I've seen that done many times...

________________________________
 From: "Barron, Manny (IS)" <manny.bar...@ngc.com>
To: "emc-pstc@listserv.ieee.org" <emc-pstc@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG> 
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2012 4:23 PM
Subject: Re:  "Compliance costs too much."
 
I used to manage an outside EMI test lab.  About 15 years ago I remember one 
well known client who needed to pass FCC Class B but his product utilized a 
plastic case (not metalized nor conductive finish, but fully plastic).  When 
his product failed he started adding [many] ferrite beads to the culprit 
internal I/O cable until his product was 10 dB below the limit.  Then he 
started taking them off one by one until the product was about 2 dB below the 
limit.  When I inquired why remove the beads and reduce margin his response was 
cost and that his management would not be pleased with him because he had added 
cost to the product.

Just an interesting story.

Manny Barron
EMC/EMI Engineer
Northrop Grumman Corp.
San Jose, California



-----Original Message-----
From: emc-p...@ieee.org [mailto:emc-p...@ieee.org] On Behalf Of Thomas Cokenias
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2012 12:24 PM
To: ri...@ieee.org
Cc: EMC-PSTC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG
Subject: Re: "Compliance costs too much."

I used to work at FCC Lab and they have  ways of getting your attention.  One 
story as I remember it:

Back in the mid 80's there was an IBM clone computer company named (I believe)  
Columbia Data Products, at the time located in Columbia MD,  They were heavily 
advertising  their latest computer soon to come on the market, had a warehouse 
full of product just waiting for the FCC certification process to be completed 
at the FCC Lab (also in Columbia MD).  

Alas, they failed sample testing several times, and the application was 
denied.  And they could not come up with a way to retrofit the design, much 
less the products in the warehouse,  so that they would meet the Part 15 limits.

The FCC issued a non-compliance letter.  The local paper had an article showing 
the destruction of the warehouse samples, with photo of bulldozers crushing and 
otherwise rendering useless all the would- be merchandise.  Pretty impressive.  
I was working in private sector lab when this happened - the article was a 
great sales tool with customers who  balked at the expense of doing all that 
testing...

Tom Cokenias

T.N. Cokenias Consulting
P.O. Box 1086
El Granada CA 94018


On Mar 29, 2012, at 8:23 PM, Richard Nute wrote:

> I once worked with an EMC engineer who measured the performance of 
> himself and his time by the cost of the components that were used in 
> the equipment solely for the purpose of EMC control.
> 
> His objective was to reduce the cost of compliance by advising 
> designers of careful layout so as to minimize the need for EMC 
> components.
> 
> Safety is a bit different because many safety components are also 
> functional components.
> Nevertheless, a ground wire can be eliminated if double-insulation is 
> employed.  In this example, a cost trade-off between the power cord 
> and the extra insulation.  But, these days, most primary circuit 
> designs are indeed double-insulated as transformers simply don't use 
> internal shields.
> 
> Enclosures... only needed for primary circuits and secondary circuits 
> exceeding 30 V.  (Yes, you still want an enclosure, but not for 
> safety!)
> 
> Etc.  So, compliance should not cost too much.
> 
> I look forward to your comments on compliance costing too much.
> 
> 
> Rich
> 
> 
> -
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