Viewpoint News, June 2009

Have you considered this for your test system development?

by James Campbell - jac@viewpointusa.com

Test is not going away. While everyone would love to manufacture products that "just work" and don't need testing, the costs involved in making defect-proof products is much more than the costs of developing a test system to catch suspect units. Figure out how to get your colleagues to see test as part of your company’s solution, not an as an expensive budget problem.

Here are some of the seminar topics to think about. These points apply to those doing bench top systems for product design and development as well as those doing control and acquisition racks for manufacturing test.

Development Time Estimation – How accurate are your time estimates? Getting a reliable cost estimate can be difficult. Specifications often lack detail and best practices for development processes are usually turned aside because of time constraints. The costs for various aspects of the development are usually not considered.

For example, do you include not only your own costs, but those for technician build, calibration effort, documentation tech writing, overhead costs, and so on?

Budget Acceptance – Test is often viewed as an expense to the company rather than a source of improvement. Your task is to sufficiently demonstrate the ultimate cost savings of using professional development processes to take the time to gather requirements, design reviews, and perform acceptance testing the right way, the first time around.

We will present some models and items to consider to help justify the cost of test to those with the budgets.

Business Considerations – Test professionals must have more involvement with people involved with quality, maintenance, production, and so on since there are usually tradeoffs in test requirements and implementation that affect the overall cost of the project. Eliminating or simplifying one or more requirements can significantly reduce test development costs.

Are you aware of the cost savings that can be achieved by improving your business integration practices?

Come join the seminar and walk away with at least a few ideas on how to improve your test systems.