## 1 Introduction  
Mechanical components wear and age from the outset of their operational life. The failure rate of a system and its components varies non-linearly over time, changing across life phases [1, 2, 3]. To understand material wear, experimental research determines the influence of technological parameters, material factors, and operating regimes [4, 5, 6]. System reliability, which depends on time and operating conditions, is important. Low reliability increases unforeseen defects and unplanned repairs, reducing availability [7, 8, 9]. Product reliability evaluation uses established methods: component reliability databases, system architecture analysis [10, 11, 12, 13], and operational simulations [14, 15, 16]. Reliability analysis in mechanical engineering characterizes product behavior across life phases, measuring the impact of design changes on product integrity [17, 18, 19, 20]. Adapting machine materials to severe wear conditions becomes increasingly important. Many subassemblies and spare parts, due to high consumption rates, contribute to high production costs and reduced profitability. A prime example is equipment used in quarries for aggregate extraction and delivery. Environmental factors, including humidity and salts, play an essential role in the durability analysis of quarry equipment, as they can significantly accelerate material degradation through corrosion, erosion, and other deterioration mechanisms [21,22]. High humidity levels promote rust formation and metal corrosion, while salts can induce chemical deterioration of concrete and other construction materials, thus reducing equipment lifespan and reliability. Therefore, a thorough understanding and effective management of these factors are essential to ensure the efficient and safe operation of equipment in quarry environments. An in-depth study of the specialized literature [1,4,7, 8, 9, 23], combined with the analysis of the quality and reliability of technological equipment used in aggregate extraction and delivery quarries [24,25], has led to two main conclusions: the importance of field-collected data and the rigorous approach to each subassembly. To correctly evaluate equipment reliability indicators, the use of concrete data, collected directly from the production process, regarding their behavior under real working conditions [1,3,5, 6, 7, 26, 27, 28], is crucial. Ensuring the safe operation of equipment in a technological flow requires a careful analysis of each subassembly separately [7,29,30]. The specific characteristics and operating parameters of each element must be considered to determine the individual and collective influences on the quality and reliability of the main equipment in the technological flow [31,32]. The fundamental task and rationale for ensuring optimal machine functionality consist of the necessity and obligation to achieve a corresponding quality of the services for which the respective work equipment was acquired. In the specific case of quarry technological equipment that extracts aggregates, such as those in the Patars quarry, which is the subject of this study, the analysis of the production flow regarding critical areas from the point of view of defects highlighted frequent interruptions in production, which involved high remediation costs and, above all, led to non-compliance with deadlines for orders to beneficiaries. The Patars basalt quarry (Figure 1) is located in the commune of Ususau, Arad County, Romania. The Hengl Group, Limberg, Austria developed the quarry in 2008. Currently, stone extraction takes place on an area of 20 hectares. The amount of stone extracted annually is approximately 400,000 tons. The total potential of the quarry is estimated at 24 million tons of stone. The quarry uses modern processing technology. This includes an aggregate production plant for asphalt and a dust collection plant. This technology allows the quarry to produce a diverse range of products.