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:oconne...@tamuracorp.com] Sent: 17 December 2014 21:36 To: EMC-PSTC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG 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:edpr...@cox.net] Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2014 1:29 PM To: EMC-PSTC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG 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:ghery.pet...@intel.com] Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2014 10:00 AM To: EMC-PSTC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG 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:charles.gra...@echostar.com] Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2014 9:57 AM To: EMC-PSTC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG 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) 3032042...@vtext.com (e) charles.gra...@echostar.com (e2) chasgra...@gmail.com - ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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 <emc-p...@ieee.org> 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 <sdoug...@ieee.org> Mike Cantwell <mcantw...@ieee.org> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <j.bac...@ieee.org> David Heald: <dhe...@gmail.com> - ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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 <emc-p...@ieee.org> 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 <sdoug...@ieee.org> Mike Cantwell <mcantw...@ieee.org> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <j.bac...@ieee.org> David Heald: <dhe...@gmail.com>
