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The Manufacturers Guide to Improving
Product Testing & Certification ROI
Introduction
Every company wants to know how to get better returns on any investment they
make.
These efforts are not simply about easy measurables like money spent and money
made or about current and future values or even about improvements in
efficiency, but they’re also about aspects that are more complex to measure, like
public perception, commercial satisfaction, innovation and even excellence.
The Costs
Tangibles - Money
For the purpose of our discussions in this paper, we’ll use a sample product to
illustrate costs and ROI:
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The Manufacturers Guide to Improving
Product Testing & Certification ROI
Intangibles - Time
Aside for the actual numerical cost of paying for testing and certification it is easy
to overlook the hours of effort and liaison that internal staff undertake simply to
co-ordinate the project. Internal experts are generally salaried so their costs are
already accounted for, but imagine if that time were being charged out to a
partner or customer, what would the value of the man-hours be?
Assuming a normal test and certification process takes 4 weeks from start to
finish, and a compliance officer spends an hour a week liaising with the test house
and organising paperwork, arranging sample delivery and collection and simply
asking questions about the status of the project, then that’s the equivalent of a
half of a typical working day also ‘invested’ in testing and certification.
Obviously if a product fails the testing and needs to be reworked in order to pass,
then the process time will be extended with the re-test, perhaps adding another
half man-day to the project ‘costs’. If a manufacturer’s expert was contracted out
as a consultant – what would be the date rate for that expertise? £500 per day?
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The Manufacturers Guide to Improving
Product Testing & Certification ROI
The Returns
How faster is better – Baseline ROI Statistics: Electrically Powered Shower Unit
Below, we have put together a basic set of ROI calculations for our fictional
Shower unit product. This highlights the potential for extra revenue that reducing
the testing and certification time could bring. All values are purely for illustration
purposes only.
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The Manufacturers Guide to Improving
Product Testing & Certification ROI
170 units x 4 weeks = 680 units, then 680 Units x £40 profit per unit = £27,200
Even when the £8,000 investment in testing and certification and 1 man-day of
consultation time from internal staff (@ £500 per day for example) is subtracted,
this leaves £18,700 extra revenue (an increase of 6.7%)
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The Manufacturers Guide to Improving
Product Testing & Certification ROI
• US - FCC/ FDA
• US/EU - FCC, IEC, CENELEC
• Asia Pacific - FCC or IEC with deviations
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The Manufacturers Guide to Improving
Product Testing & Certification ROI
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The Manufacturers Guide to Improving
Product Testing & Certification ROI
that can model and analyse a product design that can help designers design
for compliance.
Design review
Many manufacturers have found it beneficial to have a design review conducted
by their test or certification partner. This highlights any design issues early and can
be conducted using the circuit diagrams, component lists, design drawings – and if
it is available, a prototype. Initial discussions with the certification partner can even
begin with an artists rendering or cardboard mock-up. If necessary the product can
then be modified or re-worked before ever reaches the laboratory.
A partner will not only review the product but they can also be used as a source of
reference for interpreting Standards. These can sometimes be confusing
documents open to a scope of interpretation that could lead a designer using
them as a guideline during the development phase to inadvertently miss-design a
product.
Internal staff, who are well placed with intimate product knowledge, can also
conduct some basic bench testing to help assess the product in the design stage –
again helping to show up any potential compliance issues.
It seems obvious to say too, but just because a manufacturer has always worked
with one lab doesn’t mean they are necessarily the right lab. Consider reviewing
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The Manufacturers Guide to Improving
Product Testing & Certification ROI
the chosen laboratory every year or so to check that they have the right package
of services to meet evolving business needs.
Surprisingly, a great many testing and approval projects get delayed, not because
of the modification of product, or because a failure of tests, but because the test
lab hasn’t had the samples they need or all of the paperwork to move a project
forward. It seems bureaucratic, but as test houses and certifying bodies are
regularly audited to ensure the work they do is to a consistent and of high
standard, they need to have all of the relevant documentation necessary to
conduct the work. Sometimes the most simple of required ‘paperwork’ (user
manual, installation instructions, labelling information, product markings, etc.) is
not provided. If a manufacturer can have all of the relevant documentation ready
for the test house, frustrating (and costly) delays can be avoided.
Group Submissions
When submitting products to the laboratory for testing, grouping them into a
family of products, and submitting as many similar items as is feasible at the same
time will help to reduce the cost and time required for the compliance process for
multiple items. If that isn’t possible then try and arrange a worst case (fully loaded)
configuration that can represent the other units in the family.
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The Manufacturers Guide to Improving
Product Testing & Certification ROI
This can either be achieved through a local observer witnessing the tests on behalf
for the CB, or through the laboratory and test processes being accredited in some
way.
Having the facility to test products in-house in an unbiased and audited way gives
manufacturers enormous flexibility about when they test. The schedule imposed
on the test programme is purely internal and is not impeded by the logistics of
sending samples, external queue times or even budget/purchasing constraints.
DAPs can vary widely in what they deliver in terms of ROI, but comparing schemes
can help manufacturers identify where they can minimise their costs and make
most return.
Design for
compliance
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The Manufacturers Guide to Improving
Product Testing & Certification ROI
Conclusion
Unfortunately there is no single fix to ‘work’ the product testing and assessment
processes more efficiently to improve your bottom line, but an early discussion
with a test and certification partner will help to identify.
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The Manufacturers Guide to Improving
Product Testing & Certification ROI
For more information on specific testing and certification information, please contact Intertek
email: info.etls-italy@intertek.com or visit www.italy.intertek-etlsemko.com
This publication is copyright Intertek and may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form in whole or in part without the
prior written permission of Intertek. While due care has been taken during the preparation of this document, Intertek
cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of the information herein or for any consequence arising from it. Clients are
encouraged to seek Intertek’s current advice on their specific needs before acting upon any of the content.
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