One of the industrial robots designed by a leading producer of servomechanisms has four major components. Components’ reliabilities are .98, .95, .94, and .90. All of the components must function in order for the robot to operate effectively.
If one backup with a reliability of .92 can be added to any one of the main components, which component should get it to obtain the highest overall reliability?
The component with 0.98 reliability.
The component with 0.95 reliability.
The component with 0.94 reliability.
The component with 0.90 reliability.
A production line has three machines A, B, and C, with reliabilities of .99, .96, and .93, respectively. The machines are arranged so that if one breaks down, the others must shut down. Engineers are weighing two alternative designs for increasing the line’s reliability. Plan 1 involves adding an identical backup line, and plan 2 involves providing a backup for each machine. In either case, three machines (A, B, and C) would be used with reliabilities equal to the original three. Which plan will provide the higher reliability?
Plan 1
Plan 2
These two plans have the same reliability.
There is not enough information to draw conclusion.