Page 32 - Building A Succesful Board-Test Strategy

18 BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL BOARD-TEST STRATEGY

Figure 1-4 Not all products experience "incredible shrinking electronics." (Courtesy
Teradyne.)

the door in 2 hours instead of 3 weeks, and what is now Agilent Technologies
reduced the time to ship test equipment from 4 weeks to 5 days. Accompanying
these improvements were drastic reductions in inventory and associated holding
costs, which translate directly to the company's bottom line.
Despite the fact that the term "concurrent engineering" has somewhat
fallen out of favor, the imperative to embrace its concepts has not changed.
Successfully introducing these concepts (whatever you choose to call them) into
a manufacturing operation requires that designers learn to be proactive rather
than simply reactive to the impact of their decisions on downstream activities.
As wide a range as possible of design and manufacturing technologies deserves
consideration if the product is to achieve its performance and economic goals.
For example, incorporating boundary-scan circuitry into ASICs tends to mini-
mize test-development times for devices, boards, and systems. Early adoption
of these techniques minimizes their inconvenience without sacrificing their
benefits.
Designers must solicit input from people in all departments involved in a
product's life cycle. Marketers have to sell concept changes to customers, while
warranty and field-service people contend with quality problems that escape the
factory. Early involvement from these people drastically reduces the number
of costly design changes late in the development process. Products destined for
automobiles or other hostile environments, for example, must withstand very