Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1078362
18 SMT007 MAGAZINE I FEBRUARY 2019 The Cost of Quality and the Higher Cost of Failure Quest for Reliability Feature Column by Eric Camden, FORESITE INC. This month's SMT007 topic is "Selling Your Services: "A look at strategies to help you im- prove how you sell your electronics manufac- turing and PCB assembly services." This is a topic I can speak to regarding quality and how testing can be a selling point for your product based on how many times I have seen field failures here in the lab. Think about it. If you are shopping a new product around to multiple CMs, and if all other things in two separate CMs are equal in- cluding price and delivery times but one of- fers a more comprehensive ongoing quality monitoring system, why wouldn't you go with that one? I realize that you usually pay some type of premium for the CM that has an over- all quality monitoring system that goes beyond just ICT or bench level testing. Most CMs will give you some sort of assurance that the prod- uct is working as it leaves the facility, but if one has a mindset that more than basic testing is required to show reliability, you will more than likely have fewer field failures. This is something we see from many CMs in the form of a more expansive upfront set of testing at PPAP that translates into a more meaningful ongoing monitoring strategy that relates back to the original set of tests that shows the product will operate under harsh environments. If your product ends up in an automobile cabin or other controlled environ- ment, all the better. Often, what we see with field failures are they come from a CM that is doing nothing more than checking a box. If there isn't a specific cleanliness requirement, the default is often to perform the historically accepted test that simply does not line up with today's technology demands. The old way of looking at cleanliness and how it impacts reliability was based on