In this paper, a discrete event dynamic system (DEDS) approach is utilized to improve the reliability of a system from the fault-tolerance viewpoint. We propose a systematic way to classify faults and failures quantitatively and to find tolerable fault event sequences embedded in DEDS's. After this, the synthesis of a fault-tolerant supervisory control system is investigated. A case study of a photolithographic process in a semiconductor manufacturing system is provided to illustrate these techniques.