For many years the term “Reverse Engineering” had been the dirty words for a method to copy products and undermine the product development cycle.
This is my interview with Richard Bell (CTO) and Craig Blaida (CEO) of TriLogic Technologies LLC in San Antonio, Texas.
What is driving new interest in Product Archaeology?
Today the tables are turned, product is being developed and produced offshore that needs to return state side for various reasons (Tariffs, Quality Issues, product control etc.). The owners of these products often find that when the data is requested from the offshore supplier silence or incomprehensible mutterings are often heard!
At this Point the Product owners have a choice, scrap the product line, begin development from scratch or engage a company like TriLogic Technologies to perform a Product Archaeological assessment to develop missing data so that state side companies can begin to produce product that can be closely controlled by the rightful owners of a product.
What is Product Archaeology?
The term comes from the methodology and skills needed to dig into the available data and develop a complete picture of a product that has already been engineered.
How does one do Product Archaeology?
In the same way human archaeologists “..study human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture” to understand our ancestors. Product archaeologists take every piece of information available to them, partial Bills of Materials, incomplete schematics, physical products, broken products etc. and start to build a picture of how the items are built, piecing the systems back together until enough information exists to make the whole.
What are the Legal Safeguards?
Unlike “Reverse Engineering,” which tends to be an open door for copying a product, “Product Archaeology” must be done with strict adherence to the laws of the land, ensuring that the correct owners of the Intellectual Property not only direct the effort but take all responsibility for the product road map.
How do you bring products up-to-date?
Unlike the archaeologists of the ancients, product archaeologists have an opportunity to study the past but inject the future into a product. If a design was produced with obsolete, tariff-affected or inferior non-certified components the product design can be modified during the Product Archaeology effort to reduce these risk factors and ultimately develop a modern product.
What are some examples?
Living Examples of products that came back:
1. Relay alarm panel that was being produced offshore from non-UL approved components. Two boards were supplied to us, we developed schematics, board layout, sourced new components and had prototypes to customer within 6 weeks.
2. Telephone Relay rack was sold accidentally by sales after the product was removed from standard catalog. Complete design was reproduced in 6 months from technical manuals and pictures.
3. Battery charging product was developed by a consultant that used “hobby tools”. Gerbers were used to develop a full IPC capable file package that could be used by professional contract manufactures to produce a Quality product.
Tell me about TriLogic Technologies and what you do?
For many years we have been developing Electronics products that ultimately go to contract manufacturing. Over those years we have found that about 25% of our business is related to Product Archaeology. Many companies have needed to produce product for which they no longer had data. Our close ties to the product development / product manufacturing cycle has made us uniquely equipped with the skills to recognize product functionality and understand how things work!
Brought to you by Gary Tanel
Founder, Electronics Alliance
Helping companies find the RIGHT strategic sources!