Product Manufacturing Prep: What to Remember?

Enabling a rapid journey from concept to market-ready product is achievable by employing a seamless and integrated product engineering lifecycle tailored for manufacturing. Nevertheless, achieving product requirements and seamless manufacturability entails navigating each stage of the product life cycle, from concept to manufacturing, while thoroughly addressing specific considerations.

The objective is to assist OEMs and enterprises venturing into IoT product development by enabling them to expedite their time-to-market by implementing the outlined steps.

Essential Elements at Each Stage of the Product Design Lifecycle

Finalization of Product Concept, Feasibility, and Architecture

Based on the organization's strategy, marketing goal, and consumer demand, the goal at this stage is clearly defining the new product. Create and solve queries that clarify the requirements.

A thorough grasp of the requirements is necessary: The product's fundamental concept should be presented as a document that maps to the traceability matrix throughout the product manufacturing transfer.

Feasibility analysis and research: It's crucial to pinpoint and test untested areas using hardware and software simulators. Additionally, to cut down on design time and costs, test the functional behavior using various analytic tools like Multisim, Proteus, LTspice, etc.

Platforms for hardware and software selection: There is no "one-size-fits-all" method for choosing hardware and software for creating Internet of Things solutions. For instance, using hardware based on standards, such as microcontrollers, can expedite development without compromising flexibility. But while making a decision, one should ensure that both options are compatible, integrable, portable, modular, have enough capacity, cost-effective, risk-free, optimized, simple to use, high performance, power-efficient, secure, and bug-free.

Aspects of DFM, DFA, and DFT during the idea phase - Freezing the components, behavior, and design flow and finalizing the architecture is one of the most crucial technical factors to make it readily producible, assemblable, and testable based on recommendations and guidelines

Design and development of products

In reality, choices made in the design and development phases influence almost 80% of the cost of the finished product. In the case of electronics manufacturing services, these choices are frequently made in the first 20% of the design phase. Manufacturability must thus be considered early on for factors such as product quality, dependability, testability, serviceability, and customer values.

Hardware, firmware, and mechanical simulators are essential for determining how well a system will work based on its overall performance, timing precision, and modeling.

One of the most excellent methods to maximize complicated products and restrictions like power, performance, and cost is to co-design modular hardware and software.

At each level, design verification and code validation, This strategy will lessen design risk and assist in producing the ideal product in time for the market. At Teksun, we adhere to the mechanical CAD checklist tools for schematic, layout, Gerber, and design and code validation to prevent errors throughout the design stage.

 To minimize iterations, additional costs, and time, estimating the product's manufacturing costs early in the design process is crucial. At Teksun, we usually handle this stage as part of our DFMA process.

During design, review DFM, DFA, and DFT elements. The design approach is implemented with precise guidelines and recommendations to match the user's expectations. The DFM includes components evaluation, assessment, design review, verification of PADs and drilling optimization, stack-up details, fabrication material and tolerance, BOM alternatives, and optimization.

The DFA contains assembly guidelines, easy electromechanical fitting, IPC-based stencil requirements, smooth surface mount technology pick and place procedure, thermal profile selection, through-holes guide, and components placement feasibility. The DFT addresses aspects of test plans, such as EDVT, test points and breakpoints, test coverage, partial or complete automation tools like Python scripts, QT-based GUIs, test fixture requirements, etc.

Mechanical design considerations include avoiding or shortening overhangs and undercuts in parts, drafting corners into vertical surfaces of components, internal corners and edges with a minimum radius, tolerable deformations and internal stress, test jig fixture requirements, and surface finishes like painting, texture, and polish.

Product Evaluation

Functional testing, firmware and hardware bring-up tests, and certification tests are the three main objectives of production testing. Functional testing ensures that each product instance operates as intended by covering all applicable requirements with individual test IDs corresponding to the acceptance criteria.

A planned set of essential test points and breakpoints for the product hardware and firmware are intended to validate the platform. Plan many experiments in actual fields after these tests have been validated. Consequently, the design is optimized, and the product is of high quality. Conduct certification simultaneously to improve the design and remove any electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and electromagnetic interference (EMI), environmental, and reliability-related issues.

Plan, assess, and address field test findings - At this stage, use various tools, accessories, and cloud platforms to monitor the operation of the product over a certain period to determine its actual behavior.

Refer to and consider the criteria of the compliance test plan - The product shouldn't hurt the environment. IoT service providers must employ a spectrum analyzer, a vector network analyzer, a thermal chamber, a LISN, RF antennas, and other RF cables and accessories.

The documentation package includes the most recent version of the item code, the hardware and mechanical BOM, the optimized test procedure, test Jig/setup details, the PCBA test report, assembly instructions, the debugging and repairing guide, the harness test plan and design, the programming instructions, the IQC reports, the previous proto batch learning in documents, and PCBA labeling information and guidelines.

A DFT component assesses the test quality based on the diagnosis of the critical components. Evaluate and improve testing coverage. Using flying probes and reliability testing will assist in pinpointing the crucial areas and making the necessary diagnoses to maximize coverage.

To validate the product with a separate process-oriented plan that includes certifications, reliability tests, FMEA, yield, etc., it is crucial to evaluate the quality plan first.

The product should have a simple yet effective packaging and labeling scheme, as well as minimal user instructions. The label should be brief, straightforward, and provide all necessary product-identifying information.

Bottom line

Read through our success stories to see how the Teksun team's experience in hardware engineering, mechanical design engineering, and embedded engineering services helps firms design and build products ready for manufacture.

Your operations and IT teams will have a list of issues and possibilities to solve to enhance company processes, regardless of whether you work in manufacturing, healthcare, consumer electronics, agritech, automotive, or any other industry. Choosing the best IoT solution provider will assist in creating products that are ready for manufacture to meet your pain points and business goals.