• Consumables Testing, Research

  • T6

Testing

Selecting an experienced partner that you can trust is important to maintaining the quality, performance, and reliability of your brand. We have been the product testing vendor of choice for some of the best-known brands for over a decade. Why? Clients tell us it’s our excellent service quality and exceptional ability to identify problems and faults, down to the smallest details. We also identify the root cause and offer solutions through product design, material changes, and quality control. We don’t just offer pass/fail, we offer qualitative and quantitative information to engineers, engineering managers, brand managers, market researchers, business executives/owners, sales management, and others who need unbiased and professional test results.

Field Testing Research

Field Validation Testing

Also known as Beta testing, Field Validation Testing places products in real-world environments and can reveal faults not yet seen in internal lab testing. We are a market leader in this beneficial testing process. Our methodology and experience has helped identify problems for prominent brands that surely would have spelled market disaster.

New products are tested in varying forms of commercial readiness from prototype to pilot production to pre-market launch. Be it local, regional, or even national, we can get the product placed, scrutinize every attribute, and obtain valuable feedback from your target markets. We perform observations of end users, interviews, electromechanical performance evaluations, consumption rate studies, and more.

Testing instruments - tools for obtaining measurements in lab testing

Lab Testing

Pushing products to their structural limits in a controlled environment is often the only way to know what they can handle. Bending and breaking things is invaluable, and we (intentionally) do it with great regularity. Whether performing a single test for a client or part of a complete product development program, the rationale remains the same — find the breaking point. We believe it’s best to test it, fix it, test it again, and repeat until it’s right.

If you don’t have a test protocol, we can write it from scratch. So many products that we have touched over the years have been made considerably better because of our keen ability to quickly and thoroughly evaluate their performance and remedy the identified deficiencies. Some tests have spanned an entire year to determine long-term performance, which translates into competitive advantages for clients now armed with proven new data, features, and benefits.

Certification Agencies

Agency Approval Testing

In order to obtain agency approval from UL, CSA, ETL, NSF or others, pre-testing must be performed to ensure the product can pass all of the required criteria. Understanding these requirements significantly influences the product design, and these testing criteria need to be known as early as possible in the design phase.

It can be daunting to even understand what tests need to be performed, or exactly how the test is executed. It’s like trying to interpret another language. After testing is completed, the follow-up phase ensures long-term compliance at the manufacturing source.

All of these aspects require time to manage and funding to achieve. We can run the entire program for you, or work with you to navigate the complicated world of obtaining (and maintaining) agency approval.

Stress crack on a product - Issue revealed with life testing

Life Cycle Testing

What should the warranty be for a given product: one year, three years, five years?
How long will a product last?
What will replacement or warranty costs be?

Life testing of products reveals the number of cycles a product can handle before it fails. MTBF (mean time between failures) is determined through extensive testing and is necessary to understand if the product is adequately designed, produced, and quality-controlled, influencing its life and warranty-related costs. We can design and build fixtures and apparatus to test a product’s life or measure its performance in just about any manner possible. You can have peace of mind knowing your quality, brand, and costs are in your control.

Testing Services We Offer

Lab Product Validation Testing

  • Test Fixture Design and Build
  • Mechanical Push or Pull to 10,000 pounds
  • Burst Pressure Testing
  • Flow Rate Measurement at Pressures
  • Positive and Negative Pressure Application
  • Mechanical Performance Testing
  • Electromechanical Performance Testing
  • Ergonomic/Human Loading Studies
  • Agency Approval Testing

Product Life Testing

  • MTBF/MTTF Determination
  • Wear Rate Research
  • Cleaning Effectiveness Testing

Field Validation Testing (National)

  • Product Placement
  • Product Performance Evaluation
  • Surveys & Interviews
  • End-User Preference & Opinions
  • Consumption Rate Studies