Managing part selection problems for rugged environments

The successful design and manufacturing of a product depends, among other factors, upon the careful managing and selection of its component parts. Cost overruns, problems of sustaining production and maintaining the product, and providing customer satisfaction through sustained reliable performance are critical to the success or failure of the product. For equipment that experiences extreme environmental conditions, the problems are magnified, as the possibilities of failure are inherently larger. In the past, the general availability of military qualified parts made the process of selection for certain systems easy. Also, large industries, such as automotive, with the leverage of large volume, have established their own requirements for ''rugged'' components. This paper addresses the dilemma of smaller manufacturing companies, with limited resources, trying to provide a reliable product for a rugged environment at reasonable cost, providing a methodology for decision-making in the part selection process.