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Do you feel unwanted?
September 8, 2008

In the latest issue of "The Best Test Newsletter," Louis Ungar writes:

"While avionics boxes MUST be properly tested and supported, cell phones and computers can be tossed in the trash when they stop working - especially if that occurs a couple of years after they become state-of-the-art.  For manufacturers of commercial high tech, test is not a support function.  It is merely a way to check whether the manufacturing process created defects - Yes or No.  Even if it turns out that the test incorrectly makes this determination, exchanging a faulty unit for a new one, generally is an acceptable solution.  This leaves test engineers feeling unnecessary and often unwanted.  With the high unemployment and housing crisis, test engineers who work do not want to rock the boat.  They do what they need to.  Well, what else should they be doing?"

Ungar seems to imply that there are only two kinds of electronic products in the world, military and throw away. While he may be right about mass-produced commerical products being thrown away when they don't work, there are many products that fall between the long-life military products and cell phones, whose life seems to last but a few milliseconds. What about medical equipment, telecom equipment, vehicles, appliances, and other electronic products? Surely, you don't throw them away when they don't work. I think that test has a role that's bigger than Ungar suggests for non-military products.

As a test engineer, do you feel that it's OK to test incorrectly? I say no. Test adds value to a product. Test engineers, metrologists, EMC engineers, and others keep designers in check by making them aware that a product has to do more than just work.

I also differ on the account that computers are thrown away when they don't work. Computers can attain longer lives with new hard drives, more memory, and other upgrades. I kept my Windows 98 computer going for nine years that way. In fact, when computers "stop working," it's often not because of a hardware failure. More often, it's software slowing a computer down. Computers in industrial environments outlive home and office computers because they're less likely to get viruses, malware, or numerous progorams that show them down.

Posted by Martin Rowe on September 8, 2008 | Comments (1)