Taking over orphaned electronics development

Takeover

When your electronics loses its engineer

A device sells, production runs — and suddenly nobody is left who understands the electronics. The engineer has retired, fallen ill or passed away, or the firm that did the development no longer exists. The documents are somewhere, maybe the source code too. And every change that used to be a phone call — a fault in the field, a discontinued component, a customer request — is now a problem without anyone to call.

We know this case first-hand, not from theory: the controller of a running device series made by KODRA GmbH was left without its engineer. We took over hardware and firmware and have supported the series ever since. On request we will put you in touch with a personal reference — someone who has been through such a takeover as a customer.

Why takeovers fail — and how we approach them because of it

The temptation is always the same: implement the most urgent request right away, in a circuit and a codebase you do not yet understand. That is exactly what breaks takeovers. We therefore work in a fixed order:

Understand first. Read the circuit, the layout and the firmware and work out what the previous engineer had in mind — including the places that look odd at first sight. Usually there was a reason.

Then pin it down. The state that is manufactured today goes into Git under version control — schematics, layout, source code and production documents. From that point on, what ships is reproducible, and no knowledge depends on a single hard drive or a single head anymore.

Only then change. From then on, every change carries a reasoned entry in the history. What was changed where, when and why can still be read years later — so your development is never orphaned again.

What we need from you

Everything that exists. Complete documentation is the exception with an orphaned development — gaps are the normal case, not the obstacle:

schematics and layout data, in whatever format — as PDF or on paper if need be
the firmware source code, if available; otherwise the compiled firmware that production uses today
the production documents and the contact to the assembly house
two or three working devices — one for measurements, one stays untouched as a reference
whatever else there is: the previous engineer's e-mails, notes, old revision states

When documents are missing

If the source code is missing, a takeover usually means rewriting the firmware against the documented behaviour of the running device. If the layout data is missing, the board is measured out and redrawn. Both are extra effort, not a deal-breaker — whether that effort pays off for your quantities and the remaining lifetime of your device is something we tell you before you commit.

What it costs

A flat rate would be a lie — what lands on the table varies too much. What is binding is the path to the number: we reply to your enquiry on the next business day, the intro call takes place within seven days and costs nothing, and within seven days after it you have our assessment of feasibility and cost range. If you prefer, we sign a non-disclosure agreement beforehand.

When components are discontinued on top

Often both problems arrive together: the engineer is gone, and the first components on the bill of materials are no longer available. Redesigning onto available parts is then the second step after the takeover — more in the services section.