Taming the All-Equipment Reliability Test

As currently used, the all-equipment reliability test provides unequal risks favoring the producer for short test periods and favoring the consumer for long test periods. This paper describes the empirical derivation of a method for modifying the test to provide equal producer and consumer risks over a range of test lengths. With the formulas provided in the paper, the user can structure an all-equipment test with equals-risks for discrimination ratios of 2.0:1, 1.5:1, or 3.0:1, as desired.