Methods for Identifying Part Quality Issues and Estimating Their Cost with an Application Using the UH-60

The U.S. Army does not currently have tools to leverage empirical demand and usage data to identify existing or emerging problems with part or process quality. Instead, it relies on Product Quality Deficiency Reports PQDRs and subject matter experts SMEs from various organizations to monitor and react to part quality problems. Because of the scope of the Army s operations large range of weapon systems, suppliers, and parts and the lack of information on the total cost of part deficiencies, this approach tends toward a narrow focus either on very expensive parts, such as transmissions, rotor blades, and engines, or on safety-critical items. The current approach is labor intensive, and it does not prioritize corrective action based on what the part deficiency is costing. The Army asked RAND Arroyo Center to develop a method that uses readily available data sources to detect potential part quality problems and to estimate the potential cost of the problem to the Army. This report on the cost of poor part quality presents the results of the first year of a RAND Arroyo Center study sponsored by U.S. Army Materiel Command AMC and the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4. We explore the feasibility of using readily available demand and end item maintenance history to identify potential part or process quality issues and estimate their associated incremental cost. Because of the availability of flight hour data, we focus our study on aviation.