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TotalService
So... You're in production having electronics produced half way around the globe. Suddenly, an unexpected software or hardware defect is discovered. Change is mandatory and affected product includes what has already been built. You've got crates, pallets or container loads full of affected product somewhere in your supply pipeline. You've got a potential crisis on your hands!



Ominous cost, quality spill potential and supply shortage looms large. Swift and concise action is crucial.


Got a solution? We do... TotalService handles component removal and replacement, firmware updates, software changes, cuts & jumpers, conformal coating, recoating and potting or over-molding, sorting services, PCB remove, repair, return to enclosure; in-circuit and functional testing. TotalService is equipped to handle large automotive, medical, avionics and industrial rework, repair and refurbishment projects. OEMs, Tier-one and Tier-two suppliers share one thing in common, every day, all day. Cost pressures.

As technology evolves, the application of electronics providing enhanced safety and convenience has widened. As a single technology sector in automotives, electronics has outpaced all other technologies combined. Getting electronics built correctly and to the assembly line on time is crucial. Global competition and advances in technologies mean new designs have short lives and need to get to market quickly, as soon as they can be developed... or you miss your market. Faster, better, lighter and less expensive circuits soon spring into existence at competitors. And the faster you deploy to head off the competitors, the faster opportunities for one small glitch, bug or defect to cause a product with electronic content to end up in some way unusable. To cope with the endless cost pressure, many companies end up with assembly plants at all corners of the planet. These widely dispersed electronics assembly plants are designed for one thing... efficiently churning out thousands of identical circuits every day. And what happens when a piece of code embedded into a module lacks handling an odd bit of data here or there? What happens when a latent discovery of a design miscalculation proves that a simple component value was miscalculated slightly, and it puts operation of a circuit in a marginal condition?

Even with the best laid plans, occasionally a design error or substandard component slips through into production. Even 'feature creep' catches many new products near time of launch, or worse, just afterward. New code or a swapped component would bring these circuits into spec and up-to-date. But with production deployed so far from the design centers, suppliers often find their abilities to correct product deficiencies discovered post-release very difficult to correct. A costly and common practice used to deal with product defects is a wholesale scrapping of entire lots of affected units. Ouch! This practice is so prevalent because remote, overseas manufacturing sites can't really help. They are geared for one thing, production at top speed.


Repair and refurbishing of defects in a remote production setting simply has no place. In order to correct a defect in a circuit that's otherwise ready for installation on an assembly line, far from its point of creation, an isolated and separately contained operation is required to safely handle them.

Trying to push a defect back down a pipeline for rework or repair is much like trying to get a waterfall to operate in reverse. You just need to move backward long enough to backtrack on some particular little issue. But, like the physics involved with operating a waterfall in reverse, production lines are designed for a single purpose with flow in a single direction. That makes it impractical for the initial producer to back-up and fix a defect, no matter how minor the defect. Specific rework or refurbishment processes need to be developed and deployed, away from look-alike unaffected product.




Beyond rework process constraints at remote manufacturing sites, suppliers are dealing with different time zones and often different languages that make effective communication of engineering changes and rework difficult.

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So, other than scrapping these parts, what can you do with latent defect discoveries?

Until recently, there were not many choices.




This is where Total Electronics comes in and why TotalService was created. TotalService is a program operated by a team of professionals with a can-do attitude. They are geared toward taking electronic product at board-level, module-level and full product level and restoring value. As a TS16949 certified manufacturer with the discipline of a seasoned automotive electronics manufacturer and rework capabilities located not too far from most major design centers, Total Electronics can reliably handle large lots of electronics that need some form of refurbishment or update.

This helps manufacturers by doing several things.
  • First, they can deploy corrected or updated designs to their manufacturer's world-wide without involving them in what could become messy rework projects.
  • Secondly, they do not lose the otherwise valuable production ready product they would otherwise need to scrap, the value of which often runs into the millions of dollars.
  • Thirdly, they don't lose the precious commodity of otherwise perfectly useful components that reside on a defective circuit.


Effective reworking can be the difference between supplying modules on-time and defect-free, or shutting a production line down. And the difference between profit and loss on a project or program... maybe the difference between creating a happy customer or losing one...



The TotalService Rework and Repair Team will deliver the goods when it counts when your customer needs them. TotalService understands the need for rework to be done accurately AND that it meet your time-to-market or time-to-line deadlines. When rehab product needs strike you, call on TotalService, a dedicated Repair and Rework Team, with Total Focus, Total Solutions and Total Support. They can rapidly restore value to affected product!


A downloadable PDF document on this topic is availavle in our Downloads area, see menu on left of screen, sign-in and download.[/center]