Manufacturing test engineers design and develop test procedures and equipment to ensure quality and reliability of electronic products. They also analyze test results, make recommendations for improvements, and serve as liaisons between different departments. A bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering or computer science is typically required.
In the electronics manufacturing industry, products must be tested at various stages of the process to ensure they work properly. A manufacturing test engineer designs the test procedures that will be used to test a product. Test engineers may design manual test procedures, but most quality testing is done through various automated systems. Often the test engineer will design the test equipment and write the programming code that will run the test and report errors. Manufacturing test engineers can also fulfill training and management duties, as well as serving as liaisons between design teams, costing teams, and upper management.
The overall objective of a manufacturing test engineer is quality assurance. Engineers must constantly strive to design electronic equipment that is reliable, economical to manufacture, and efficient in design and function. A qualified test engineer saves the company money by identifying problems early in the design process, before mass manufacturing begins. Throughout the development process, from initial design to final product, the test engineer plays a vital role in producing the highest quality and most competitive results for the company.
One of the main jobs of the manufacturing test engineer is to identify the components of each product, determine how best to test the component, and design a system or process to perform the test. Manufacturing Test Engineers will ensure that product assembly allows for efficient automated testing and will often contribute to the design of initial assembly methods. Then the engineers will design and sometimes create the equipment and machines that will actually perform the test. This process also includes writing the programming code that will operate the machine, interpret the results, and collect the resulting data for analysis.
Once the test process has been designed, the engineer or engineers will be responsible for training and supervising the test team, running the tests and analyzing the results. These results provide information about the product itself as well as the effectiveness of the test procedure. The testing process may require repeated rework and refinement of steps in order to resolve any issues and improve the efficiency of operations. A test engineer must have observational, analytical and creative skills to diagnose and overcome these problems.
After observing and analyzing the test results, the manufacturing test engineer usually prepares reports and makes recommendations for improvements. Quality testing potentially affects every aspect of manufacturing, from design, material selection and costing, assembly order and packaging, to post-market marketing and customer service. A test engineer is often the liaison between many different departments and teams and must be able to communicate effectively with a wide variety of people.
Most manufacturing test engineer positions require a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering or computer science. Higher-level management positions may require a master’s degree or higher, and most require several years of experience in addition to education. Depending on the type of product being produced and the development phase the engineer is working in, additional skills may be required in cost analysis, customer service and team building.
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