5. Introduction of availability clauses in contracts

Reliability/availability clauses are frequently included in specifications and/or contracts.

As we have already mentioned, reliability and availability are not the same thing. In a continuous-process activity, if we're looking for equipment that can operate without failure for a year, for example, we're talking about reliability.

If we're looking for equipment with a 90% commitment rate to ensure annual production, we're talking about stationary availability.

For machines or production equipment with batch processes, it is generally this stationary availability that is emphasized.

For example, "machine availability will be at least 95%".

This formulation calls for a number of comments, which are detailed below and in Level 6:

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