Product Re-designs
There are a variety of reasons for re-design. Your requirements may be similar to one of the primary triggers or a combination of them.
Lost data
We have provided long term support to a few significant PCB manufacturers over the years, where they want to support their customers with an existing design. Other requirements have come directly to us. All too often the scenario is the same…
The project has its roots in the mists of time and has been working well enough for years. There is a requirement (may be just change of supplier) that upsets the position. Often the original design data is lost and modification cannot be made without freshly revised data. In a surprising number of cases the original designer has moved on to pastures new and no one has the core knowledge to maintain the product.
Hawkshead’s confidential approach is the first step of the way. Then there is a practical and commercial appraisal of the situation. We have succeeded in rescuing data for no more than 20 minutes know-how and in many cases for less than £100. Sadly there too many occasions where “miracles” are not possible and re-creating the data is the only way. This is covered with maximum expedience and minimum cost.
Old product – new technology
You may need to connect a 1960’s boiler installation to a 2010 Building Management System or add USB to a product that was conceived long before USB was a twinkle in a cable maker’s eye. Whatever the reason, products and technology move on even when the core of the product is a success.
The route to success depends entirely on the scale of costs and practicality. In the case of the boiler system, no one was going to throw out the boilers and their associated plumbing just because a system wanted to control the building. The requirement was in that sense fixed – don’t change anything just provide the "technical bridge" between new and old. In some ways it became a new-design project but it required much integration with legacy technology on the boilers.
Other products are case of providing a least cost method to supporting or extending the life of a successful product. The provision of USB has been mandated in areas that are reliant on laptops for configuration as the former RS232 connectivity has disappeared. The ability of devices to interact with one another is a steadily increasing requirement. Even a formerly successful device will be dropped from the buyer’s consideration if it does not "plug in".