Considerations Reg

garding Re
epairing Te
est Equipm
ment

Many cha anges have occurred

o over the past tw
wenty years in n metrology equipment and the industries that
support th wners’ ability to repair their test equipm
he equipmentt that have impacted the ow ment. As an inspection,
measuringg and test eq
quipment (IMT ou should be aware of the
TE) owner, yo ese forces wh hen making eq quipment
service de
ecisions.

he evolution has
Overall, th h made it more
m difficult to
o get repairs on test equip
pment. These changes incllude:

 Teechnology: Increasingly,
I equipment
e has used more a advanced technology. Multi-layer circuit bo oards and
microprocessors
m s have replacedd simpler compponents. While
e these compon nents have sup
perior reliabilityy, they are
ea
asier replaced than repaired. Economically, the replaceme
ent of these exxpensive compoonents is not w wise and a
re
eplacement of the
t whole instru ument may be warranted.

 Outsourced
O Su
upport: Many companies hav ve outsourced the support functions for their older equipm ment. They
no
o longer hold thhe parts, equip
pment or proced dures to suppo
ort product liness they no longe
er sell. They tyypically will
grrant the service
e support to a third
t party or in
n a worst case, they make no provisions for support.

 Equipment Cos st: A larger portion of IMTE requiring servvice is inexpenssive test equipment used in p production
opperations by production
p pers
sonnel. This was
w an inevitab ble result of p
process controlls and quality programs
instituted over the past twentyy years (SPC, ISO 9001, etcc.). Beyond fu uses or batterie
es, the cost off repairing
th
hese items usua ally exceeds th
he cost of repla
acing the unit.

 mmediacy: Most companies

Im s do not maintain float equippment, that equ uipment that ccan be shared within the
co
ompany when equipment is outo for service. Just-In-Time, F FIFO and all th
he other forcess that drive a co
ompany to
sh
hip yesterday means
m you cannot wait for equipment
e to rreturn. Vendorss and resellerss are willing too ship test
eq
quipment overnnight to meet your
y more urgent schedule.

 Knowledge
K gap
p: A knowledge e gap exists forr accomplishing g repairs. Whilee skilled technicians do remaain, a flood
tid
de of forces is making it difficcult to obtain the
t knowledge to accomplish h the repairs. TThese forces innclude the
mergers/acquisi
m tions and elim minations of manym historica
al providers; thhe downsizing g and changes in their
workforces;
w the inability to pro
ovide electronic c documents o on forty year ol d designs; thee exporting of tthe design
annd manufacture of the equipment; the adop ption of compa any policies th at calibration a
and repair information is
prroprietary; whoolesale elimination of productt lines within ccompanies; and the smaller number of top p technical
peeople being spun off from the e military. All theese forces conntribute to a wid
dening gap in p providing repairr support.

 Societal changes: Any observer can see th hat we are a th hrow-away socciety. No matte er how much w we recycle,
we
w no longer re epair TVs when n we can pick up a superior model at 75% % of the cost off the original unit. These
sa
ame forces aree in effect in th
he IMTE markeetplace. On nea arly half the qu
uotes we obtain for major rep placement
pa
arts, we get quotes advocatin ng replacementt of the whole in
nstrument provvided without eeven asking.

 Used equipmen nt market: Th

he advent of EBBay and many other used equipment vendo ors and equipm
ment rental
firrms means that replacement equipment is re
eadily available
e. This has imp
pacted the repa
air market.

 Equipment variiety: A metrology lab fifty yeears ago could have a handfu ul of instruments, which is no
ot the case
oday. The varie
to ety of equipme
ent and the reqquired parts to support is a cchallenge for m
many. This is reeflected in
th
he fewer numb ber of service centers
c run by
y the major IMMTE manufactu urers. Maintain
ning parts for aantiquated
te
echnologies is not
n the busines ss they supportt.

Essco Ca
alibration Labo
oratory 10//12/2011 Technical N
Note No. 32