The term “operational reliability” appeared in the electronic industry of the USA in the decade of 1950, due to the constant occurrences of
imperfections and the reduction of the availability of the systems, mainly military. These facts had taken the North American Department of Defense and the electronic industries of the time, to create a group of research to lead studies on equipment trustworthiness. As a result, it was launched in 1956 the report TR-1100 “Reliability Stress Analysis of Eletronic Equipment”. This document presented the mathematical models for the estimate of the failure rates of electronic components. The report showed to the difficulties associates with the correlation statistics between cause and effect, and was precursory of the Military Handbook MH-217, reference for posterior studies in the field of the trustworthiness.
The North American Space Agency (NASA) come systematically developing requisite quantitative of trustworthiness, adopting
specific criteria in the project of new systems, in order in accordance with to assure that such
systems will go to reach the specified durability and the useful life, the requirements of the diverse specific missions.
Currently, the concept of
operational trustworthiness comes being applied, predominantly, in the industry and the area of systems. Regarding to the area of facilities, the concept of the operational trustworthiness is important to reach the best use of the infrastructure resources of the company. The full use of these resources, during all its cycle of life, aims at to assure that the main focus of the company (“Core business”) is not affected by the lack of availability of the infrastructure.
On the other hand, the management of the operational infrastructure (or Facility Management), also can add value, instead of being seen traditionally as consumer of resources. The value aggregation can be carried through by means of investment in projects, productivity and for the economic vision. The investment in projects must aim the reduction of the money costs, as, for example, for the
improvement of the reliability, diminishing the average time of the repairs. An economic vision is proportionate for elimination or rationalization of investments non strategic, that they do not generate profits that justify the capital investment, as the supply cost.
The operational
reliability is related with the index of imperfections that represent its probability of imperfections. There the specific statistical studies enter. An interesting paradox for the studies of operational reliability is the necessity of “inputs”, that they are the historical data of the imperfections for the improvement and improvement of the acuracidade of the statistical forecasts. Not having given sufficient historical data regarding certain specific imperfections of the subject that is being studied, the degree of uncertainty of the estimative statistics if becomes greater. Events of imperfections thus tried for other systems, or analogous systems, only would be given the available ones to study the easiness in question.
Another way to reducing the uncertainl is the data mining related to information brought from operational experience. A time that a generating event of imperfections can destroy all the prevention work and the politics of management of risks of the company, and a good forecast work of the probability of imperfections becomes of great importance for the internal processes of the company.
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