Growing up, Tom Mallon was certain about two things… he wanted to travel the world and he wanted to work in a job that he was passionate about.

Fast forward to 1985 and Tom took his first steps to accomplishing both these feats as he boarded a plane to the USA, where he spent the Summer months working his first ‘real job’ as a plumber’s mate in New York city, replacing faucets in Harlem and Long Island. Every 19 years old’s dream!

That first experience of working life stood Tom is good stead and he returned home with a determined mind and an aptitude to learn. With hard work and dedication, Tom successfully achieved a degree and a Masters in Engineering disciplines from two of Northern Ireland’s most prestigious Academic Institutions, Queen’s University and Ulster University.

In 1988, Tom began working for renowned manufacturer, Shorts in Belfast, where he was placed in the mechanical systems department for Dutch aircraft maker, Fokker’s wing and the Nacelle team. It was here that Tom’s love for all things aerospace began.

Following a happy, varied and extremely busy eight years at Shorts, which later became Bombardier, Tom made the move to Berlin, where he was employed by BMW Rolls Royce Aero Engines Dahlewitz (Now Rolls-Royce Germany), as a power plant installation designer. Once again working as part of the Nacelle Team, Tom held responsibility for the compliance with FAR, JAR and company regulations, ensuring the integrity of the design and installation of mechanical and electric systems associated with Engine Build Units (EBU) i.e. the systems that interface between engine and aircraft.

Continuing his allegiance with Nacelle Systems, Tom began working for GKN Westlands Aero Structures (WAE) in their Isle of Wight base, as well as in Tempe, Arizona, and Bombardier Montreal. Initially starting out as a GKN WAE Nacelle Systems Project Engineer with the company, Tom then progressed to EBU and Systems module owner.

With itchy feet, and his love of travelling and the aspiration of experiencing new cultures still prevailing, Tom was offered a chance to join the Aermacchi SpA (now part of the Finmeccanica- Alenia) team in Venegono in Italy, as an EBU technical systems Engineer and needless to say, he jumped at the chance.

Tom subsequently continued to deliver consultation engineering services to many prestigious and global companies including Aeroquip; Augusta Westland Cascina Costa, Italy, and Rolls Royce PLC in Derby.

It was then that Tom formed Nacelle Systems Consultancy, working with clients in the USA and European markets such as  Airgrup Spain divisions; Rolls Royce Deutschland; BAE Systems Prestwick / M-Jet; GEAE at Airbus Toulouse and back to where he began at Spirit (Shorts Brothers) in Belfast.

With the extensive engineering knowledge and experience he had built over many years, Tom knew the value that he had to offer the engineering sector, so he made the decision to establish Resonate Testing Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Nacelle Group in his home city of Newry in 2015. Resonate Testing has since become one of the most successful test houses for all industrial sectors, servicing clients throughout the Island of Ireland, the UK, Europe, Russia and the United States of America.

In 2020, Resonate Testing Ltd was declared a Centre of Excellence for testing components for use in space launch vehicles, being the only commercial facility on the Island of Ireland that can perform combined temperature and vibration testing up to 54kN, and SRS shock to 10,000G.

Whilst it hasn’t always been plain sailing, as is the nature of running any successful business, Tom continues to be as passionate about his work at Resonate Testing Ltd, as he was replacing faucets in New York in days gone by. Tom also credits the fantastic team that he has built around him, which now stands at 13people, and includes his wife Donna and son, Steven.

Not a bad achievement for someone who was expelled on their first day of Primary School….

Products on the market today have gone through long overall development cycles to turn that new idea into a top-notch product, prior to being in the hands of consumers. Testing plays a key role in the many stages of successfully getting a product on to the market, and we have broken it down into the three main stages below.

Development Testing:

This happens during the research and development stage of any project. Development testing is usually conducted on prototypes or even subcomponents to provide early-stage assurance that a product will not have any catastrophic failures further into the development cycle. This early-stage testing provides important data, sometimes for USP critical components, that can help give developers key insights when finalising designs and systems. These tests generally are of a shorter duration or lower severity and require less detailed reporting in the case that redesigns, and additional development tests may be required.

Qualification Testing:

With a final design in place, it’s time to think about fully qualifying your product. Depending on intended users and markets, a large suite of testing may be required to demonstrate your product’s compliance with international standards, country specific regulations, end user requirements or all of the above. Qualification testing can be conducted at the unit, subsystem, and system level on production items and is usually the final hurdle before the final full scale production decision can be made. These tests are usually the most extensive and require very detailed reporting to satisfy all regulators and customers.

Acceptance Testing:

Now that qualification testing has been completed, your product has demonstrated it is ready for the market by passing the rigorous qualification tests needed. It’s time to start manufacturing your units and get them in the hands of your customers. Before the units leave your care though, it’s important to consider a final test to ensure that your unit will survive transport or verify that no manufacturing defects have sneaked in. This is where acceptance testing comes in as a final sanity check that high quality goods are on their way to the customers.

At Resonate Testing, we have the testing capability and capacity to support you throughout your product’s design lifecycle. Our test laboratory features several mechanical, climatic and fire solutions that can test to a wide range of conditions across a broad spectrum of severities.

Our testing services are unique to the island of Ireland and can provide organisations that have any testing requirements, the opportunity to utilise our innovative capabilities and testing expertise with a high-quality service for development, qualification or acceptance testing.  Our services are available to customers locally in the UK and Ireland, as well as internationally and with the installation of high-quality live stream testing, you don’t even need to leave your office to see the testing process taking place.

Our testing capability includes:

Resonate Testing has a proven track record of development, qualification and acceptance testing in a number of industries including, but not limited to, Aerospace, Automotive, Oil and Gas, Medical Devices, Consumer Goods, Telecommunications and even Space Launcher hardware.

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