Nice rant Tony. J
I heard on the new this week that there is already evidence (in the UK, at least) of a society backlash against the big technology movement. People putting down their social media enabled smartphones and shunning the large super stores, to walk to the local food market and read a book. Concerns over security of information but also over the monopoly of some of the larger companies, as we see in our own industry. There was a 5G presentation at the TCB Council workshop in October which touched on this idea of the unpredictable social reaction to business advances. As a certification body, I do see a lot of people still going to the little local EMC labs where the person doing the test is actually an EMC expert. In some cases, the person doing the EMC test is an EMC engineer and also the EMC lab manager. I like to see it and many of them appear to be really busy. So, there’s hope yet. Michael. Michael Derby Senior Regulatory Engineer Director ACB Europe From: Anthony Thomson [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 18 December 2014 10:35 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [PSES] Brick power supplies and test errors (two topics) Michael asked if it's 'our' fault for pressuring labs to be cheaper and faster. I say not. I recon it's down to the size and structure most labs seem to have have evolved to. I (now reluctantly) use a once independent, mid-sized lab that was acquired by a large multinational company. Over the course of a few years they now have Directors and Managing Directors and Executive Management who aren't even on this site, marketing departments, HR departments, a services organisation that looks after the finance and invoicing, and they and pay this fee and that royalty to the central group and for certificates and logo usage rights. They have Account Managers and Business Development Managers and Business Line Managers and Project Managers and Project Engineers and Department Managers and PA's and administrators. They even have a small handful of Test Engineers, but we don't hear much about them. Nope, that's why labs are cutting corners, shaving the core services while the 'dead wood' continues to accumulate. It's the way of the world today it seems with the end consumer working ever harder to support it. Rant over! Tony Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2014 at 9:52 AM From: "Michael Derby" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [PSES] Brick power supplies and test errors (two topics) At least they were honest! Every lab has to have a first time that they do each test, otherwise progress will never be made. I hope I'm never in a role where I'm always doing things that I already know how to do. :-) I personally do not have any trouble in a lab needing to learn new things. That said, if the test was on the lab's scope of accreditation, they should already have researched and proved that they know how to do it. It does amaze me when I see test labs issue reports for a test (which is on their accreditation scope) and they did not use the correct test equipment. I ask them why and they tell me they don't have the correct equipment. Hmm, I'm sure I remember that being an important aspect of gaining accreditation. As Dennis said, we see too many test reports, apparently accredited, where the standard was not understood or correctly applied. It seems the labs are under a lot of pressure to be cheaper and faster. Is that our fault, as consumers? My concern is that compliance testing is viewed as an unwanted rubber-stamp hurdle, not as the technical study and research in engineering that it should be. It also explains why many labs struggle to find a good engineer who is happy to stay in the test lab. Michael. Michael Derby Senior Regulatory Engineer Director ACB Europe -----Original Message----- From: Brian Oconnell [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 17 December 2014 21:36 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [PSES] Brick power supplies and test errors (two topics) Pathos and tragedy, with a bit of comedy, in the EMC lab. Once had the sales manager for a major lab say "we have never done that test but would give you a good deal so we could get experience..." Brian From: Ed Price [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2014 1:29 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [PSES] Brick power supplies and test errors (two topics) Ghery: I found that business conditions have created large labs which strive to provide one-stop compliance services, and that this concept is subject to corruption by enthusiasm. By that, I mean that the labs often have a little subsection which is tasked with doing nothing but expanding the range of accreditations; these are the chaps who paper entire hallways with certificates of accreditation, allowing you to take comfort that if you ever needed a machine safety certificate for Kleptostan, you were already in the right place. A certain disconnect exists between these certificate harvesters (think marketing) and the other part of the lab (think engineering) which actually has to do that rare and idiosyncratic test. Ed Price WB6WSN Chula Vista, CA USA From: Pettit, Ghery [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2014 10:00 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [PSES] Brick power supplies and test errors (two topics) I brought up some serious problems with accredited labs at the ASC C63 meetings in Mesa last month. One accrediting body seems interested in dealing with the issue, the others not so much. It's so much fun to go into a lab that isn't properly equipped to perform tests listed on its Scope of Accreditation. Ghery S. Pettit From: Grasso, Charles [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2014 9:57 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [PSES] Brick power supplies and test errors (two topics) It would appear that the best efforts of lab accreditations are not living up to expectations? Or am I expecting too much? Best Regards Charles Grasso Compliance Engineer Echostar Communications (w) 303-706-5467 (c) 303-204-2974 (t) [email protected] (e) [email protected] (e2) [email protected] - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. 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To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html (including how to unsubscribe) List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <[email protected]> David Heald: <[email protected]> - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html (including how to unsubscribe) <http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html> List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher <[email protected]> David Heald <[email protected]> - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html (including how to unsubscribe) List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <[email protected]> David Heald: <[email protected]>
