Performance Compliance Success

Key Elements to Assure a Well-

Developed Verification Plan for

Your Battery Powered Device

Presented by: Cindy Millsaps

Energy Assurance LLC September 18, 2012

Overview

• Why develop a verification and regulatory plan • What are the key considerations in developing a

verification and regulatory plan • How to integrate a verification and compliance

plan into your process and overcoming implementation roadblocks

• What tools are available to help

Why have a plan?

• Risk Mitigation

– Performance verification

– Compliance verification

= Success

Performance Verification

• Use Environment

• User Experience

• Design Specification

• Foreseeable Misuse

Use Environment

Outdoor Use Vehicular Use

Handheld or Wearable Use

• What will the battery be exposed to in normal use?

And • How will it perform under these conditions?

User Experience

Consumer products • Direct end user

feedback/input

• What does the end user or the direct customer expect from the battery? – Dis-satisfiers – Perception versus reality

Commercial products • Limited or no access to

user information

Your Specification

Cycle life Capacity

Fit

• What do you say your product will do? And

• How can you prove the product can do it?

Foreseeable Misuse

Water exposure Opening with a tool Rigged connectors

• What might an end customer do to your battery that is not intended?

And • What will happen when they do?

Compliance Verification

Compliance verification is done for many different reasons:

• Shipping/transportation regulations

• Country/regional laws/codes

• End product driven requirements

• Customer requirements

• Market differentiation

Shipping/Transportation Regulations

• What battery shipping regulations apply: – By chemistry – When shipped alone – When shipped with other equipment – For prototypes – For air transport

• When is re-test required for changes to the product?

When does the testing need to be completed?

Country/Regional Laws and Codes

• Where is the product going to ship? – What areas/countries are priority? – How will the battery be imported? – How long will the approvals take to complete?

Be Realistic

End Product Driven Requirements

• What end product will use the battery and how does this change my compliance verification needs? – Information technology equipment (ITE) – Cellular products – Medical devices – Energy Storage application – Automotive application

Know your end product customers requirements

Customer Driven Requirements

• What approvals does the customer expect or require the battery to have? (Even if it is not “required” for a battery)

– International compliance • CB Scheme report or • 3rd party verification/certification without CB or • Self declared with data

– UL standards compliance • UL or • Other Nationally Recognized Test Laboratory (NRTL)

Market Differentiation

• Can you set yourself apart by having a certification that others do not? – Proven safer – Globally compliant certifications – Higher performance

• Is it worth the time and cost?

– Is your customer base educated on the certifications

Integrating a Verification and Compliance Plan

• Create a checklist for verification and compliance • Understand what stage of design completion is

needed to start testing and verification • Build it into your schedule with room for the

unforeseeable issues

Make it a real priority

But don’t over-complicate it

Implementation Roadblocks

• Business discipline

• Buy in from decision makers

• Strong customer voice

RISKS • Does not comply with global regulatory • Does not meet customer requirements • Does not align with customer regulatory needs

• Customary state of operations – Short design cycle – Testing scheduled condensed – Regulatory considered after design is final

Business Discipline

RESULT: REDESIGN – DELAY – ADDED COST – UNHAPPY CUSTOMER

Buy-in from Decision Makers

• Leadership team must be behind the process

– Understand risks in not preparing

– Not just give it “lip service”

– Assign responsibilities - Accountability

– Take ownership

Change the culture

Where To Go for Help?

• The Web – Battery Directive – UN Manual Rev6 – Transport FAQ – Battery Power Article – Large format link – Safety Link

• Your test lab expert • Your design checklist

• Questions?