The lab, which opened on 11 April 2013, provides testing services for a broad range of consumer products including household electronics.
Since its opening the number of employees at the facility has doubled from 80 to more than 160, and its international business and links to other TÜV SÜD laboratories worldwide have increased significantly, the certification company said.
The 15 million-euro Garching lab was built after the company ran out of space to expand the testing capacities at its existing facilities in nearby Munich.
"We established a modern and efficient testing infrastructure here and created ideal conditions for the expansion of our capacities”, said laboratory head Dr Martin Rempfer.
The 3,600 square-meter Garching site includes laboratory and testing facilities as well as accompanying offices. Among its testing facilities are a tower for testing climbing and mountaineering equipment such as carabiners and fall restraint systems, and an extensive lab for light measuring equipment.
The light testing lab features a robo-goniometer, which was installed three years ago. A robo-goniometer is a large robot capable of automatically measuring thousands of light sources in 24-hour operation.
Dr Rempfer said: “Sometimes, if we don’t have the right equipment to test a product, our team even designs and develops testing equipment themselves. The automatic ball launcher, complete with individual test configurations, is one example. The machine shoots balls with great force to test the tensile strength of goal nets or fracture strength of gym lights. ‘Can’t be done’ is not in our vocabulary.”