EMC management: an integral part of a company's quality program

It is widely agreed that each electronic hardware product should be found to meet a minimum level of robustness prior to being released for production. To that end, a minimum set of hardware tests along with detailed pass/fail criteria should be employed to verify a product's robustness prior to its release and sale. EMC testing should be viewed not only as a regulatory requirement, but as an integral part of this essential test program as well. This paper details how one company has implemented a standard hardware suite of tests whereby EMC and EMI testing are essential parts of determining if a product is ready to meet the demands that its manufacturing partners, its field organization, and ultimately its customers, place upon it.