Understanding the Importance of Hardware Testing in Product Development
There are so many things a company has to go through when building a hardware product. Along with prototyping comes PCB design, firmware, software, packaging, and the list continues. There is very little margin for error as even a small mistake can cost a fortune. With the hardware testing, this problem is quite solved.
Hardware testing ensures every component of the system is operating and performing under the specific local requirements. It is the best way to eliminate bugs from your product before rolling it out for your customers. You definitely don’t want your product to fail or detect faulty right after you launch it in the market.
Remember what happened with Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7. Right after it hit the first review cycle on August 17, 2016 – the best-designed smartphone of that time started bursting into flames. In fact, by September 1st of that very year, at least 35 explosions were reported including one on the plane. Unfortunately, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) had to ban all Samsung’s Galaxy Note, 7 models.
The reason for the failure? The lithium-ion batteries provided by one of the suppliers went untested. Part of the battery’s inside was coiled incorrectly, causing stress to the entire device. This is just one example in line. The tech history is filled with stories of product failure and one key reason is the lack of effective hardware testing.
As an organization, focused on developing effective solutions, iLink Digital doesn’t just build hardware but rigorously test it to ensure long-term sustainability and performance for our customers. Through this article, we aim to highlight how effective hardware testing can save companies a lot of time and money.
What is Hardware Testing in Product Development?
Hardware testing is one of the final phases in the product development process that validates the complete integration of the product. The purpose of the test is to evaluate the end-to-end system specifications and provide information about the quality of a product. In order to consider a hardware project a success, the product needs to meet the stated objectives and functional requirements defined by the QA engineers.
One of the best practices is to test early in the development phase as it minimizes the risks, saves costs, and defines a better product.
Why Hardware Testing is important?
Delivering a fully functional hardware device is one of the key success factors of the product industry. To feed the growing demand of the IoT market, manufacturers often rush to produce cheap sensors. And to keep the cost low, some of them may even compromise with ill-quality parts, degrading the quality of the product as a whole.
Testing the hardware of your products, allows developers to identify and address issues or bugs that could affect performance, reliability, or user experience. It makes sure that the key features of your device work as planned and your product quality stays intact. As your customer base largely depends upon the quality of the products you provide, you need to ensure your products are tested before they hit the markets.
Benefits of Hardware Testing in Product Development.
The core benefit of hardware testing is that your device can be checked against the technology installed and the functional requirements. These requirements are prepared by the QA engineers just before the actual development and are documented in test plans. Failure to observe these functional specifications can create problems for manufacturers as well as users.
To give you an example, in the year 2017, the FDA identified security flaws in medical devices and had to recall about half a million St. Jude Medical’s RF-enabled pacemakers. Identifying flaws when the product is still in the development phase provides you an opportunity to address performance, interoperability, security, and safety issues.
Other benefits include-
- Accelerating the time-to-market for products.
- Improved accuracy especially with automated testing.
- Seamless operations, better user experience.
- Faster development and delivery.
Be confident about your product’s quality with iLink
iLink Digital offers a range of services to accommodate your quality assurance and testing needs. From labs to market, our hardware testing services help companies validate their products prior to deployment and assess the performance of each product before they introduce it in the market.
With our agile testing methods and dedicated engineers, we can perform quality control tests across the entire spectrum of product development. Our reliable services enable our customers to achieve their business goals cost-effectively.
