Reducing test cost per phone

摘要

Manufacturers of cellular phones are facing enormous pressures to put new phones into production and increase volumes to meet consumer market demands. Many companies have tops-down directives to significantly reduce cost/phone by 20 per cent to 30 per cent each year. This is done with cost reduction programs and planned obsolescence of older models as new models are introduced. Manufacturing test engineering must make trade-offs with their time between keeping production going, reducing the cost per phone, and bringing new products to market.