Global safety science company, UL, has announced the footprint expansion of its facility in Fremont, California to address the growing demand for testing and certification services across a wide range of industry segments.
The multi-million-dollar expansion added a state-of-the-art 39,000-square-foot building to the campus, making it one of the largest Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) and Wireless testing laboratories in North America. At a total of 178,900 square feet, the expanded facility enables UL to service a more diverse range of products for customers across the automotive, medical, industrial products, lighting, and appliance industries. This expansion adds a new range of capabilities in addition to the current Consumer technology, ITE and Mobile & Telecommunications segments that UL already currently services.
The expansion, according to Ghislain Devouge, Global Vice President and General Manager of consumer technology for UL, will offer a seamless end-to-end service solution with unparalleled technical expertise, helping customers navigate risk and enabling greater speed-to-market for their products and solutions.
The expanded facility equips UL to fast-track project fulfillment by offering significant testing capacity and capability, state-of-the-art technology, automated data collection, custom-designed test chambers and immediate access to technical experts across a multitude of disciplines – all within one campus. The addition of a 10-m Semi-Anechoic chamber to the Silicon Valley location provides convenience and capability for design engineers and product developers in the local area to work with UL as a partner throughout every step of the process of getting to market, from sending prototypes, to witnessing testing and getting real-time reports, and addressing compliance issues before production.
UL's Fremont campus specializes in helping manufacturers prepare their product for testing and understanding and meeting the necessary regulatory requirements for EMC and Wireless, radio performance, radio frequency (RF) exposure and safety. This expanded testing capacity has transformed the facility into a one-stop service provider, allowing UL to offer customers immediate access to technical experts across multiple EMC and Wireless disciplines with in-depth industry knowledge, while also leveraging the latest equipment to optimize test processes across an increased scope.
When regulations change, manufacturers may have to conduct new testing even if their products are already in the market. Additionally, manufacturers who add wireless capability to existing products for IoT and medical applications also have to meet the complex and varied wireless regulatory requirements in their intended markets.
The new building is less than a mile from the current laboratory, which is located at 47173 Benicia Street in Fremont; combined, the campus now includes 16 Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) systems, 10 3-meter chambers, two 5-meter chambers and a state-of-the-art 10-meter chamber, empowering clients to go to market in compliance, on time and in a cost-effective manner.
This significant expansion with additional EMC, Wireless and SAR capacity, complements the current campus in Fremont which already encompasses product safety, optical radiation/laser testing, Wireless protocol, interoperability, quality and a two-story house dubbed the "Living Lab" where manufacturers can test devices to ensure they are interoperable and can communicate with other connected products in a centralized real-world environment.
