Talk about having a vision! A free verse meditation on testing. TER rethinks the paradigm PR: biz.yahoo.com
Tuesday February 23, 8:04 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Teradyne, Inc.
Teradyne Issues Press Backgrounder on
'Islands of Test'
Anaheim, Calif., Feb. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Teradyne, Inc. (NYSE: TER - news) issues the following press
backgrounder:
The Problem
''Islands of Test''
Most in-circuit and functional test installations are ''islands of test"that limit test strategy flexibility. Each "island" tends to be
incompatible in both hardware and software from every other test "island." In today's manufacturing environment of shrinking product life cycles, steep ramps to volume, and complex technology packed onto denser boards, these "barriers of incompatibility" can severely limit test strategy options. Manufacturers must be able to respond quickly and efficiently to rapidly changing process and functional test requirements -- not be constrained by the consequences of past hardware or software decisions.
Waste
Islands of test create waste:
-- Waste created by cross-platform program incompatibility that limits the ability to balance the line as mix, volume, and yield change.
-- Waste arising from maintaining multiple spares inventories.
-- Waste resulting in programmers becoming familiar with the idiosyncrasies of each proprietary tester.
-- More waste when the test routines that the engineer originally wrote to check out his design in the lab cannot be used.
Delay
Islands of test create delay:
-- Specialized-function testers don't adapt to product design changes efficiently.
-- Test program development and debug takes too long. When the inevitable engineering change happens, it takes too long to update the test program.
-- Production delay as technicians try to diagnose failed boards.
-- The end result: board test that is a production bottleneck and delay in production when you need it least.
The Solution
Spectrum(TM) Manufacturing Test Platform
What manufacturers need is a test environment that will reduce waste and delay, a tool to bridge inefficient isolated test islands. That bridge is a Unified Test Platform. A Unified Test Platform is very different from the monolithic combinational testers of the past that did not succeed at being everything to every test engineer. And only Teradyne's Spectrum Manufacturing Test Platform provides a Unified Test Platform, meeting the requirements for a high-rate-of-change manufacturing environment. The four key requirements that a Unified Test Platform satisfies are: scalability, flexibility, reusability, and efficiency.
-- Scalability -- The ability to match Spectrum's test capability to current test strategy requirements, minimizing configuration costs. However, also having the flexibility to easily add or subtract capabilities that reflect a change in test strategy or line balancing.
-- Flexibility -- Test program elements like boundary scan, flash
programming, analog functional test, specification test can be moved among different test platforms and across different islands of test to balance line capacity as production volume, yield, and mix change.
-- Reusability -- Reduce the delay and cost to implement new test
program elements by using test routines that have already been
written, debugged, and deployed.
-- Efficiency -- The ability to reduce setup and operating cost and cycle time -- being able to use the same people and systems at different points in the test process, reducing training costs, spare parts cost, documentation cost and application costs.
A Bridge to Connect ''Islands of Test''
The Spectrum Manufacturing Test Platform is a unique blend of test strategy flexibility and system scalability that lets a manufacturer put process and performance test capability exactly where it is need -- when it is need -- in the production line. But this is not a ''tries to do everything, but not good at anything'' tester of the past.
The Spectrum Manufacturing Test Platform is the bridge to connect islands of test reducing waste and delay. The Platform consists of a variety of targeted configurations -- each optimized for process, functional and depot test.
-- The Spectrum 8800-Series Manufacturing Test System for classic, high- throughput in-circuit with migrated functional test and efficient non-volatile memory -- flash -- programming capability in a package designed for the rigors of SMT production.
-- The Spectrum 9100-Series Manufacturing Functional Test System is the test solution when the test strategy calls for factory specialized test equipment. It is the ideal VXI system where standalone
functional test and flash programming are the primary test
requirements. The high-bandwidth interface and minimum footprint (saves floor space) make it suitable for both the production floor and the maintenance depot environment.
-- The Spectrum 8950-Series ADSL Manufacturing Test System integrates in-circuit, functional, and system-level tests within a single-stage manufacturing test platform for ADSL-based products in the telecommunications industry.
All Spectrum systems have the Unified Test Environment in common. Targeted systems, including application specific testers such as the Spectrum 8950- Series ADSL system, let manufacturers meet exact process and functional test requirements without paying for excess test capabilities that will never be used. Manufacturers have the best of both worlds: targeted capability with the flexibility demanded by a high-rate-of-change environment.
The Unified Test Environment
The Unified Test Environment comprises common hardware and software. The Spectrum Manufacturing Test Platform is built around industry standards like Windows(TM) NT and VXI. The hardware heart is an Extended VXI backplane for both functional and in-circuit test. The Spectrum's operating environment is Teradyne's TestStudio. TestStudio offers a versatile, open-architecture environment for test development, documentation, debug, and execution that can be easily configured to support multiple software and TPS development requirements. Using Microsoft Windows(TM) NT and COM interface standards, TestStudio can encapsulate a wide selection of programming languages and Application Development Environments (ADEs), including HP VEE, LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI, Visual Basic and Visual C++, as well as specialized in-house programming tools. TestStudio uses familiar Web-based browser and hyperlink technologies to provide a common, intuitive user interface for all programming tools -- reducing the costs of training, documentation, and ongoing maintenance.
A Configuration for Today ... and Tomorrow
The Unified Test Environment of the Spectrum Manufacturing Test Platform reduces test strategy cost and cycle time. Today's boards are dense and complex. They're expensive to produce and challenging to test. The traditional proprietary islands of test create waste and delay in production and just can't keep up in a rapidly changing manufacturing environment. The Spectrum Manufacturing Test Platform bridges the test islands. The Unified Test Environment -- Extended VXI and the TestStudio ATE operating environment -- provide manufacturers with scalable configurations to meet test needs today and accommodate the test strategy of tomorrow. Manufacturers now have the flexibility to respond to never-ending changes, the option to reuse test elements, and the ability to cost-efficiently own automatic test equipment. Teradyne has created a bridge connecting islands of test and a new way to think about board test. |
