Analysing in-field failures

Identifying electronics failures fast

At some stage every company will experience in-field product failures. In some instances, it can be difficult to pinpoint the cause and predict the timing or frequency of failures across the in-field population. The cost to remediate – for example a product recall – can be substantial and damage a company's brand and business. The stakes are even higher in safety critical environments, where the consequence of failures can be especially serious.

Our customers typically turn to us when:

• the potential impact of failure is especially high
• the environment is harsh, often high temperature, humidity or voltage
• the nature of the failure is notoriously hard to profile, such as intermittent faults or NFF (No Fault Found)

We provide a prompt and efficient initial triage process, usually completed within two working days:

1. Customer provides PCB assemblies (production and failed samples) with details of environmental context and initial findings
2. Initial review of available samples and documentation
3. Application of NPL's knowledge of known failure modes and identifying those that are most relevant
4. Summary of findings and recommendations

We can then carry out a full investigation according to agreed scope, cost and timings.

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