Linking Production Standards to Reliability via Cross-Lifecycle Quality-Element Propagation Networks

Codified production standards translate reliability targets into enforceable controls across design, manufacturing, assembly, verification, operation, and maintenance. In high-reliability manufacturing settings, these controls are usually managed as documents, clauses, procedures, limits, records, and inspections. Their influence on reliability depends on the lifecycle processes and failure mechanisms through which quality is formed and preserved. This paper develops a cross-lifecycle modeling framework that links standards to reliability through quality element propagation networks. The framework integrates (i) a system-hierarchy dimension, where top reliability requirements are decomposed to subsystems, components, and bottom events through fault tree analysis (FTA), and (ii) a lifecycle dimension, where controllable quality elements in design, manufacturing, assembly, operation, and maintenance are traced toward reliability-related mechanisms. A directed network is constructed with nodes denoting quality elements or bottom events and edges denoting propagation or dependency relations. Standard clauses and standardized documents are then mapped to the network to evaluate whether they support the relevant quality elements and the propagation relations between them. Reliability-oriented indices are defined for node coverage, linkage coverage, source-to-terminal connectedness, adaptability, and precision. A fuel-pump shaft–gear assembly case illustrates how lifecycle propagation analysis and standards mapping can support targeted standards revision for reliability improvement.

Keywords: Production standards, reliability, lifecycle modeling, quality elements, directed networks, standards evaluation, manufacturing systems.