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We make the input devices that control the OEM products that operate the world.

HALT + HASS Testing - 54730 HALT Defects By Environment

Certain processes reveal defects more regularly than others. For instance notice below how important the vibrationprocess is as an aspect of the overall testing. As referenced, HALT failures are discovered by percentage as follows: Rapid Temperature Transitions
(4%) High Temperature Extreme
(17%) Low Temperature Extreme
(14%) Vibration (6 DoF)
(45%) Combined Vibration with Rapid Temperature Transitions
(20%)

The Results of Testing and Determining the Need

How has the process worked? In companies that use the HALT / HASS process, published studies indicate that field failures of products within the first year have dropped from an average of 10% to less than 1%. Finding failures early in the development process improves product quality without a doubt. The HALT / HASS process means that the customer doesn’t have to wait for years to see how the product willperform. With this process, testing can be implemented thatsimulates years of functioning in the space of a few hours with the benefit of monitoring the results and corrections in that short time.The ultimate success of the testing is found within theindividual company structure. It requires that both management and design engineering commit themselves to the results found during the testing. This means ensuring that HALT / HASS is not overlooked in a rush effort to get products to the marketplace. It also means the root cause of any defects, as well as their correction, are taken care of as soon as possible in the current design and documented for future designs or manufacturing processes. The end result is that new products will have the defects built out of them before the consumer ever sees them.Not every manufacturer can or will commit to this process.There are reasons for this. First, this is a process where you identify the problems up front and pro-actively fixthem in the development phase. It is not free—there is an internal cost for this effort in terms of man power, research and test equipment. Some manufacturers see thisas either an unnecessary effort or extra cost that they don’t want to incur. This can be either driven by the style of management inside the company or the actual cost of the product vs. the competition’s cost.Secondly, to use this process you need to commit to wantingtop quality in your products. Obviously some products donot have the luxury of adding cost for the purpose ofincreasing either longevity or ruggedness. The price of performing this process would increase the product cost and consumers may not be willing to pay for a more expensive item.The third item is if the value of the product is not increasedby means of this testing, the issue of HALT and HASS maybe irrelevant. If the device is used in a one time application, or has a very simple or non-critical usage, it may not be worth the extra cost. We use many items like this every day—such as spoons, coffee stirrers and tissue paper where the use is not complicated and the difference in quality would not be enhanced by HALT / HASS.