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TME consulting can efficiently provide a customer with a competitive edge when outsourcing engineering work. Consulting
can provide necessary project definition and business planning, whether for product design and prototyping or for custom test
and process equipment needed to manufacture a product. The knowledge, experience, thinking, and research behind consulting
can directly influence project success and provide a high return on investment.
Consulting can define and plan a project while also considering the product life cycle from the supply chain through
manufacturing to the customer. This activity results in fewer physical design revisions and a more manufacturable,
testable, and robust product. A competitive edge is produced by reduced overall project costs and time to market, improved
quality and reliability, well thought out product features, and reduced customer returned goods. The cost of a single
product revision or dissatisfied customer can easily exceed the cost of consulting.
TME consulting can address a wide variety of high-level and low-level design and manufacturing topics and strategies before
physical design begins. TME can consult on a variety of products, technologies, materials, processes, test, and process
equipment topics. TME views a design as a system integration problem, since many technical, business, and human factors
must be considered and combined to achieve success with an advanced technology product.
PROJECT DEFINITION
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Generate and evaluate viable ideas, conceptual designs, and alternatives |
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Research, analyze, evaluate, and tradeoff available technologies in electronics, photonics, packaging, etc. |
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Consider
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Hardware and software architecture, system partitioning, make and buy decisions |
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Manufacturability, testability, operability, style, esthetics, and procurement |
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The needs and requirements of suppliers, customer, and customer's customers |
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Technical risks and need for feasibility study to reduce risk |
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Intellectual property and competition |
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Safety (UL, CSA, etc.) and other agency standards (FCC, Telecordia, etc.) |
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Identify
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Design and development requirements |
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Specifications and goals |
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Choices for critical components, equipment, materials, processes, architecture, and technology |
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Risks, risk management, and contingency plans |
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Cost, performance, quality, or reliability estimates and targets |
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Example critical topics for the telecom industry include:
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Fixed and tunable lasers, PIN and avalanche optical receivers, wavelength lockers |
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Optical transmitters, receivers, transponders, amplifiers, integrated circuits |
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Data drivers, clock drivers, clock-data recovery modules |
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Optical filters, couplers, circulators, isolators |
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FEC, MUX, DEMUX, DWDM, SONET, DSn |
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2.5 GB/s, 10 GB/s, 40 GB/s, NRZ, RZ, CRZ modulators, SBS, span design |
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BUSINESS PLANNING
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Identify and develop manufacturing strategies, tactics, plans, and facilities
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Manual and automatic assembly materials, processes, equipment, and procurement |
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Manual and automatic test at visual, in-circuit, functional, system test levels |
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Reliability screens such as burn-in, environmental stress screening, vibration, humidity, etc. |
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Troubleshooting, re-work, and failure analysis |
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Compose statements of work and negotiate with subcontractors, suppliers, and customer personnel |
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Produce executive summaries and business plan content |
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Recommend and make technical infrastructure changes to improve product implementation, such as:
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CAD platforms, tools, methods, libraries, forms, and formats |
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Documentation, electronic filing systems, part and product numbering |
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Technical tutoring, training, personnel development, selection, and evaluation |
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Policy, procedure, ISO900x document composition |
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Teamwork, concurrent engineering methods, pro-activity, organization, incentives |
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Last modified: 08-Feb-2009