Costs

Brief Example: Risk Assessment of Launching a Space Shuttle Payload

References

Further Reading

Appendix A: Typical Energy Sources

Appendix B: Generic Hazard Checklist

Appendix C: Generic Facility Safety Checklist

Appendix D: Internet Sources

Index

Outlines the correct procedures for doing FMEAs and how to successfully apply them in design, development, manufacturing, and service applications There are a myriad of quality and reliability tools available to corporations worldwide, but the one that shows up consistently in company after company is Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA). Effective FMEAs takes the best practices from hundreds of companies and thousands of FMEA applications and presents streamlined procedures for veteran FMEA practitioners, novices, and everyone in between. Written from an applications viewpoint with many examples, detailed case studies, study problems, and tips included the book covers the most common types of FMEAs, including System FMEAs, Design FMEAs, Process FMEAs, Maintenance FMEAs, Software FMEAs, and others. It also presents chapters on Fault Tree Analysis, Design Review Based on Failure Mode (DRBFM), Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM), Hazard Analysis, and FMECA (which adds criticality analysis to FMEA). With extensive study problems and a companion Solutions Manual, this book is an ideal resource for academic curricula, as well as for applications in industry. In addition, Effective FMEAs covers: * The basics of FMEAs and risk assessment * How to apply key factors for effective FMEAs and prevent the most common errors * What is needed to provide excellent FMEA facilitation * Implementing a "best practice" FMEA process Everyone wants to support the accomplishment of safe and trouble-free products and processes while generating happy and loyal customers. This book will show readers how to use FMEA to anticipate and prevent problems, reduce costs, shorten product development times, and achieve safe and highly reliable products and processes.

Electrical Engineering Accelerated Stress Testing Handbook Guide for Achieving Quality Products As we move closer to a genuinely global economy, the pressure to develop highly reliable products on ever-tighter schedules will increase. Part of a designer's "toolbox" for achieving product reliability in a compressed time frame should be a set of best practices for utilizing accelerated stress testing (AST). The Accelerated Stress Testing Handbook delineates a core set of AST practices as part of an overall methodology for enhancing hardware product reliability. The techniques presented will teach readers to identify design deficiencies and problems with component quality or manufacturing processes early in the product's life, and then to take corrective action as quickly as possible. A wide array of case studies gleaned from leading practitioners of AST supplement the theory and methodology, which will provide the reader with a more concrete idea of how AST truly enhances quality in a reduced time frame. Important topics covered include:
* Theoretical basis for AST
* General AST best practices
* AST design and manufacturing processes
* AST equipment and techniques
* AST process safety qualification
In this handbook, AST cases studies demonstrate thermal, vibration, electrical, and liquid stress application; failure mode analysis; and corrective action techniques. Individuals who would be interested in this book include: reliability engineers and researchers, mechanical and electrical engineers, those involved with all facets of electronics and telecommunications product design and manufacturing, and people responsible for implementing quality and processimprovement programs.

The role of software has changed from simply generating financial or mechanical data to monitoring and controlling equipment that directly affects human life and safety. As a result, a more thorough understanding and familiarity with the specialized techniques used to achieve and assess the safety and reliability of software is needed in academia, industry, and government.
This original text introduces the concepts, techniques, and approaches used to achieve and assess software safety and reliability. Debra Herrmann presents a cross-section of current safety and reliability standards that cross multiple industrial sectors while focusing on the additional required activities to achieve software safety and reliability. In organizing this text, the she has three objectives. The first is to raise the reader's awareness on the importance of software safety and reliability and on its role in mission critical systems by presenting many illustrative, ever day examples. The second objective is to provide practical information about the current methods used to achieve and assess software safety and reliability. The final objective is to improve the understanding and practice of software safety and reliability by consolidating the latest research so that it can be compared and analyzed for the future.
The book is written for engineers, scientists, managers, regulators, and policy makers involved in the design, development, acquisition, and certification of safety-critical systems.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the Third Asia Pacific Requirements Engineering Symposium, APRES 2016, held in Nagoya, Japan, in November 2016. The 7 full papers presented together with three short papers, were carefully reviewed and selected from 14 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on requirements traceability and prioritization; requirements modeling and process for quality; requirements validation; requirements analysis.

Demonstrates How To Perform FMEAs Step-by-Step Originally designed to address safety concerns, Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) is now used throughout the industry to prevent a wide range of process and product problems. Useful in both product design and manufacturing, FMEA can identify improvements early when product and process changes are relatively easy and inexpensive to make. Updated to include changes reflected in ISO/TX-16949:2002 standards and 2008 AIAG guidelines, The Basics of FMEA, Second Edition continues to provide the expert advice needed to help shorten the learning curve for FMEA teams to conduct effective and efficient FMEAs, even if it is their very first one. Includes Ready-to-Use Worksheet Templates Using a manufacturing case study, readers learn step-by-step how to use FMEAs to assess, evaluate, and prioritize areas of risk, and then to implement the actions needed to reduce risks to an acceptable level. It shows the steps needed to ferret out potential problems and prevent making inferior products that could endanger public and worker safety and compromise profits as well as the future of all stakeholders. Although engineers have typically analyzed processes and products for potential failures, the FMEA process standardizes the approach and establishes a common language that nontechnical as well as technical employees can use at all levels. Unlike other improvement tools, FMEA does not require complicated statistics. However, they require a full commitment to quality and a willingness to take a team approach that involves all stakeholders.

The key to the successful development of distributed measurement and control systems is the communications link. Emphasising the importance of communications standards, this topical text describes and discusses serial data highways developed for measurement and control applications. Such standards demand conformity to a protocol which ensures reliable transmissions between digital field devices, using a common communications interface. This comprehensive overview of the large family of data highways currently in use addresses all aspects of the practical implementation of industrial control systems. Features include:

• Up-to-date overview of serial networking technology for measurement and control applications.
• Review of the fundamental concepts and relative merits of twelve serial network communication standards.
• A valuable insight into a wide range of market sectors where proprietary, national and international standards now apply.
• Discussion of each established or evolving serial data highway in the context of its application.

This text is an invaluable reference source for engineers and product designers in measurement and control seeking to increase their awareness of developments in the complete range of market sectors. For anyone contemplating the development of a communications standard, this will prove an indispensable frame of reference. In addition to providing detailed information about the serial bus, this unique book will furnish advanced students of electronic and electrical engineering with a broader view of their subject and encourage a more product-oriented approach. Serial Networked Field Instrumentation forms part of the Wiley Series in MeasurementScience and Technology. Chief Editor: Peter Sydenham Australian Centre for Test and Evaluation, University of South Australia. This series was founded to coincide with the recognition of measurement science and instrument technology as fields with their own scholarship and techniques.

Covers basic principles and proactive and pragmatic quality function deployment (QFD) methods. Explains how to arrange groups in an industrial organization into design and development teams. Describes how to implement QFD to effectively produce quality products in a fashion that meets customers' needs. This book includes aspects of modern planning techniques, technological forecasting methods and value engineering.

working mechanisms and to develop the overall governance framework in which we operate. Catherine Geslain-Laneelle Executive Director European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Parma, March 2008 Acknowledgements This book and the General Framework for the Precautionary and Inclusive Governance of Food Safety that it presents and critically discusses have grown out of research undertaken within one of the subprojects (work package 5) of the research project SAFE FOODS, 'Promoting Food Safety through a New Integrated Risk Analysis Approach for Foods'. The Integrated Project SAFE FOODS has been funded by the European Commission under the 6th Framework Programme (April 2004 to June 2008) and coordinated by Dr H.A. Kuiper and Dr H.J.P. Marvin of RIKILT-Institute of Food Safety at the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands. Subproject 5 of SAFE FOODS has dealt with institutional aspects of food safety governance with a focus on ways (procedural and structural mec- nisms) to improve the implementation of precaution, participation and a politi- science interface, and has been coordinated by the editors of this book. The General Framework and this book have been a collaborative effort of subproject 5 in which all contributors to the first part of this book were involved. We have very much appreciated this exceptionally fruitful cooperation. It has always been both greatly intellectually inspiring (with many intensive, focused discussions) and very pleasant (highly cooperative and reliable)."