Every company that designs and manufactures electronic systems knows how important it is to deliver products ofthe highest qualityto its customersat the lowest possible cost;every stage of the process—from design through production and testing—plays a crucial role in determining whether a product will succeed in the market.
TME works with the client to develop the best test strategy, paying particular attention to the concurrent engineering phases—specifically, the interface with design teams—in order to suggest modifications that ensure adequate design for testability (DFT), and to define the functional test specifications, the latter being the only solution that allows the product to be tested in its entirety.
TME shares its expertise in the field ofDFTwith its customers by providing documentation that outlines the guidelines designers must follow to ensure a product can be tested as efficiently as possible: these documents cover various testing technologies, fromboundary scanto functional testing (electrical DFT), as well as printed circuit board manufacturing requirements (mechanical DFT).
Functional testing is one of the critical steps in the production chain, as it affects many of the parameters that influence a product’s quality and cost; for this reason, it is necessary to identify the key factors in order to optimize a testing solution:
Speed:Minimizing execution time directly affects the cost of the product; it is important to avoid overlapping operations andto try to increase the degree of parallelism
Coverage:Test coverage must be as comprehensive as possible to ensure that customers receive the highest-quality product and to reduce the return rate (IRR)
Automation:A fully automated testing process reduces the risk of human error and improves quality. Automation also helps reduce machine setup time and minimizes the need for operator intervention.
Capacity:The volatility of forecasts means that we must be able to react quickly to any changes should it become necessary to adjust testing capacity; a shorter lead time for the testing solution means improving time to market (TTM).
Maintenance:Any malfunctions in the test solution must be repaired quickly; ideally, they should be detected in advance through what is known as preventive maintenance. To achieve this, it is necessary to implement continuous monitoring of the solution and periodic analysis of test data to identify any drifts in the measurement system.
TME develops testing solutions for its customers, guided by the following principles:
Modularity and Scalability: toenable a quick system upgrade, making it ready to test new products
Ergonomics:to facilitate the operator’s work as well as the movement of the solution within the production facility
Maintenance:The systems are designed to provide easy access to critical components, ensuring a quick and effective maintenance process.
Universality: Theoperating system is based on a commercial platform into which the functions for controlling the solution’s internal hardware have been integrated. The use of a commercial environment allows for the reuse of existing drivers and sequences, ensuring maximum portability.
