Design for Excellence requires attention but delivers a lot

The rapidly growing Demcon has had the embedded systems business unit for two years. It is not the newest division of the Enschede-based high-end technology supplier – that is the brand new unmanned systems business unit that focuses on robotics and drones – but it is buzzing with activity.

By: Dimitri Reijerman

Harry Roewen works as Business Unit Manager at the embedded systems division, a world dominated by actuators, sensors, digital signal processors and microcontrollers. Demcon not only supplies these systems to other companies, but also develops them for the company's other divisions. "It is now mainly moving in the direction of sensor systems. Then you have to think of IoT issues, or big data," says Roewen.

This involves multidisciplinary knowledge, Roewen explains: “If you look at mechatronic issues, you want to develop systems that contain some degree of intelligence. So not just a relay hatch, like a normal sensor, but a sensor system that can interpret so that new information comes out of the system.”

In addition to the hardware designers, the software developers are therefore indispensable. And Demcon increasingly develops products in series, a process with other focal points than small-scale production. One of these is the use of Design for eXcellence (DfX).

Added value

Roewen will delve deeper into the added value of DfX during the design process during the WoTS. In his eyes, it is a design philosophy: “DfX means, among other things, that the product is very easy to manufacture. We also call that Design for Manufacturing. It is a design philosophy with test elements in it. You make the design and before you implement it, you test the design. For example, whether the components are current and available, so that you do not face the problem that next year there will suddenly be no more components in stock,” says Roewen.

“Another aspect is the health of the design. There are all kinds of tools for that. During my lecture I will discuss how you can use DfX tools. As the series become larger, manufacturability becomes more and more important. Even as a small company you can develop large series. Then it is very wise to know what a supplier of an electronics board can do or a supplier of a subassembly can deliver. Then you need to have validations in the design process to demonstrate and be reassured that you have made the right choices.”

Practical example

One of the practical cases that Roewen will touch on describes the development of a gateway. This must form a bridge between a proprietary network protocol to a standard fieldbus or an Ethernet interface. “We are going to produce these in large numbers. For example, a unique MAC address must be included. This process must be included in the chain, you must have that administration in order.”

“There is nothing more annoying than having a potentially good design, but having a bad execution causing a lot of disruptions in the production line and during testing. You have to fix all that. What you also don’t want is to make invisible mistakes that only take their toll in the long term.”

Cost reduction

During his lecture, Roewen wants to make it clear that the DfX principle offers designers and manufacturers many advantages: “I would like to urge them to become familiar with DfX techniques. Even if you do not use them yourself, know that there are companies that can provide these services. And that there are tools that you can purchase or lease. Analyzing and validating an average design costs several thousand euros. Out of pocket that may cost a lot of money, but you also have to ask yourself what it means if you do not have your production in order.”

“You can imagine that when you get quality issues, for example due to sloppy connections of components, and you are active in the automotive sector, for example, and there are recalls, you can bet that it will cost a few cents.”

The lecture by Harry Roewen is part of the seminar program 'Designing and producing reliable electronics'. You can visit the lecture on Thursday October 4 at 9:30 am in the Mission 1 Hall. Registration for the lecture is free and can be done here.