Achieving Further Quality Improvements

Quality Center Opened
in December 2013

Equipped with the equipment and expert staff necessary to ensure safe and user-friendly products can be delivered to customers.

In December 2013, Quality Center was opened as a central collection of our internal equipment and functionality for ensuring quality at every stage of the product life cycle, from design and development to manufacturing, and for strengthening and improving quality in the marketplace. The approximately 5,500 m2 three-story steel frame building expands our facilities for evaluating quality, such as by testing safety during the development stage, and for improving operability. In addition, it is equipped with equipment and staffed with experts for supporting quality control during the manufacturing stage or for analyzing and resolving any problems that occur in the marketplace.

Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) means electromagnetic interference between electrical devices. It involves both reducing any influence that electromagnetic waves generated from electrical devices may have on other devices in the surrounding area and also increasing the ability of electrical devices to resist malfunction caused by exposure to electromagnetic waves from the surrounding environment. For example, it tests whether or not Shimadzu products could be activated by electromagnetic waves, such as from a mobile phone or from a large number of Shimadzu products placed side-by-side. These tests are conducted in a room that is unaffected by external electromagnetic waves, referred to an anechoic chamber. Quality Center has three anechoic chambers of various size, including one compatible with the 10-meter method. This means tests can be performed for compliance with regulations specified in any country or region.

(1)Temperature and Humidity Testing

Products or parts are subjected to various temperature or humidity loads to confirm their resistance to such loads. For example, conditions are simulated to test whether or not systems malfunction when exposed to temperature or humidity levels that exceed specifications by a given margin.

(2)Vacuum Testing

In a vacuum, even slight amounts of contaminants remaining on parts can negatively affect product performance due to the extremely low number of gas molecules. Therefore, specialized equipment is used for testing.

(3)Endurance Testing

Products include parts that are used on a daily basis, such as covers, doors, cables, and switches. Therefore, these parts are tested using specialized testing instruments that open and close the covers and doors several tens of thousands of cycles to verify that the product will still function properly after several years of use.

(4)Vibration Testing

Rail, truck, or other modes of transportation may be used to ship products to the customer. For example, products are tested assuming they are exposed to a variety of vibration stresses, such as being transported over a bumpy road. However, since products are normally loaded on environmentally friendly all-cardboard pallets, that is the type used for testing.

(1)Safety Testing

To ensure that products can be used safely, they are tested to verify they comply with safety standards. Therefore, we even test products to determine whether or not they could cause an electric shock to customers in the event of exposure to abnormal voltages, such as lightening, for example.

(2)Environmental Testing

Tests are performed to verify whether a problem that occurred in the product's electrical circuits could cause a fire or whether products designed to be waterproof will function safely when exposed to water.

Usability evaluation verifies that products and services are easy to use. Quality Center includes a specialized facility for usability testing. It features a separate room where monitors from within and outside the company can be observed through a one-way mirror to evaluate the safety and ease-of-use of products and services. Usability testing is performed to ensure products and services are safe, easy to use, and can be used without worry.