"We knew we were going to have
to use boundary scan and ICT in combination," explained
Vivace's Director of Manufacturing Engineering, Dan
Howley. "We started to sort through our designs
to identify everything that could be tested by boundary
scan and we discovered that we would be able to eliminate
more than two-thirds of all the test points on our typical
boards. And if you compare the cost of producing an
ICT test fixture with all of the possible test points
and the cost of a fixture with two-thirds fewer test
points, you'd see that the cost differential is very
significant. You save approximately $40,000 to $60,000
per fixture."
"On the basis of cost savings
from ICT fixtures alone, to say nothing about our improved
product quality, ScanWorks has paid for itself several
times over and we've been using it for less than a year.
In addition, there are hard-to-calculate savings, like
the significant time and cost savings that ScanWorks
makes possible during the fabrication of the printed
circuit board itself. And there's no way we can figure
out the reduced opportunity costs that we've enjoyed
by bringing our products to market faster than we otherwise
could have done. These cost savings are immeasurable,
and they probably far exceed what we've saved on ICT
fixtures."
Another reason why Vivace chose ScanWorks
was its tight integration with the Agilent 3070 ICT
systems. Because Vivace uses Agilent 3070 ICT systems
in its manufacturing line, the firm could re-use ScanWorks
boundary scan tests on the 3070, reducing ICT test development
time. And as a start-up company, time-to-market is one
of the most critical factors Vivace faces.
The company delivered its first system
to a customer last year. It is developing broadband
fiber optic Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) equipment
for telecommunications transport applications over the
public telephone network and the Internet. As a company
moving out of its startup phase and one that is trying
to stay a step ahead of potential competitors, Vivace
places great emphasis on reducing the time it takes
to ready new designs for the market.
"ScanWorks helps us bring up tests
very quickly so that the design engineers don't have
to wait long to see how a new design is going to function,"
said Senior Test Engineer Rick Harper. "ScanWorks
has shaved as much as three or four weeks off of the
prototype verification process for each board. This
has really won over the design group. It's gotten to
the point where the design engineers come to me early
in the design process and ask me to help them put as
much boundary-scan test into their designs as possible.
They realize how valuable boundary scan is."
Harper came to Vivace from 3Com, where
one of his responsibilities was to evaluate the various
boundary-scan benchtop test systems. He chose ScanWorks.
"The versatility of ScanWorks
is good. We can use it to test voltages as low as 1.8
V and that is very useful to us," Harper explained.
"The ease-of-use of ScanWorks is also very good
and the support people have been very helpful. Having
local support was a big plus for us."
For more information about Vivace Networks,
visit www.VivaceNetworks.com. |
