Economics of Automatic Testing

Engineering is... "the art of doing that well with one dollar-that any bungler can do with two-after a fashion".

This famous definition by Arthur Wellington*, the father of engineering economics, says it all. This book takes that premise, shows how it applies to testing decisions in electronics, shows why full life-cycle costs need to be determined, shows how to make all of the calculations and then shows how to present a case to senior management in terms they understand.

Originally published in 1994 the book remains up to date because it is not about defect rates, labour rates or test technology-the things that constantly change-it is about managing the potentially conflicting issues of cost, quality, time-to-market and technology adoption, by using engineering economics and life-cycle-cost analysis, so that optimal decisions can be made about incredibly complex technological issues in design, manufacturing, test and the field-none of which has changed. These core concepts and the calculation methods have changed in only one respect-it has become more important than ever to use them!

Citation (April, 2011): Norman Pascoe. "Reliability Technology: Principles and Practice of Failure Prevention in Electronic Systems." Based on course notes from an MIT class. Published April 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

"An excellent account of the technology, economics and associated advantages of using ATE is provided by Brendan Davis. Although Davis wrote this comprehensive work on the economics of automatic testing over a quarter of a century ago, the value of its contents has not in any way diminished with time."

Note that Mr Pascoe's reference to a "quarter of a century" shows that he is referring to the 1982 edition of the book rather than the much expanded and improved 1994 second edition!

*Arthur Wellington, The Economic Theory of the Location of Railways - Pub 1887