Werner is absolutely correct. I will bet you can find many places that capture failure data in some kind of database, whether it is a simple MSAccess home grown one or something more sophisticated, categorize by defect type, e.g., missing part, wrong part, tombstone, insufficient solder, etc. and look for ways to reduce defect rates. But doing real failure analysis to the point of correcting the root cause takes effort and expertise and most will probably not go the distance. Blair On Sat, 7 Mar 2009 09:49:02 -0500, Werner engelmaier <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Hi Amol, >Unfortunately, in most cases nobody analyzes failures. The reason is that to do a proper root cause analysis takes time, resources and expertize—and in many cases is too late for corrective action. >This is too bad, because a lot could be learned for future designs. >There are 2 important aspects to failure analysis—the physics-of-failure aspect and the statistical failure information. >Failures occur for the main part for 3 reasons: 1) inadequate design, allowing premature wear-out and/or overstress conditions, 2) insufficient quality, due to bad processing and causing latent defects, and 3) misuse. >Commercial or in-house laboratories can be utilized to establish failure modes and compliance with standards/specifications, however, the determination of the failure root cause typically requires an expert. > >Werner > --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 15.0 To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 -----------------------------------------------------