// BUYER FAQ
The questions asked before the first order.
Short, verifiable answers drawn from our conditions of sale, our quality system and the way we work. Where a figure depends on your configuration we say so, and it appears on the quotation.
Ordering and lead times
What happens between the request for quotation and the delivery.
What is the lead time?
It depends on the configuration. A catalogue configuration ships faster than a customised one, which goes through a definition review before production. The lead time is stated on every quotation; give us your need-by date with the request and we build the proposal around it, including the export formalities when they apply.
Can I order a configuration that is not in the catalogue?
Yes. Channel counts, interfaces and housings are chosen per reference, and configurations outside the standard tables are designed on request. A customised configuration is frozen in a definition document before production, so what you receive is what was agreed.
How is the equipment delivered?
Our sales are made FCA ETEP premises under Incoterms: the equipment is packed, tested and made available at our factory, and we organise the transport of your choice on request. The shipping documents, including what a customs clearance needs, travel with the parcel.
What documents come with a delivery?
The delivery note, the acceptance test report of each serialised unit, the installation and operating manuals, and the certificate of conformity to the order. Qualification evidence and design documents are provided separately, under confidentiality agreement.
Export and compliance
Where the products stand with regard to export control and standards.
Are your products subject to export control?
The export classification depends on the configuration, in particular on the encryption and secure-erase options. We establish it at quotation stage, state it on the quotation together with any licence requirement, and supply the technical documentation your authorities or ours may ask for. Raise the destination and the end use with the request for quotation: a licence, when needed, sets the schedule.
Which standards are your products qualified to?
Environmental qualification follows DO-160 in its edition G, whatever edition a specification quotes, and MIL-STD-810 methods for the programmes that require them; EMC follows DO-160 sections 20 and 21 or MIL-STD-461; power quality follows MIL-STD-704. Crash-protected recorders are tested to ED-112A or ED-155. The company is certified EN 9100 v2018 and ISO 9001 v2015.
Do you provide a certificate of conformity?
Every delivery is accompanied by a certificate of conformity to the order and the applicable definition, signed by our quality department, with the acceptance test report of each unit.
Warranty and support
What ETEP commits to once the equipment is yours.
What is the warranty?
Two years from delivery against any defect of material, manufacture or design, as set out in our general conditions of sale. A defective unit is repaired or replaced after examination in our workshop. The warranty does not cover damage from use outside the product specification, from a modification made without our agreement, or from an accident.
What do I do if a unit fails?
Describe the case to support with the product and its serial number; we return a return authorisation with the shipping and customs instructions, examine the unit, quote anything outside the warranty before doing it, and send the unit back tested with its report. The whole procedure is written on the Support page.
Do you calibrate the equipment?
Yes, in the factory, on request, on test equipment itself calibrated by an accredited metrology laboratory. The unit comes back with its calibration report. The interval is yours to set according to your quality system; we advise on it.
Is the software included?
D.T.MUX Viewer, the replay and live visualisation software, is free and downloadable from the site. The configuration and maintenance tools are supplied with the equipment they serve. Software versions are listed on the Support page.
Do you train our operators?
On request: hands-on training on the equipment and the software, at your site or remotely, sized to the installation. Ask for it with the quotation so that it is planned with the delivery.
Longevity and obsolescence
How long an ETEP system stays supported once installed.
How long do you support a product?
For as long as it is in service. Equipment delivered in the mid-2000s is still tracked, repaired and calibrated today, and more than a thousand systems are followed in customer fleets. Each unit is identified by its serial number, which is what makes long-term support possible.
What happens when a component becomes obsolete?
Obsolescence is managed as a design risk: long-life components are preferred at design stage, and when a part disappears it is replaced by a form, fit and function equivalent qualified against the original definition. When a change affects how a product is ordered or operated, it is published as a product notice on the Support page, with a last-time-buy date when relevant.
Do you have reliability data?
A reliability prediction, the computed MTBF under a stated environment, exists per product and is provided on request. It is a figure to compare designs and size spares, not a commitment for a single unit.
Documentation and confidentiality
What is public, what is shared, and under which conditions.
What documentation is public?
Datasheets, product notices, the part-number decoder, the software manuals and the certificates are on the site. Installation, operating and maintenance manuals come with the equipment and are sent to equipped customers on request.
How is qualification evidence shared?
Qualification test reports, declarations of design and performance and statements of similarity exist for each product. They describe test levels and, sometimes, the programmes they were written for, so they are shared under confidentiality agreement and never quoted from one customer to another.
Do you sign non-disclosure agreements?
Yes, ours or yours, before any exchange of specifications or drawings. Documents you send us stay within the project team, and nothing learnt on one programme is reused for another.
A question missing?
Ask it: an engineer answers, and if it comes up often it joins this page.
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