We caught up with Syuzanna our UK Technical Operations Manager, to uncover more about our Technical Testing Team and what a day in the life of our technical test lab really looks like. Read on to find out more about the team and our facilities.
We are the Technical Test Lab Team. A small team of ordinary people with a common interest in technology. Sometimes it is difficult, sometimes it is challenging, but we keep trying, keep improving our skills, and stay motivated to learn new things. We work together to do our part in maintaining and building Shields’ reputation and going forward to support the company’s goals. It can be so interesting and busy that in the test lab that time just flies by.
We test a large variety of telecoms equipment which varies based on procedures of different test types. We use different stages to test including a visual test, a power-on test, a login test and full testing. We check visually every detail to reach a standard in which you cannot tell the difference between new and refurbished, so we can keep the fault rate as low as possible. Shields is a leading company in the industry for our refurbished equipment quality. We develop our skills on daily basis and keep on track with the fast pace of technology growth in order to maintain our reputation for high-quality telecoms equipment.
As the world rapidly moves towards 5G and beyond, we do everything to make sure we are always up to date with information and knowledge. Every day we deal with so many different types of equipment to ensure we can support our customer’s changing needs.
We build testbeds, which are like staging environments, to be able to test as many different units as possible. We search for information and read technical documentation to find necessary information related to every single unit that needs testing.
Of course, we don’t forget to have fun, grab a cup of coffee, make jokes, listen to good music while working and have some good laughs during our day – we’re human after all and it helps us get over the challenges we sometimes face. Every day is different in the Test Lab, it’s challenging, it’s fun, it’s interesting and we all love it. We share information and knowledge with each other every day, and with our Labs across our other locations, so that we can solve any problems together. By working together, we become a stronger and smarter team.
So how can I describe a day in the Test Lab? The day starts by checking what orders have been picked by the Operations Team for us to test. We select orders by priority and bring them into the Lab. After reviewing the information on the paperwork, we start the testing process of the units. We do a good visual check first to identify any damages the unit may have. If the unit passes the visual check, depending on the unit type the next step is to power it on and make a local connection to test any alarms, configuration, software, and any other relevant information based on our testing procedures.
When all the units pass the testing, the order is ready to be moved out from the Lab to be processed further. During the testing phase, we can face some challenges for example making appropriate power cables for that unit type or doing research to find default login details if they are unknown, and many more things, which makes our work even more interesting as it’s different every day.
I think Shields has brought a big positive change into the industry by raising the bar for quality standards to reduce failure rates. The creation of our MarketPlace software is a brilliant idea to make life easier for telecom operators who want to save money and the planet, by buying a refurbished unit instead of a new one and we are proud to be a part of it.
To find out more about our testing facilities check out our article on the importance of testing here.