Reliability analyses and risk assessment techniques in nonparametric applications.

Reliability and risk assessment play an important role in product design, development and production. In mass production items, data is abundant and testing in product development and certification is usually thorough. In contrast, for nonparametric applications, product cost is high, there is limited production and the product is often used only once and discarded. In this type of manufacturing, data is usually limited because of the cost of testing. This makes reliability and risk assessments a difficult task.