Failure Rate Percentage Calculator
Reliability & Quality Control Assessment
How to Calculate Failure Rate Percentage
The failure rate is a critical metric used in engineering, manufacturing, and systems reliability to determine the frequency with which a component or system fails. Expressing this as a percentage allows businesses to set quality benchmarks and improve operational efficiency.
The Failure Rate Formula
To calculate the failure rate percentage manually, you use the following formula:
Failure Rate (%) = (Total Number of Failures / Total Sample Size) × 100
Practical Example
Imagine a factory produces 2,000 smartphone screens in a single day. During the quality assurance (QA) phase, technicians discover that 40 of those screens are cracked or non-functional.
- Failures: 40
- Total Units: 2,000
- Calculation: (40 ÷ 2,000) = 0.02
- Percentage: 0.02 × 100 = 2%
In this scenario, the failure rate is 2%, meaning the yield (success rate) is 98%.
Why Tracking Failure Rates is Essential
- Cost Reduction: High failure rates indicate wasted materials and labor, which directly impacts the bottom line.
- Customer Satisfaction: Lower failure rates in finished goods lead to fewer returns and higher brand trust.
- Process Optimization: By monitoring changes in the failure rate, engineers can identify when machinery requires maintenance or when a production process has deviated from its standard.
- Safety Compliance: In industries like aerospace or medicine, maintaining a failure rate below a specific threshold is often a legal or regulatory requirement.