Usage Format

In the usage format, the analysis is based on the amount of usage the unit accumulated rather than the amount of time the unit was in the field. There are many applications where usage, not time, affects a product’s reliability. In the automotive industry, for example, the majority of failure behavior is based on mileage rather than product age. This approach could also be used in other situations, such as the number of pages for a printer, number of cycles for a washing machine, etc.

What’s Changed? Starting in Version 2019, when forecasting warranty returns, you can predict the number of failures based on the time and usage as well as the time. For example, for a vehicle with a 3-year/30,000 mile warranty, you can forecast the total number of warranty returns based on both values.

Units

In the usage format, you can use any usage units (e.g., miles, cycles, etc.) appropriate for your data by clicking the Change Units icon on the Main page of the folio's control panel.

This opens the Change Units window, which gives you a selection of units to use. The units that are available in the drop-down list are defined at the database level. Note that in the usage format, selecting a new unit only changes the name of the unit; the data set is not converted to the new unit. The appropriate columns in the data sheet will be automatically configured for the units you selected, and the new unit will be displayed next to the results in the control panel.

Data Sheets

The usage format consists of three data sheets: Sales, Returns and Future Sales.

Note: For the column headings in this sheet, the general term in-service represents the closest estimate of the time at which each unit started operating in the field. For example, if you have access to both the manufacturing date and the shipping date for a group of parts, you may choose to perform the analysis based on the shipping date because it is a closer indicator of the time the product started operating in the field.

In the Sales sheet:

Note: The subset ID can be any text up to 30 characters, including spaces. For example, "A _ _ X" is not the same as "A _ X" where "_ " is used to designate a space.

In the Returns sheet:

In the Future Sales sheet:

Other Analysis Settings

To view or change the settings, click the icon or click the Suspensions page icon at the bottom of the control panel.

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