In today’s competitive market, building reliable products isn’t just a goal—it’s a necessity. Whether you’re developing an embedded system, a rugged industrial device, or an IoT sensor, your product must withstand real-world conditions and deliver consistent performance over time.
At Sunman Engineering, we’ve helped clients across Silicon Valley and beyond bring dependable products to market by integrating Design for Reliability (DFR) into every phase of development. DFR is a structured engineering approach used to ensure that products perform their intended function consistently over time, even under expected stress and environmental challenges.
Here’s how we (and you) can successfully implement DFR in the product development process:
Every reliable product starts with a clear definition of what reliability means. Set specific, measurable targets—such as Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF), product lifetime, or environmental tolerance—based on customer expectations and application conditions.
At Sunman Engineering, we work closely with clients during the initial concept phase to align on these targets. By involving engineering, QA, and customer-facing teams early, we help define realistic reliability benchmarks that guide the entire project.
No two use cases are the same. Whether a product will operate in a clean medical environment or a high-vibration industrial setting, it’s critical to anticipate the stress factors it will face.
We conduct in-depth analysis using tools like:
Our engineering team uses this data to make smarter design decisions and proactively eliminate high-risk failure points before they become issues in the field.
Designing just to meet minimum specs isn’t enough. We incorporate design margins and robust engineering principles to ensure performance under variable conditions like fluctuating voltage, mechanical wear, and user handling.
This includes:
These techniques ensure that every Sunman-developed prototype is engineered with long-term durability in mind.
Simulating how your product will perform over time saves you time and money down the road. We use advanced reliability modeling tools, including:
By predicting potential failure modes virtually, we reduce the number of physical iterations needed and get your product to market faster—with fewer surprises.
We believe in rapid prototyping and iterative testing. Building and testing early-stage prototypes under real and accelerated conditions allows us to validate assumptions and fine-tune the design for maximum reliability.
Our testing capabilities include:
We capture detailed test data to inform design changes and optimize product performance before full-scale production.
6. Track Reliability Throughout the Lifecycle
Design for Reliability doesn’t end at launch. We support our clients with post-release monitoring and data analysis to ensure field performance meets expectations—and to feed those insights back into future designs.
This includes:
This continuous improvement loop is a core part of our development philosophy at Sunman Engineering.
Implementing Design for Reliability is not just a technical best practice—it’s a long-term strategy that reduces cost, enhances customer satisfaction, and protects your brand reputation.
At Sunman Engineering, we make DFR a foundational part of every product we develop. From first concept to final deployment, our goal is to build products that are not only functional, but exceptionally reliable.
If you’re looking to bring a dependable, high-performance product to market, we’re here to help.
What our clients say
Established in 1990, SunMan Engineering has engaged and assisted over 1550 leading technology companies in successfully completing over 1664 product development projects to date.