A refrigerator and air-conditioner manufacturing company Voltas is competing in the UAE
market since 1990. It earned a good business until 2016 with total annual demand of
products reaching up to 700,000 units. Demand of products remained the same at 800,000
units per annum for three consecutive years: 2017, 2018, 2019, and decreased to 500,000
units per annum in 2020 and 2021. Upon surveying the customers and analyzing the
statistical data available, it was pointed out that Voltas Company’s products are now less
reliable than their competitor’s. Currently, voltas Company does not follow any reliability
management approach. It has the following types of products: • Glass door refrigerator •
Domestic refrigerator • Split air conditioner • Cabinet air conditioner Demand and
operational data of products are as below:
Demand and operational data of products are as below:
Glass door Domestic Split cabinet Total
refrigerator demand per
Year No of units No of units No of units No of units year
demand demand demand demand
1990 45453 90129 65759 34040 235381
1991 53456 93176 67923 37456 252011
1992 61459 96223 70087 40872 268641
1993 69462 99270 72251 44288 285271
1994 77465 102317 74415 47704 301901
1995 85468 105364 76579 51120 318531
1996 93471 108411 78743 54536 335161
1997 101474 111458 80907 57952 351791
1998 109477 114505 83071 61368 368421
1999 117480 117552 85235 64784 385051
2000 125483 120599 87399 68200 401681
2001 133486 123646 89563 71616 418311
2002 141489 126693 91727 75032 434941
2003 149492 129740 93891 78448 451571
2004 157495 132787 96055 81864 468201
2005 165498 135834 98219 85280 484831
2006 173501 138881 100383 88696 501461
2007 181504 141928 102547 92112 518091
2008 189507 144975 104711 95528 534721
2009 197510 148022 106875 98944 551351
2010 205513 151069 109039 102360 567981
2011 213516 154116 111203 105776 584611
2012 221519 157163 113367 109192 601241
2013 229522 160210 115531 112608 617871
2014 237525 163257 117695 116024 634501
2015 245528 166304 119859 119440 651131
2016 399875 100125 99544 100456 700000
2017 400000 104000 196000 100000 800000
2018 423500 100000 176500 100000 800000
2019 423500 100000 176500 100000 800000
2020 196550 100000 103450 100000 500000
2021 200000 100834 99166 100000 500000
Failure complaints data of products are mentioned below:
Glass door refrigerator Domestic refrigerator Split air conditioner Cabinet air conditioner
Year No. of Average No. of Average No. of Average No. of Average
failure operating failure operating failure operating failure operating
complaints time per complaints time per complaints time per complaints time per
day day day day (hours)
(hours) (hours) (hours)
1990 250 24 121 24 750 10 512 11
1991 470 24 21 24 821 13 268 13
1992 490 24 381 24 954 15 1015 12
1993 620 24 359 24 721 12 952 14
1994 800 24 711 24 1053 9 872 9
1995 1005 24 928 24 1104 16 1145 15
1996 1065 24 1028 24 1124 14 1285 12
1997 1218 24 1202 24 1188 14 1426 13
1998 1354 24 1376 24 1251 15 1566 13
1999 1491 24 1550 24 1315 15 1707 13
2000 1628 24 1724 24 1379 16 1847 13
2001 1764 24 1897 24 1443 16 1987 13
2002 1901 24 2071 24 1507 17 2128 14
2003 2038 24 2245 24 1570 17 2268 14
2004 2174 24 2419 24 1634 17 2409 14
2005 2311 24 2593 24 1698 18 2549 14
2006 2447 24 2766 24 1762 18 2689 14
2007 2584 24 2940 24 1826 19 2830 14
2008 2721 24 3114 24 1889 19 2970 14
2009 2857 24 3288 24 1953 20 3111 15
2010 2994 24 3462 24 2017 20 3251 15
2011 3130 24 3635 24 2081 20 3391 15
2012 3267 24 3809 24 2145 21 3532 15
2013 3404 24 3983 24 2208 21 3672 15
2014 3540 24 4157 24 2272 22 3813 15
2015 3677 24 4331 24 2336 22 3953 15
2016 3813 24 4504 24 2400 23 4093 16
2017 3950 24 4678 24 2464 23 4234 16
2018 4087 24 4852 24 2527 23 4374 16
2019 4223 24 5026 24 2591 24 4515 16
2020 4360 24 5200 24 2655 24 4655 16
2021 4496 24 5373 24 2719 23 4795 16
The major factors contributing to decreasing reliability and increasing failure rate are
analyzed to be:
• Improperly working smart features
• Aesthetically less appealing
• Refrigerant leakage complaint is common
• Poor temperature control
Product Time to failure Down time
Glass door refrigerator 5760 hrs. 7 hrs.
Domestic refrigerator 6840 hrs. 6 hrs.
Split AC 1920 hrs. 4 hrs
Cabinet AC 1680 hrs. 8 hrs.
Perform a reliability assessment of the products. Follow the reliability assessment
approach and your work should include but not limited to the following:
a) Overview of the task
Create an executive summary of the task and steps requires to resolve the issues at
Voltas.
b) Reliability Assessment
a) Calculate failure rate of each product in each year in terms of per total hours
in a year.
b) Work out reliability of each product per year
c) Plot reliability data of each year against the total time period (1990-2021) to
demonstrate actual trend of reliability of each product over the time period
d) Work out availability of each product in 1990, 2013 and 2020, and comment
about the availability of products for the customers in said year.
e) Assume that split ACs experience the wear-out failure in one year. It follows a
Weibull failure distribution with a shape parameter of 1.5 and a scale
parameter of 14,000, state the followings
• Reliability
• MTTF
• Median
• Mode
• Design life of the AC if 98% reliability is desired
• Discuss the reliability growth pattern.
Discussion and conclusion
• How they can test Reliability of each product
• Which organizational structure the voltas company should add for
implementing the reliability engineering approach?
• Suggest 3 improvements in manufacturing plans for making reliable products.
• State any 3 government regulations pertaining to the reliable product
manufacturing and customer service.
• State 3 ways on how to review the implementation of reliability engineering
approach.