Design guidelines and testability assessment

A major problem in the manufacture of electronic systems lies in the conflict between the demands of the designer for optimum performance and the requirements of the production engineer for adequate testability. Design for testability guidelines have been well established for many years, but are still today being urged on an apparently reluctant industry. The purpose of the guidelines is to ensure that the manufactured product is economically and efficiently testable; the main management tool for this purpose is the design and test review process, but in practice this does not seem to have been successful in preventing designs with poor testability from reaching production. The paper considers possible reasons for nonconformance with testability guidelines, and suggests changes in procedure that will allow management to exert more effective control on the process