A Powerhouse in the Safety Certification Industry
Situated on Woodbine Avenue just north of Stouffville Road, is a modern facility that stands out from its neighbours. With the majority of windows on the second floor, it’s hard to determine what’s happening in the 25,000 SF building, but TÜV SÜD, a Munich-based company, opened its doors to OTR to showcase its state of the art testing facility. TÜV SÜD is in the business of testing product safety and compatibility before devices reach the market and can be used by the public.
They test everything from cellphones, subway kiosks, to medical equipment such as ventilators – the list can go on exponentially. TÜV SÜD is an international organization with over 25,000 employees globally and 1,000 in North America. The Stouffville office tests hundreds of devices every year, many made in Canada, but with a large international clientele as well.
Walking into TÜV SÜD, one can really experience what a big tech campus would feel like, which is a selling feature that Steven Lee, the Regional Manager, said he was going for when the facility was constructed in 2012. Steven graduated from Dalhousie University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and has worked in the regulatory testing industry for the last 19 years.
After moving to Toronto, Steven and his brother formed a consulting and testing company that provided tremendous opportunities in the industry. Being in a smaller shop, they were able to sharpen their skills in the regulatory testing industry, and the rewards for being an expert in their field while also providing excellent customer service were realized from the get-go. This opportunity allowed Steven to educate the client through the testing process, as well as bringing their products to the finish line. After being purchased by a large conglomerate in the testing industry four years ago, these philosophies still hold true. Customer service is what separates TÜV SÜD from its competition.
What also separates TÜV SÜD from the competition is the guts of the facility. Most labs are very small and confined, single-storey and devoid of colour. Here the walls are painted bright green, games tables throughout, and to be honest you get a bit of a tropical vibe with the monkey and sail hanging from the ceiling. Behind these fun chattels, the facility is packaged with every sort of electronic testing equipment and test chamber imaginable, which speaks to the seriousness of the work that is done here. They’re in the business of safety as it relates to light, fire, shock, mechanical, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and electromagnetic interferences (EMI) which is their bread and butter.
The main features of the facility are two large chambers, both for testing wireless devices and electronics for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC). Each chamber’s exterior is lined with metal and in the interior an array of radio-absorbent blocks and tiles. This creates a nearly radio-silent environment and also allows for the engineers using the chamber to look for transmissions and interferences that are emitted from a device. All devices have standards for the frequencies that they can emit because if they transmit outside that spectrum, they might interfere with medical equipment, hearing aids, wireless devices, radio transmissions, etc. Likewise, all equipment has standards for what interference they must be immune to, so they behave normally in today’s environment of wireless devices. Inside the EMC chamber, the engineers at TÜV SÜD place a device to be tested on a turntable in front of an antenna. The antenna moves up and down, either emitting or detecting various wavelengths of radio waves to determine how well protected a device is from electromagnetic interference (EMI). If a device stops working normally because of a wavelength that it would see in normal use, that is a failure. While testing is happening, engineers can’t be in the chamber, so they use a host of cameras, sensors, and probes to determine how the device is reacting.
While many other facilities issue a report stating if a device has failed or not, TÜV SÜD goes above and beyond, working with the client on a solution when a failure happens while being objective to the technical standards and acting independently. With skilled electrical and mechanical engineers in-house who have tremendous hands-on experience, and a debugging chamber available, products coming through TÜV SÜD can be upgraded on the spot to ensure testing doesn’t have to be redone which can potentially lead to weeks of manufacturing delays.
Along with testing products for EMC and EMI, mechanical testing is also done in the facility. From ensuring that little fingers can’t reach past the cage of a fan, to rigorously testing products that claim to operate at extreme temperatures or that they’re waterproof, TÜV SÜD has the equipment to verify these sorts of claims before issuing certification.
With TÜV SÜD being only one of ten testing houses in the industry, they’re a business that is always in demand. With their exceptional customer service and philosophical approach to product development and certification, it’s no wonder that they have experienced strong growth over the years and that there is no sign that things are slowing down anytime soon.
