Infant Mortality Failure
Infant mortality failures are early-life failures occurring soon after installation, commissioning, repair, or manufacture.
What this term means in maintenance
Infant mortality failures are early-life failures occurring soon after installation, commissioning, repair, or manufacture.
Common causes
Early failures may result from:
- Manufacturing defects
- Incorrect installation
- Poor commissioning
- Contamination
- Wrong settings
- Transportation damage
- Incorrect assembly
- Weak repair quality
Practical example
A newly installed motor fails within one week because alignment and foundation soft foot were not corrected.
Prevention
Controls include supplier quality, installation standards, commissioning, inspection, testing, cleanliness, and early-life monitoring.
Reliability pattern
Infant mortality is associated with a decreasing failure rate as weak units fail early.
Common mistake
Increasing routine PM frequency may not address installation or manufacturing defects causing early failure.
Related concepts
Related maintenance terms
Keep exploring connected CMMS, reliability, and maintenance planning terms.
Commissioning
Commissioning is the controlled process of verifying that new or modified equipment is installed correctly, performs as intended, and is ready for safe operation.
Bathtub Curve
The bathtub curve is a reliability model showing early-life failures, a relatively stable useful-life period, and increasing wear-out failures.
Root Cause Analysis
Root cause analysis is a structured investigation used to identify the underlying conditions that allowed a failure or problem to occur and determine actions that reduce recurrence.
Glossary FAQs
- What is infant mortality failure?
An early-life failure soon after manufacture, installation, commissioning, or repair.
- What causes it?
Manufacturing defects, installation error, contamination, wrong settings, and weak commissioning.
- How is it reduced?
Through supplier quality, installation standards, testing, commissioning, and early monitoring.