Business is good these days for wireless radio component manufacturer VertiCom, Inc. Not surprisingly, things are humming around the company's Santa Rosa, California manufacturing facilities too. Meeting booming demand for its permanent magnet YIG synthesizers and converters means VertiCom often keeps production running around the clock, and there is little sign of a slowdown.

For manufacturers of many products, stepping up production involves little more than adding overnight shifts. But VertiCom's point-to-point and satellite communications components are complex products destined for critical communications tasks. So, much of the manufacturing process is spent in rigorous and intricate product testing.

"TestMart is the most responsive company I've ever worked with."
-- Kevin Jones

"We build very specialized products for a market that is growing by leaps and bounds," explains Kevin Jones, manufacturing supervisor at VertiCom. "Our test capacity is essential to maintaining high quality, but it can also determine our weekly output. Test is an absolutely critical part of getting product out the door."

Test Depends on Instruments

The importance of product testing also makes test equipment performance critical. Manufacturing cannot be crippled by the failure of one of the company's many frequency counters, spectrum analyzers, or oscilloscopes, and when a failure does occur, the company has to obtain a replacement immediately.

"Even with the redundancy of multiple test stations, losing any test capability affects our production numbers," says Jones. "In fact, one of our key phase transient tests has to run 24 hours-a-day, so if one station goes down we have to initiate a replacement search immediately. Having a source that can help us find what we need and deliver fast is a big asset. We count on TestMart to fulfill that need."

"TestMart makes it easy to establish availability of a products and then follow through with a transaction."
-- Kevin Jones

Faster Equipment Acquisition Means More Uptime

TestMart's benefits are twofold for Jones and his team. Not only is equipment delivered quickly to minimize downtime, but Jones can find what he's looking for in TestMart's impressive product databases in a fraction of the time required to compare and select products using catalogs.

"I spend 80 to 90 percent of my time on the manufacturing floor," explains Jones. "I can't afford to sit at my desk with a bunch of catalogs or waste time on a cumbersome Internet search. TestMart makes it easy to establish availability of a product, and then follow through with a transaction."

Content, Support Keep VertiCom Coming Back

TestMart also makes a wealth of information and support available after the transaction so time saved acquiring equipment isn't wasted on calibration or set up. "And TestMart is the most responsive company I've ever worked with" says Jones. "The service is excellent, they were proactive in checking to see if our equipment is up and running, and they�re available by phone if we do get into a jam."

"I've almost never stumped TestMart when it came to finding equipment, and it's impressive how service-oriented they are, regardless of how big or small our order is."