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Customer Solutions

Creating a Global Manufacturing Test System for Fixed-Wireless Telephones Using NI LabWindows/CVI

Author(s):

Bill Crook, CSI Wireless

Industry:

Telecommunications

Product:

LabWindows/CVI

The Challenge:

Developing and testing complex configure-to-order, fixed-wireless telephones (FWT) in geographically dispersed locations while ensuring the functionality and parametric quality as specified by the end user.

The Solution:

Building a real-time system to track all stages of the production flow at different manufacturing plants around the world including assembly, configuration, testing, packing, and shipping using a global test system developed with NI LabWindows/CVI and SigmaQuest SigmaSure.


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Global testing environment reduces time to find, fix, and avoid product quality problems.

Designing and Manufacturing Fixed-Wireless Telephones
CSI Wireless (CSI) designs and manufactures FWT to each customer’s unique specifications. Subassemblies and systems are manufactured by different contract manufactures (CM) in multiple global sites. One plant manufactures keypad, display, and radio and the other provides final assembly and testing. CSI can remotely manage the testing and production of phones using test software developed with NI LabWindows/CVI and SigmaQuest SigmaSure. Using the solution, pass/fail and parametric test results for each unit are collected and made available in real-time through the Web. SigmaSure Analysis/SPC is used for trending and ensuring process and product quality.

Meeting System Requirements
CSI FWT is a powerful wireless phone that provides the signal strength and voice quality of landline phones. FWT is "fixed" because it connects to standard AC wall outlets rather than to portable batteries and is "wireless" because it relies on cellular rather than landline networks. FWT is typically employed in developing countries because they can bypass the traditional copper landline to address the “last-mile” problem.

CSI’s FWT manufacturing is performed by a single CM or is coordinated between multiple CMs. However, all manufacturing plants assemble, configure, test, pack, and ship the products according to parameters provided by CSI’s customer.

To support the FWT production flow, CSI needed a system to track all stages of the production flow at each plant including assembly, configuration, testing, packing, and shipping. The system needed to track product performance for both FWT components (keypad boards, display boards, radio boards) as well as finished products. The system also needed to support monitoring of plant purchase orders while providing product quality data to the CMs and CSI’s global team to facilitate collaboration during the entire production process.
The organizational requirements included:

  • The engineering team needed real-time data for monitoring and analyzing production data such as device test results.
  • Production control personnel required real-time data for monitoring the status of production requests.
  • Plant managers and technicians needed data in order to coordinate plant processes such as product assembly, configuration, testing, packing, and shipping.
  • Quality control personnel needed data for monitoring and analyzing various performance issues.


Developing Test Software with NI LabWindows/CVI
CSI developed test software using NI LabWindows/CVI running on a Windows OS. This test environment is used to test product validity at each step of production. It is integrated with NI Alliance Partner SigmaQuest’s SigmaSure to facilitate configure-to-order manufacturing as well as real-time global data collection and analysis. Using SigmaSure, CSI extracts the customer specified configuration from the Purchase Order. This information is used to drive the test sequence while the test data is collected and correlated from each process regardless of location.

To reduce the time to production, CSI chose to integrate its test environment with SigmaQuest SigmaSure because:

  • It is written in Java and is easily deployed in distributed environments regardless of the hardware and software that is used at each site. SigmaSure is multithreaded for high performance and maximum portability. With SigmaSure, CSI can capture, aggregate, and analyze all of their data from the various manufacturing sites.
  • It is Web-architected to support global teams. SigmaSure utilizes Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) to exchange information in a decentralized, distributed environment and uses Web Services for application-to-application communication over the Web. Using SigmaSure, CSI engineers can easily collect and store test results in highly structured XML format designed for viewing documents over the Web. They can access the data from any location using a Web browser.
  • The database is configured to support almost any hierarchical data generated from CSI production. The data from test stations and plants is continuously synchronized and correlated. The database is easily maintained, and when the CSI engineer changes a diagnostic, the database is automatically updated to support the new parameters.
  • CSI product performance data – diagnostic pass/fail, parametric, and quality data – is stored in the SigmaSure database with product genealogy to facilitate problem isolation. Using SigmaSure’s real-time analysis and SPC tools, CSI engineers can interrogate the data, look for trends, and manage production processes. They can use SigmaSure’s multidimensional analysis to pinpoint whether the unit under test, the fixture, or the test station is failing.
  • It collects and aggregates data from dispersed manufacturing plants and also pushes data back to the remote factories. New firmware or specs (upper and lower limits), for example, can be sent to specific plants via the Web.


Improving Product Quality and Increasing Customer Satisfaction
Using this global test system, CSI has dramatically reduced the time required to find, fix, and avoid product quality problems. Because the system is designed to support distributed environments, CSI can easily extend their test and manufacturing network to supply chain entities. This enables CSI to better manage and streamline their manufacturing process, suppliers, and customers.

Other benefits include:

  • Higher customer satisfaction: The CSI team has access to their CMs factory floors and the associated test and production data on a 24-hour, seven-days a week basis. This information in addition to SPC results (Cp, Cpk) are also available to end customers to ensure product compliance.
  • Improved product quality and performance: analyzing the real-time data from constant monitoring of the manufacturing testers highlights problems and helps identify potential improvements.
  • Integrated real-time reporting and alarms: this solution offers a faster and more concise information flow. There is no need to feed or integrate this data manually to third-party tools such as Excel or Crystal Reports. Real-time analysis and insights have replaced manually generated reports.
  • Fast return on investment and low cost of ownership: product and production feedback loops have been substantially shortened. This reduces CSI’s overall cost and time-to-revenue.


Using NI test solutions integrated with SigmaSure, CSI delivered high-quality products to their customers in the fastest time possible and at the lowest cost.

For more information, contact:
Bill Crook, CSI Wireless
Nader Fathi, SigmaQuest
info@sigmaquest.net