Like any other product or service, you want to choose the best EMC, environmental or Electrical safety testing lab. When choosing a test lab there are many factors to consider. The obvious factors are cost, accreditation, and time frame. But these are just a few of the factors you should be considering.
Test lab facilities
When searching on the internet for the best product testing laboratory, first impressions make the difference. Many test labs may include stock images of facilities that they don’t own or in some cases have even been there! This can give the impression of a world-class testing facility and test equipment but essentially is misleading advertising. We don’t use stock images of test facilities or equipment that we don’t own, except for the image above as an example!
When choosing a compliance testing lab, ask then if you can visit the facility and see what you are paying for, before committing. This is especially important for larger equipment that requires a larger test site! EMC Technologies has the only commercially available 10m iOATS in Australia, designed and built to accommodate larger products. Our EMC test lab capability through the EMC Tech group is unrivaled in Australia and New Zealand.
Location of the test laboratory
Some testing service providers may send your product to other testing facilities. The sub-contracted testing service must have strict non-disclosure agreements in place. In some cases, your product may be sent overseas for testing, this increases the risk to your intellectual property. EMC Technologies testing services are diverse and we can accommodate most, if not all your testing needs under one roof. Providing a true one-stop-shop test service solution for many products. This helps provide confidence whilst safeguarding your confidential information and intellectual property.
Accreditation
When performing any product certification or approval testing the test lab must conduct the testing correctly. Accreditation indicates the ability of the test lab to meet a level of testing proficiency. Having your product tested by an accredited testing facility reduces the risk that the testing is below standard. However, in some cases, the accreditation or test standards may be restricted by the test facility or test equipment capability. Always ask the test laboratory if there are any deviations to the testing methods. If so, how this may impact your product compliance, and what happens if the compliance comes into doubt. Get a second opinion and double-check, the testing is usually costly, so you only want to do it once! Another known issue is accreditation or recognition that applies to one test facility location may not apply to another test lab location. In this case, the non-accredited or non-recognised test facility may perform the testing and then be rejected at a later date. This recently happened and resulted in South Korea banning 1700 tech products for using forged test reports. The affected companies had to stop the sales of the products, and re-certify their products to demonstrate compliance using a recognised test facility.
Witnessed testing
Some test labs don’t allow or actively discourage witnessing testing. It can be beneficial to witness the testing, to be on hand in case there is an issue. Issues arise frequently throughout the product testing phase. Including test failures, problems with the product or support equipment. Been on hand many means that many of these delays in testing, test setup and so on can be easily avoided. The bonus is you can verify testing is done correctly and learn about the testing process.
Cost of testing
Like most things purchased, paying a little more sometimes get a better-quality product or service. Not surprisingly the same is for compliance testing, to do the testing correctly the investment in staff and test equipment or facilities may require that little extra. Having confidence and peace of mind when signing a legal document such as a product declaration of compliance is worth it. The cost of re-testing due to a flaw in the original approvals testing, cease of sales or even a product recall can be a disaster for a company. So think carefully of all the factors before selecting the test lab for the next approvals testing.
Transparency
Always ask the test lab if there are test limitations or if sub-contracting is required. Question if these factors have any implications for the accreditation or recognition of the compliance testing. If they mislead you at the start will that continue throughout your entire product compliance service?
For transparency purposes, it is time to reveal the location of the photograph for this blog article!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benefield_Anechoic_Facility
A B-1B bomber stands on amount inside the world’s largest anechoic chamber, one day before the chamber’s official opening at the Air Force Flight Test Center.
The original finding aid described this photograph as:
Base: Edwards Air Force Base
State: California (CA)
Country: United States Of America (USA)
Scene Camera Operator: Anne Bryant
Release Status: Released to Public
Combined Military Service Digital Photographic Files
Conclusion
Please take some time to view our website and our subsidiary EMC test lab EMC Bayswater and check out our fantastic product testing facilities located here in Australia and New Zealand. We can help certify or approve your product from a small hand-held device through to complete vehicular testing, but sadly we don’t have EMC anechoic chamber that can fit a plane yet!