Warranty data collection and analysis. (Q545900)

This book, consisting of eighteen chapters in six parts, presents a detailed study of problems associated with warranty data collection and analysis. The first three chapters provide the essential background and necessary preliminary concepts, including types of product warranty, the challenges of data collection, the warranty costs, concepts of reliability and failure and basic models for studying failures over time. The second part of the book presents a study of warranty data collection and the characteristics of the data. This includes an overview of the different sources of the data, the problems that the collection may have, such as non-reporting or delays in reporting. The authors also proceed to look at supplementary data that could be sometimes available and their uses and limitations. The third part, comprising of five chapters, investigates in detail the techniques used for the analysis of warranty data. The tools begin with simple cost models for one-dimensional warranties and then proceed to more complex issues such as advanced statistical inference approaches. This is followed with four chapters concentrating on the details of how these tools and techniques are implemented in practice, using numerous realistic data examples. The results are commented in detail and the advantages and limitations of the presented techniques are highlighted. The fifth part of the book studies issues of warranty management. This includes models which aim to use the warranty data to improve the products and operations, and an investigation on how warranty data could assist new product development. The book concludes with two chapters containing two in-depth case studies which are studied in full detail, and several appendices containing the relevant background statistical and probability theory used in the book. Throughout this well-written book a large number of references are provided which point the reader to the necessary detailed academic bibliography on each topic, making this very interesting book a useful handbook and essential tool for anyone interested in the collection and analysis of warranty data.