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How do you select test equipment?

12 Aug 2011

BbiteTom

United Kingdom

How do you select test equipment?

Demo (get them all in and show us your goods), loaner (I'll try it by myself and I'll decide), benchmark (here's the plan and I'll need it for this long so I know it can do this) or just buy it from the web (I don't need any help I know what I'm buying).

Just How do you choose?

Replies

jgmartinez

Spain
39 weeks ago

Test equipment is not cheap, so wrong selection may be a pain in you knee. What test for, very specific measurement or general purpose? Laboratory test, field test or both?, how much time do I have for selection and how many money?, specific instrument or board instrument for PXI platform?, MMI or simply remote control for ATE system?......

Do I have a clear idea what to test and how? If yes then I can do a table of specifications, range of measurement, resolution need, accuracy, etc. I can look for instruments or send the specifications to suppliers and let them the initial selection for offer. If not, then I have to get some support of experienced test equipment supplier and pay for! In that case you'll get a solution, not the best not the cheapest, just a solution.

Some people buy only high reputation trade mark test equipments believing the will never be wrong because the reputation of selected company nobody will be in position of critisizement, that is usually expensive and not always true.

My recommendation is to specify test equipment for the application we need, doing a table were the first column is the list of specifications we need and let some space for other performances the candidates have and may be of interest for other projects. First file will be the candidates and then fill the matrix. At the end there is a score under each candidate that will be the selection key. There are some matters that may be subjective like that company has better support than other, so this has to be higher punctuation in that matter, the price may be a inverse rate value for target price we plan to pay for, etc.

This job solves many problems, one is to allow test system definition that nobody will save us to do and another is to buy the best test equipment for our application getting not only the test specifications, we will save money too. This type of table will help to negotiation of final price of each part we need…

But we have to be careful not spending much more effort in the specification than the money we can save doing that. If we need a multimeter for general application not too much effort is need but if we are going to spent 100K euros or else then we have to be very careful in our selection. If the system will cost 75% engineering and 25% HW we have to put not too much effort in saving HW cost. If test system is for a third company we have to take in account that local support test equipment vendors may save us guarantee money, etc. So test equipment selection is not only a test problem is part of the business cost.

Note this selection process is terrible for supplier because they have to be consistent in theirs proposal otherwise we will detect quickly any manoeuvre to reduce price by removing some performance, etc. This process will be Ok while the specifications are consistent but if we modify them we have to start again with that process.

Now days is available a test equipment rent companies that rent for days, weeks or months at quite low cost against test equipment value, so it is possible just before the last decision to rent, if available, the target test equipment for checking or in many cases we need a test equipment only for days or week in a year. Rent is cheaper than buy, calibrate and maintain and ocious expensive test instrument that is aging doing nothing else than getting dust on stand.

 

How do I do?, I go to the ocious test equipments stand an take the one may be OK if available and under calibration yet. If does not, then the table if I do not have a very clear idea of what to buy. I have returned to use test equipments with more than 20 years of service that they are still calibrated, but every day is more and more difficult to still get test equipments like that!.