Modeling failure rate of a robotic welding station using generalized

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare four life data models, namely the exponential and the Weibull models, and their corresponding generalized versions, q-exponential and q-Weibull models, by means of one practical application. Design/methodology/approach – Application of the models to a practical example (a welding station), with estimation of parameters by the use of the least squares method, and the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC). Findings – The data of the example considered in this paper is divided into three regimes, decreasing, constant and increasing failure rate, and the q-Weibull model describes the bathtub curve displayed by the data with a single set of parameters. Practical implications – The simplicity and flexibility of the q-Weibull model may be very useful for practitioners of reliability analysis, and its benefits surpasses the inconvenience of the additional parameter, as AIC shows. Originality/value – The q-Weibull model is compared in detail with other three models, through the analysis of one example that clearly exhibits a bathtub curve, and it is shown that it can describe the whole time range with a single set of parameters.