Military Handbook- Maintainability Design Techniques

2.2 Design Techniques

There is a general tendency on the part of designers of equipment to produce an overly complex product. In many cases the equipment uses too many parts, has too close operating tolerances, is too expensive to build, and is difficult and expensive to maintain. The resolution of these factors, to develop a simple design, is the result of compromises and trade-offs among the user, designer, and maintainability engineer but never at the expense of system availability or effectiveness. For example, if for a given system the desired degree of availability cannot economically be achieved by the incorporation of reliability in its design, then it can be achieved only by increased emphasis on maintainability characteristics that will reduce downtime. Maintainability, however, should not be used as a crutch for reliability. Trade-offs in maintainability should encompass reliability, support, cost, and state-of-the-art design for testability using built-in test equipment and automatic test equipment. Design techniques for achieving simplification include:

1. Coordination of equipment and job design
2. Reduction in number of parts
3. Value engineering
4. Consolidation of functions
5. Improved access to parts
6. Streamlined maintenance procedures
7. Software maintenance.