Redesigning an old product
Go back to a 2018 design without designing it again
A customer asks for another run. Or a chip goes out of production and has to be replaced. What decides the cost of that job isn't the design — it's how long your team spends reconstructing exactly what was built.
- /proyectos/2018/sonda-x/
- BOM_v3.xlsx
- BOM_final_OK.xlsx
- gerbers_revC.zip
- gerbers_revC_2.zip
- esquematico_antiguo.pdf
- /backup_javier/
The usual starting point.
The whole story
From 2018 to today, step by step
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2018
The product ships
Rev C goes to production. The project closes properly documented.
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2020
The team changes
Whoever designed it moves on to another project. The folder stays where it was.Whoever designed it moves on to another project. The folder stays where it was.Whoever designed it moves on to another project. The folder stays where it was.Whoever designed it moves to another project. The folder stays where it was.
-
today
“Which revision shipped?”
In XKEMA it is flagged. The previous ones are still there, not overwritten.In XKEMA it is flagged. The previous ones are still there, not overwritten.In XKEMA it is flagged. The previous ones are still there, not overwritten.In XKEMA it's marked. The earlier ones are still there, none of them overwritten.
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+2 min
“Which BOM went with it?”
The list hangs off that board. There are not three candidates in a folder.The list hangs off that board. There are not three candidates in a folder.The list hangs off that board. There are not three candidates in a folder.The list hangs off that board. There aren't three candidates in a directory.
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+3 min
“What's on it?”
Every line opens the component record, with its manufacturer and its datasheet.
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+4 min
“And the documentation?”
Schematic, Gerbers and test report, in the same place and with their own viewer.
The other job that always comes up
Replacing a part you can no longer get
The work here is almost never picking the replacement. It's finding out which designs the old part was in. With loose BOMs, that means opening files one at a time.
With lists tied to their boards and lines pointing at real records, the search stops being archaeology. And once it's replaced, the new BOM sits alongside the old one instead of erasing it.
Nothing promised on top
XKEMA doesn't watch manufacturer lifecycles: it won't tell you a part has gone obsolete and there's no “where is it used” screen. The news will reach you the way it always does. What changes is how fast you can react.
- Rev A Prototype2017
- Rev B Pre-production2018
- Rev C Production the one that shipped2018 · 142 BOM lines
Sample data.
