Optimal Warranty Policies And Reliability Modeling

In the summer of 2004, the Asian International Workshop on Advanced ReliabilityModeling (AIWARM) was held in Hiroshima, Japan, attracting participants from morethan a dozen countries. In this two-day workshop, a variety of problems and issuesrelated to reliability theory were discussed. One of the special sessions organized forthis workshop was devoted to optimal warranty policies and related issues.A product warranty is an agreement offered by a producer to a consumer to repairor replace a faulty item, or to partially or fully reimburse the consumer in the event of afailure. A warranty contract involves much more than simply fixing product fieldfailure. Using a warranty database a manufacturer can identify issues andopportunities, build customer loyalty and enhance brand reputation. The companiesleading the way in customer satisfaction, producing and selling quality products, arethose that are making aggressive changes to post-sales services, starting with theirwarranty programs.The main part of this Special Issue consists of extended versions of the paperspresented in the above-mentioned special session on warranty analysis. Topicscovered in this issue include the optimal burn-in time for repairable products under acertain warranty, a literature review of warranty claim data analysis, the optimal software warranty period under certain circumstances, a comparison of warrantypolicies for weight-quality, warranty cost analysis via a quasi-renewal process, andoutsourcing prioritized warranty repairs.We express our gratitude to Professor Christian Madu, a Co-Editor of theInternational Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, whose guidance andcooperation led to the publication of this Special Issue. Also, we are thankful to MsKoula Kilaras for her support and assistance during the editorial process. Stefanka Chukova, Yu Hayakawa and Tadashi Dohi Previously published in: International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Volume 22, Number 7, 2005