In Test and Measurement, choosing the right equipment such as power supplies, Electronic Loads and DAQs can be the difference between an ATE being of value addition to the production line and an ATE which will be discarded by the end user.
In Test and Measurement, choosing the right equipment such as power supplies, Electronic Loads and DAQs can be the difference between – Some sentence about a bad thing and a good thing about Manufacturing/ATE
In this article, we will go over the 6 main reasons why COTS equipment are far superior to custom designed equipment:
1) System Performance
2) System Reliability
3) Long Time Support
4) No dependency on a single vendor
5) Stable, well tested software
6) Organization stability
COTS equipment are far superior to custom designed equipment
Let’s dive right into the first reason:
1) System Performance:
- System performance depends on the warranted specs and the typical specs of the system. For Custom equipment, there will always be a large variation in this and with COTS equipment, you get warranted specs that can be relied on.
- The test system has to be scalable enough to accommodate the aggressive demands of the industry.
- As all such COTS equipment have been deployed in other manufacturing lines for over a decade now and it will build the necessary confidence for OEMs to opt for these equipment over custom equipment
2) System Reliability
- COTS equipment have necessary certifications to ensure the products work in the required environments and provide necessary safety to the users and the line.
- A necessary and critical estimate to gauge the reliability of an ATE is MTBF (Mean time between failures) and MTTR (Mean time to repair). This is very crucial to plan for spares and predictive maintenance to ensure minimal downtime. This is especially relevant in all production lines, where downtime losses are in the millions of dollars.
- COTS equipment go through a complete product development lifecycle cycle before releasing the market which includes design, rigorous validation and certification. This is required to ensure the products work as per specification and the measurements can be relied upon.
3) Long Time Support
- Production lines are designed for long term use. The test systems have to be planned with a similar long-term frame of reference. COTS equipment manufacturers have long time hardware support and maintenance plans.
- Production lines need to be running 24/7 and COTS equipment manufacturers will be able to provide round the clock remote support
4) No dependancy on a single vendor
- COTS equipment are typically made on open industry standards and not on custom designs. This way the end user has the freedom and independence to evaluate different vendors rather than being dependent on one sole supplier.
5) Stable, well tested Software
- The test software is more stable when it built on stable software that have been in use in the industry for similar critical applications for decades.
6) Organisation stability
- The test partner that one chooses has to be aligned with the goals of the organization. The chosen COTS organization should be stable in the industry across recessions and have a track record of ensured support an innovation for decades
The test system you choose for your production plant has to be of good quality with least failures, scalable and flexible to cater to the growing demands of the industry and also innovate so that the investment does not become obsolete in a rapidly evolving world
CHOOSE COMMERCIAL OFF THE SHELF EQUIPMENT AS THEY ARE A PROVEN TECHNOLOGY IN AUTOMOTIVE TESTING ACROSS THE GLOBE