ITPEC FE Morning April 2020 Question 15

Bathtub Curve — Early Failure Period — identify the correct countermeasure for the early failure phase.

The bathtub curve divides a system's life cycle into three failure periods:

• •Early failure period — high failure rate caused by design/manufacturing defects
• •Random failure period — low, constant failure rate during normal operation
• •Wear-out failure period — increasing failures due to aging and degradation

Countermeasures by period:
- Early → strengthen design review and failure analysis to eliminate defects before deployment
- Random → implement scheduled and condition-based maintenance
- Wear-out → perform preventive replacement or age-based maintenance

Why not others:
- (a) Prior replacement of components — addresses wear-out, not early defects
- (b) Scheduled and condition-based maintenance — addresses random failure period
- (c) Age-based maintenance on cumulative operating time — addresses wear-out period

Key rule: Early failures come from design flaws — fix the design process, not the hardware.

AI-generated — may contain errors