HOW IS WORLD CLASS QUALITY AND RELIABILITY ACHIEVED?
If we think of the industries and products that set the world standards for quality and reliability (Q&R), among the ones that are most likely to come to the minds of both the person in the street and of Q&R professionals are cars, office equipment, commercial aircraft, and electronic components. These products all exist in very competitive international markets, in which the customer has a wide choice, and innovation, improvement and performance vs. price are all essential for survival of the suppliers. We note that new generations of product give increasing performance and complexity, at lower prices and higher Q&R. For example, modern aircraft engines are more powerful and more economic than ever, and so reliable that twin engine aircraft have been certificated for long overwater flights. Modern integrated circuits such as microprocessors, memories and signal processors contain over a million separate components and tens of metres of interconnections, yet their Q&R are so high that
