Development of an expert system for reliability task planning as part of the REMM methodology

As part of the reliability enhancement methodology and modelling (REMM) project an expert system has been developed that will examine the design decisions made in the production of a new product, combine this with the concerns raised by company experts during an elicitation process, the environmental consideration for product operation and the dependability requirements imposed on the product. The output of such a system should be a reliability plan or programme that when completed can form part of a reliability case for the product. This paper describes the approach taken to develop such an expert system for a particular company and explains the methodology used to extract the knowledge from the company's experts. Elements of the expert system rules are discussed and the working of the system are described, including how the system has been implemented in the company's reliability programme as part of the introduction of the REMM process. This paper has described the REMM methodology and demonstrated how this methodology could be used in practice. Indeed certain aspects of the REMM methodology have been implemented The REMM project was completed in June 2001 and a second phase has commenced for a further 3-year period. REMM2 is primarily concerned with continuing, expanding and extending the work carried out in the initial phase. This will ensure the significant achievements of REMM are developed to the point where they are capable of being exploited by the partners and extended to other high reliability sectors of industry. It has been formulated as a number of work packages that consider the following 3-aspects: (1) evaluation and validation of the REMM methodology and model; (2) extension and refinement of methods and models; (3) expansion of the scope to include mechanical systems, systems that include software, environmental stress screening and costing issues as well as considering factors which affect despatch reliability such as NFF; and (4) the main deliverable from REMM2 will be an integrated reliability information system (IRIS) which will be a software driven tool using artificial intelligence (AI) techniques and encompassing the statistical model, the database, statistical routines and on-line guidance for reliability tools.