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Survey Results from Test Engineers and New Product Introduction Challenges

Posted by Phil Holman on Apr 4, 2017 2:37:08 PM

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A Dedicated Supply Chain Might Help with Time, Volatility, and Documentation Issues

Test engineers who provide testing and tooling for manufacturing often have a challenging job to do when pushing towards a new product introduction (NPI). To gain more insights about this, we recently ran a survey that asked test engineers questions regarding the challenges and successes of their jobs.

According to those surveyed, time challenges are the most prevalent ones they face, spanning the planning stage through development and design, with communication factors also having an impact on timelines. Test engineers in this survey regularly deal with volatile configurations, and almost half say the documentation they work with is limited in information. The time frame for the testing phase most commonly ranges from three months to a year. Over half of the respondents indicated that that it would be helpful to have a dedicated supply chain for their testing and tooling requirements.

This infographic displays more details of the test engineer survey. These results shed light on the kind of support that test engineers need during the testing and tooling phase for new product introduction.    

New Product Introduction Test Engineers.pngFourstar is familiar with these challenges, having been responding to test engineers’ needs for years. You need a supply chain partner that is committed to support your unique process, working with a compressed timeline and volatile or partially developed documentation. We dedicate our experienced engineering personnel to your project to deliver just that.

It looks like this:

  • An agile, supportive supply chain vendor that has a responsive team of experts well versed in all phases of production
  • This includes all testing and tooling requirements so you can ensure your product meets all safety and quality standards

Your testing process is integral to the completed production work, and we provide you with the test equipment tooling for sub-contract cable and box builds. Let the production vendors worry about the final production line—we are here to help you with your piece of it.

Fourstar partners with leading companies to “find a better way” for time to market (TTM), new product introduction (NPI), and design for manufacturing (DFM) initiatives. For 30 years, Fourstar has been delivering completed electronic assemblies and electronic exposures with a variety of complex interconnect content.

Your top challenge is time and we have time on our side: we’ve done this many times, for many years, and have mature expertise on how best to support test engineers during tight NPI and TTM timelines and volatile testing and tooling phases. Contact us now to explore setting up a dedicated supply chain for you. It’s time.  

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Topics: manufacturing outsourcing, new product introduction, test engineer survey results, test engineer challenges

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Finding a Better Way

Fourstar partners with leading companies to problem solve, innovate, and find better ways for New Product Introduction (NPI) and Design for Manufacturing (DFM) initiatives.

What you get:

  • Our project management and manufacturing expertise
  • Comprehensive range of products and solutions
  • Advanced IT systems
  • Exceptional customer support

From cable assemblies to complex box build solutions, we can quickly ramp up to meet target dates and volume requirements. We are dedicated to helping you improve program efficiency, enhance product performance, speed time to market, and lower total cost of product.

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