Accelerated life tests as an integrated methodology for product design, qualification and production control: a case study in the household appliance

Cost reduction and product quality are key factors in the present competitive market. Product reliability is strongly correlated with customer satisfaction. Accelerated life tests ({ALTs}) represent a methodology able to investigate product reliability performance in a short time with respect to the classical testing methods in the design. The aim of this paper is the proposal and development of an integrated procedure based on {ALTs} in order to evaluate the reliability performance of a new product; the use of such testing methods is useful to systematically support the design and qualification phases and to help the service demand forecasting before the product launch. The smart choice of the acceleration parameter and the knowledge developed during the upstream phase in the product lifecycle can be useful and cost effective for its utilization in the downstream lifecycle, as an acceptable substitute of specific advanced final inspection methodologies. The methodology has been tested during the development of a new model of washing machine. The application of {ALTs} was able to stress one of the most important failure modes of the product, returning important validation data for the design phase and qualification phase and giving good expectation for its fruitful utilization for final inspection in production.