Original Date: 02/19/2007
Revision Date: / /

Standard test equipment at Raytheon’s Network Centric Systems facilities in Fort Wayne, Indiana and Largo, Florida, is used for module and radio-level testing and troubleshooting across multiple radio platforms that provide economies of scale while increasing collaboration.

Raytheon’s Network Centric Systems (NCS) Fort Wayne, Indiana facility is a design center that conducts the engineering work prior to its transition to production at the NCS Manufacturing Center in Largo, Florida. Part of this work is the development of the testing required for a product by NCS Fort Wayne that is realized at the NCS Manufacturing Center in Largo. The development of the testing includes identifying the automated test equipment (ATE) that will be used by the Largo facility.

In the past, special test equipment was developed for each product and ranged from unique test sets to different combinations of ATE. The development process, however, exhibited some systemic problems as it evolved that included a lack of a centralized data collection system, low or no visibility of manufacturing failures, and the lack of diagnostic tools for the technician. It also did not lend itself to monitoring supplier performance.

The new process uses standard test equipment located at both the NCS Fort Wayne and Largo facilities that is centered on the FSC0077 station and is used for module and radio-level testing and troubleshooting. The stations are used across multiple radio platforms, such as AN/ARC-222, Spitfire, Starblazer, and Skyfire, and managed by a Shared Resource Manager (SRM). The SRM stores the test data and provides diagnostic tools that can be used by engineering for statistical analysis. The test data is mirrored at NCS Fort Wayne to provide near real-time parametric data to the design engineers. While the SRM is supervising the FSC0077 stations, it is also collecting data from the Environment Stress Screening stations for analysis.

NCS plans to develop standard testers that can be used at multiple sites. Plans are also in place to move more module functional testing to the circuit card assembly subcontractor. Continued evolution of standard test equipment includes developing new NCS business unit standard tools that are more World Wide Web- and network-friendly and can be used by all NCS sites. These new stations will be capable of operating at multiple sites. Additionally, a more robust partnership with suppliers is planned to allow for increased testing at the supplier.

Since the standard test equipment can be shared by multiple programs, it is cost-effective and provides opportunities to increase manufacturing yields and monitor supplier performance. Since the test data is mirrored at Fort Wayne, this process has increased the collaboration between design and manufacturing and facilitates the establishment of the proper test limits for the products.

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.