Your Test Campaigns Are Assets — Start Treating Them That Way
Testing is no longer a one-off activity. It’s an investment. And it should pay off every time you run, re-certify, or improve a product.
Testing Is Expensive — So Why Do We Treat It As Disposable?
Most engineering teams spend hundreds of thousands on validation campaigns — but treat the outcomes like throwaway reports that only serve to fulfill (customer or project) requirements or solely for certifications.
But what actually happened:
- Test specs sit in static documents or data exports. If you are lucky, your company is big enough to rework and iterate test specifications, but, the latter is rarely the case.
- Results live in disconnected files or screenshots buried in the project-folder tree of hell waiting for the next Indiana Jones to dig them up and Oppenheimer to make any sense of it.
- Expertise walks out the door with people and lessons learned are scattered across chats, mails and or the team involved.
- When a new campaign starts, we begin from scratch — again.
The result?
Putting aside the fact that validation is a mandatory step for product development, we keep paying for knowledge we already generated and we miss important iterations and optimisation.
A Mindset Shift: From Cost Center to Knowledge Asset
Imagine treating every executed test campaign as a reusable, living asset — not a one-time event.
Just like CAD files, software code, or simulation models, test campaigns contain IP — and that IP should compound over time. It reflects valuable insights that are derived from customer requirements, product specifications and market demands. After all, we are not testing for the sake of testing, are we?
Think of your testing data, reports, and workflows as:
- 📦 Product documentation
- 📚 A quality system knowledge base
- 🔁 A reusable validation asset
- 🔍 A risk mitigation tool
- 🧠 A training set for future engineers (or for those of us daring enough, ML and AI models)
And don't forget, inputs are evolve, reflecting assumption and uncertainty, and we will face iterations and deviations in the here and now of the today's test campaigns. So, how to assess that you might have already changed the specifications 10 times and made waivers or exemptions before if you cut loose any link to where it was originated? Derivatives shouldn’t be a dead end — they should trace back to the source, so every iteration builds on what came before. Or will we keep doing it simply because “that’s how we’ve always done it”?
Translating Assets into Cost Savings
| Principle | How It Prevents Loss / Creates Value | Cost Impact |
|---|---|---|
| 📦 Package (define, store, version) | Every campaign is stored as a complete, reusable unit, including configurations, limits, and procedures. | Cuts setup & preparation time by 30–40%, reducing engineer hours and chamber idle time. |
| 📚 Document (context, decisions, notes) | Avoids repeating test planning discussions; eliminates misunderstandings between teams and suppliers. | Fewer design clarification cycles, less admin back-and-forth, reducing both engineering and project management costs. |
| 🔗 Link (specs, DUT versions, results, reports) | Immediate traceability for every result back to exact product state. | Audit prep time drops from weeks to days, avoiding certification delays and penalties. |
| ♻️ Reuse (revalidate similar components) | Known-good tests for unchanged parameters can be reused without full re-run. | Prevents duplicate testing costs — especially high for chamber hours, equipment wear, and sample consumption. |
| 📈 Analyze (mine for trends) | Detect recurring failures early; focus testing on high-risk areas. | Avoids late-stage redesign costs and reduces scrap/rework expenses. |
| 🧾 Audit (instant retrieval) | Certification and customer inquiries are answered instantly with complete proof. | Reduces compliance workload and frees FTE capacity for productive work. |
The Compounding Effect
The cost benefits are not just from one area — they multiply:
- Versioning & Reuse prevents redoing work → direct OPEX savings.
- Centralized knowledge prevents delays → faster time to market.
- Traceability & instant audits prevent compliance hold-ups → revenue is realized sooner
- Analysis & optimization improve product reliability → fewer warranty claims.
Estimated Cost Savings with TFX
For a mid-sized engineering team running 15–20 battery test campaigns annually, adopting TFX can result in an average cost reduction of 37% across the testing lifecycle.
- Baseline Annual Testing Cost: ~11.455.000 EUR (Without DUT costs, recycling, warehousing, and re-testing, etc.).
- Administrative Cost Reduction (all parties involved) with TFX: ~4.238.535 EUR
The Strategic Advantage
As some closing thoughts: Everything above points to a simple truth. When you treat test campaigns as living assets, the return on every validation investment compounds.
Instead of paying for the same knowledge over and over, start:
- Cut validation costs through reuse, version control, and streamlined preparation.
- Speed up launches by removing audit bottlenecks and avoiding rebuilds from scratch.
- Strengthen product confidence with verifiable, traceable evidence for every decision.
- Grow a knowledge base that makes each new campaign faster, smarter, and more precise than the last.
This isn’t just operational efficiency — it’s a strategic advantage and shift in mindset. Testing becomes a self-funding cycle of improvement, where every iteration builds on the one before.
You reduce cost, accelerate delivery, and gain a lasting competitive edge.
📣 Let’s Stop Throwing Test Knowledge Away
Your company is already investing in testing. The question is: Are you capturing the value of that investment? With TestForge X, you can – smart, affordable, reliable.