The testing department, a seemingly anonymous department that operates behind the scenes and occasionally on the front lines, might be perceived by many as simply debugging, experimenting, and verifying. However, getting closer to them reveals that their work goes far beyond that… Product testing and reliability assessment are part of their daily routine, and these are prerequisites for ensuring product quality.
Listen to their confessions
For the past few years, I have been engaged in product testing and reliability assessment, from frequency converters to servo drives, PLCs, touch screens, soft starters and drive products for special industries. I have witnessed Sifang's transformation from a single frequency converter R&D manufacturer to a total solution manufacturer in the industrial control field.
Product testing and reliability assessment are integral to the entire product lifecycle, from pre-research, development, pilot production, trial production, mass production, manufacturing, sales, and even after-sales service and maintenance. In the past two years, with the development of new products such as PLCs, servo drives, and touchscreens, higher demands have been placed on reliability assessment, and many testing methods and assessment tools have emerged from scratch. There are no static testing methods or standards; product reliability assessment tools need to be continuously tried and verified in practice. A test engineer's ability is not demonstrated by following procedures, but by their ability to summarize and try different verification methods to uncover new problems and potential risks.
From pre-research and development to market launch, Sifang's products have undergone a series of detailed testing and verification processes, involving more than one hundred sub-tests. We are often asked how these numerous tests improve product quality and performance. From the application or customer's perspective, the focus is not on the number of tests conducted, but rather on the improvements these tests bring to the product itself.
The testing items will vary depending on the characteristics of different products. For Sifang's current products, the common environmental reliability tests are shown in the following diagram:
A sound product reliability assessment system is a prerequisite for product quality. However, as the market demands higher product reliability, the requirements for product design and testing are also higher. Only through comprehensive product testing and improved product design can stable and reliable products be produced. It is necessary to measure everything that can be measured and strive to make those that are not yet measurable measurable. This is our principle for conducting product reliability testing.
