Assessing the Cost of Risk for New Technology and Process Insertion

Abstract

Adoption and insertion of new technologies and processes into systems is inherently risky. A cost model that forecasts the cost of risk associated with inserting new technology into a system has been developed. The model projects the cost of inserting new processes, projects the impact of the processes on the cost of risk for the system, and performs a cost-benefit analysis on the adoption of proposed new processes. The projected cost of failure consequences (PCFC) is defined as the cost of all failure events (of varying severity) that are expected to occur over the service life of the system. The PCFC is uncertain, and the potential positive impact of adopting new technologies into the system is to reduce the cost of risk and/or reduce its uncertainty. A case study that assesses the adoption of a lead-free solder control plan into systems that previously used tin-lead solder has been performed.