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Greetings, This fall is fast turning into our official Seminar Season. In addition to Viewpoint’s seminar on Best Practices for Effective Test, we will also be attending MedTech 09 and the NI Technical Symposia in Toronto, Cleveland, and, of course, Rochester. Seminar details, including dates, locations and how to register can be found on our website. Here’s a quick overview of where we will be this Fall:
In this month’s newsletter, I review some of the common challenges that confront test engineers when designing a new test system or retrofitting an old one. I’m calling it the “7 Challenges for Highly Effective Test Engineers”. Do you agree with my list? Do you have any items you would add or delete? Let me know. Over the next months, I will “deep dive” into each of the 7 challenges. The ultimate goal is to decrease the cost of and increase the value of both the development and use of your test system. Thanks for reading!
Jim Campbell |
 7 Challenges for Highly Effective Engineers
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What steps do you follow when developing a new test system? Obviously, much depends on the need for the system: is a brand-new product requiring new measurement and control hardware or is an existing system obsolete and in need of replacement or upgrade. Either case consists of many decisions beyond the technical choices of which measurement hardware to use. In this article, I highlight seven key challenges that should be considered before embarking on a new test system. I offer some suggestions to handle those challenges. Would you pick the same Seven Challenges? Read along and find out. (Yes, I intentionally chose the article title to mimic the title of Stephen Covey’s popular book. Perhaps I should write my own version for test engineers!) |
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The Conestoga |
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The Conestoga 1, constructed by Space Services Inc., was the first privately launched rocket ship. It carried its payload of 40 lbs of water a mere 321 miles during a 10 minute flight - in space terms, a Wright Brothers of proof-of-concept outing. Space Services had to secure 11 separate U.S. government approvals, and get a federal gun dealer’s license before acquiring the Minuteman rocket that powered Conestoga 1. Even then, NASA could not sell Space Services the Minuteman, used to launch nuclear missiles. Together, they came up with a plan to lease the missile to Space Services, but charge Space Services full price if they did not return it in working condition (despite the fact both parties knew that a successful launch would result in the rocket landing in the Gulf of Mexico). |
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