Product category:
Production Services
News Release from: TUV Product Service
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 20 October 2000
TUV PS acquires former IBM test lab
TUV Product Service has acquired the laboratory and testing assets of the Technology Services Division of Teleplan, initially the principal product development and package test lab of IBM
TUV Product Service has acquired the laboratory and testing assets of the Havant-based Technology Services Division of Teleplan Initially set up as the principal product development and package test laboratory of IBM, these extensive test facilities have come into TUV ownership via a succession of acquisitions
"While we already have some packaging test capability at Fareham, to fully address manufacturers' needs for a packaging assessment service covering all the relevant standards demands specialist test equipment previously beyond our scope", comments David Wilson, head of TUV Product Service's Test Operations.
"The acquisition of Teleplan's assets, valued at ?1/2million, substantially expands our testing capability in this area, and enables us to integrate an additional important aspect of quality assurance into our services to customers." The test service continues to operate from the 670sq.m Havant laboratory and returned to full productivity at the beginning of May.
Facilities which enable TUV Product Service to evaluate product fragility and undertake packaging testing and research include vibration, shock, compression, temperature and humidity test equipments, as well as more unusual items such as a tilt table and side impact test system.
Most of these facilities are installed with their moving platforms at floor level, which allows safe, timely and effective work on samples up to 2.1m x 1.2m and weighing up to 1360kg.
Many blue chip companies are numbered among the laboratory's customers.
A longstanding customer is Xerox Europe; its packaging technologist in the Packaging and Distribution Engineering Division, Barry Saggers, welcomes the acquisition: "Xerox places a very high profile on the ability to correctly evaluate the suitability of packaging designs for delivery, and tests each to ensure that it can withstand the many different stresses encountered during shipment.
Xerox has benefited from the Teleplan test facility and its expert technicians for eight years.
Customer satisfaction is top priority, and we enjoy a competitive daily rate and flexible working arrangements.
"Following the announcement of the closure of Teleplan's test operation, we benchmarked other service suppliers in this field, and discovered that the facilities that best suit Xerox are available nowhere else.
We are therefore delighted that the facility will continue to operate under TUV Product Service ownership, and believe that the company will provide the stability and financial backing to ensure that Havant remains a quality facility in terms of both personnel and equipment." David Wilson continues: "We will perpetuate the flexible service which has proved popular with Teleplan's customers and is based on a 'pay and play' concept.
This will allow packaging designers or product developers to cost-effectively combine any mix of test techniques to thoroughly examine the performance of their products at a single daily rate.
"In particular, customers can have complete confidence in a service which is based on 50 years' experience of interpreting and applying standards, and developing and implementing test r?gimes for assessing product worthiness." TUV Product Service is one of the world's leading independent testing and certification organisations, employing 1500 people in 30 countries and working across a wide range of industrial sectors including defence and aerospace, IT, consumer, medical and transportation.
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