Reliability and Maintainability (R & M) - a key issue in the motorcar industries

Changes in the motor car industries have resulted in an increased awareness of Reliability and Maintainability including safety of both the manufacturing process as well as the product. The introduction of computers has brought about not only great benefits (e.g. increased process simulation and on board digital control systems), but also the problems associated with the computer world, i.e. both in the soft and the hard ware areas. An attempt has been made to highlight some of the problems and to show that established methods, tools and diagnostic means, in some cases modified to cover the industry specific needs, are being applied to great effect. Examples are given.