APRIL 20229MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY INSIGHTSUnderstand what went wrong, what went well and where you could have saved time during the project's lifecycle. This allows the opportunity to adjust future process and procedures to better your next projectthe right test strategies appropriate for your product. For example, a power supply PCBA can be functionally tested under a controlled load instead of a simple low voltage flying probe test. Ripple tests, power up, and shut down tests are also possibilities.Addressing manufacturability early in the product development process is crucial with your manufacturing partner. A minimal amount of review at the right point in the project can save days or weeks later. In addition, leveraging your partners commercial software simulation tools will ensure manufacturability rules are applied to your product. This assists in addressing risk analysis on your design ensuring high product reliability and manufacturability before finalizing your design. Remember to evaluate the design for testability, too. Here again, timely action can drastically improve the odds of success. On one recent project at Spartronics, a customer decided on In Circuit Testing (ICT) early in the project. Working with Spartonics, they were able to achieve greater than 90 percent coverage before finalizing the product design. That meant less time working to develop functional tests, faster testing, and significantly less risk of defect escapes from production. What if something goes wrong? Work together with your partner, as an extension of your team to assess the situation. Ask these questions: · Are you building engineering units or qualification units?· Is this an unexpected development or is it related to a risk area identified before? · Can you apply a backup plan? · How can your manufacturing partner help?Asking the right questions can often lead to recovery options.And finally, include time for the team to reflect on your NPI project when it is completed, with a "postmortem" or "lessons learned" meeting. Feedback good or bad is important. Understand what went wrong, what went well and where you could have saved time during the project's lifecycle. This allows the opportunity to adjust future process and procedures to better your next project.Over time you will find more and more ways to improve the probability of success. It's mostly about thinking ahead, asking the right questions at the right time, and working with the right people. Hopefully, your process will continue to improve over time allowing you never to worry about missing that family vacation at the end of the summer. Spending a little time up-front with your team and the right manufacturing partner will only help increase confidence and the likelihood of success for your product.
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