In the manufacturing process of miniaturized fluid film bearings, the manufacturing errors of groove affects to the characteristics of the bearings. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the productivity, robust characteristic and ease of manufacture. This paper describes the investigation of optimum design of fluid film thrust bearings to reduce the variability of the characteristics caused by manufacturing errors, hi the optimum design considering productivity, errors were given using probability theory with restriction towards the dynamic stiffness variability. From the results, the reduction of dynamic stiffness variability was accomplished. Furthermore, even with the manufacturing error, the bearing is safely operated without seizures since it is still in the range of the allowable film thickness.
