Improved Operational Readiness through Environmental Stress Screening

摘要

The objective of this study was to develop guidelines for the application of Environmental Stress Screening (ESS) to field inventory hardware. Methods were developed for the selection of equipments for ESS application which offer significant potential for operational readiness improvement and life cycle cost reduction. A 2:1 reduction in field removal/maintenance action rates was found for hardware subjected to ESS when compared against identical hardware not subjected to ESS. A large percentage of the improvement in the ESS hardware was found to be traceable to reductions in Cannot Duplicate (CND) and Retest OK (RTOK) rates. LRU's identified by serial number, which demonstrate recurring removal histories much higher than population norms, were found to make excellent candidates for ESS. Tradeoffs between screening implementation costs (facilities, repair) and downstream logistics support savings, over the remaining product life, were also found to be critical to the ESS candidate selection process. Recommended random vibration and temperature cycling screening regimens are also included in the guidelines.