Side Effects of Reverse Engineering

On the initial note ... Do you know what is reverse engineering ... Reverse engineering in simple words " re creating the product's design plan and production plan from the product itself. This kind of inquiry engages individuals in a constructive learning process about the operation of systems and products. Reverse engineering as a method is not confined to any particular purpose, but is often an important part of the scientific method and technological development. The process of taking something apart and revealing the way in which it works is often an effective way to learn how to build a technology or make improvements to it.

Lot of companies do reverse engineering of competitors products to create a cutting edge innovation in their own product. This actually is in some way stealing the innovation and unique product some one came up earlier. This engineering process involves taking apart a device to see how it works. For example, if a laptop manufacturer wants to see how a competitor's processor works, they can purchase the competition laptop, disassemble it, and then make a processor similar to it. However, this process is illegal in many countries.

Another type of reverse engineering involves producing 3-D images of manufactured parts when a blueprint is not available in order to produce the part. To reverse engineer a part, the part is measured by manual methods or in advanced cases coordinate measuring machine is employed. Any part can be reverse engineered using these methods, provided the technology is known.

The term forward engineering is sometimes used in contrast to reverse engineering. Recently a Apple and Samsung were in a series of lawsuits ... on a simple glance it is a side effect of reverse engineering.

On a Wiki's Page .. "Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. was the first of a series of ongoing lawsuits between Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics regarding the design of smartphones and tablet computers; between them, the companies made more than half of smartphones sold worldwide as of July 2012.[1] In the spring of 2011, Apple began litigating against Samsung in patent infringement suits, while Apple and Motorola Mobility were already engaged in a patent war on several fronts.[2] Apple's multinational litigation over technology patents became known as part of the mobile device patent wars: extensive litigation in fierce competition in the global market for consumer mobile communications.[3] By August 2011, Apple and Samsung were litigating 19 ongoing cases in nine countries; by October, the legal disputes expanded to ten countries.[4][5] By July 2012, the two companies were still embroiled in more than 50 lawsuits around the globe, with billions of dollars in damages claimed between them.[6] "  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc._v._Samsung_Electronics_Co.,_Ltd.)

Ok ... now the benefit of reverse engineering technique...

So ... it all depends who uses it and How its being used .... So engineers while reverse engineering be a little bit careful and ethical... 

:) 

Changes in Making things ! - Part 2

In my previous post "Changes in Making things !" i talked about the evolution of manufacturing and why the evolution happened. In this post i thought of writing about the current trends in manufacturing and also the future... The current trend:  Manufacturing systems concentrate on least resources and best output. “Lean manufacturing” is a leading manufacturing paradigm being applied in many sectors of the world, where improving product quality, reducing production costs, and being “first to market” and quick to respond to customer needs are critical to competitiveness and success.

Other than Lean, there are a lot of other systems ranging from flexible manufacturing, outsourcing, OEM – Branding relations (like Nike). The difficulties that companies face in today’s marketplace are fierce: shifting customer demand, increasing variation in products and demands for perfect quality. Lean principles and methods focus on creating a continual improvement culture that engages employees in reducing the intensity of time, materials, and capital necessary for meeting a customer’s needs. While lean production’s fundamental focus is on the systematic elimination of non-value added activity and waste from the production process, the implementation of lean principles and methods also results in improved customer satisfaction and probability of success in businesses.

The improvements are patterned by 

1.      Continual improvement culture focused on identifying and eliminating waste

2.      Design for manufacturing

3.      Communication advancements

4.      IT / Computation capability advancements

5.      Value addition

6.      Employee involvement in continual improvement and problem-solving  

7.      Operations-based focus of activity and involvement

8.      Supply chain investment

Next page in Manufacturing 

Currently the industries are facing crisis of  Manpower shortage, Raw material shortage – costly raw materials,  Non stabilized value for crude oil,  Day by day increase in cost of transportation and mainly Environmental concerns

These individually or collectively at different levels of impact will trigger the next stage of evolution of the system. Localized Manufacturing: Localized manufacturing of all the accessories that needs to be assembled to make the desired good is manufactured at the source of demand. This is can be triggered by fuel cost, supply chain inability and advantage of inland production technologies and control over the processing. Batch size of 1: The kind of manufacturing where a pull system is employed and the economics of scales are achievable by batch sizes of 1. This can be achieved by advancement of lean and it becomes a standard of operation across the vendors till the source of the raw material. 3D Printing: The production of goods, similar to the prototyping the models for research is implemented. The advancement of agile manufacturing can be achieved by 3D printing. There may be issues of strength and durability, but not all parts can be 3D printed. Most of the complicated structures and seamless equipments are a major part of the whole manufacturing assemblies. Raw Material from Recycling: The availability of scrap and used material of all categories are found on all the places of the planet. Leaving that and searching for new sources of ore to make billets and start manufacturing processes impacts on large volume of carbon footprint. Production of scale can be achieved in production of the powdered raw material for 3D printing. 3D Printing – Binder: Binders which are used now days are for ABB and other synthetic material. The binding strengths should evolve.

Combining all the above said transformation will lead to

1. Less carbon foot print / production volume
2. Raw material produced from scrap
3. Power needed for 3D printing technology will be less than the current systems

The flowchart explains the process involving all the technologies talked about

I would like an open discussion. I am just expecting this change in near future. We will wait and see how the manufacturing world changes to the current issues faced. 

I wrote this article in 2010, the current trends and this posting from wired.co.uk tempted me to put up my thoughts (though old ..) have a look you might be convinced.

Link: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-02/28/3d-printed-car

Changes in Making things !

The way we made things kept evolving through 200,000 BC till today, and will begoing on and on. We all know that things started changing rapidly; eventually manufacturing must also catch up with the ever changing world. Here are some trends and pattern of evolution of manufacturing systems. The evolution of each stage of manufacturing was fueled by different things happening to the world as the whole.
 

The manufacturing goals, perspectives and target customers are now at a different pace to that which existed several years ago. The pace of change has been fast and the near future will also be completely different compared to present situation. Social, political, technological, scientific, and economic are a few of the triggers and sources of changes to manufacturing. All organizations have experienced the effects of change, but it seems likely that more significant changes are yet to come. Many successful businesses understand customer needs, they develop product to meet customer needs, and they bring product to the market quickly. These successful businesses are able to convince users that their product will improve their productivity, quality and profitability. Businesses should not only be ready for change, they must be adaptable and flexible, striving for continuous improvements.

The manufacturing started from the revolutionizing stone-age tools. This happened around 200,0000 BC. Later the metallurgy triggered the usage of metal tools starting from copper through bronze and other alloys. This age was termed as Bronze Age, 2100 BC.

Triggers for Manufacturing / Industrial Revolution

Later technological advancements of the earlier twentieth century involved improvements in mass production through the application of technologies developed and utilized during World War II.  After the WWII the concentration on recourse availability was increased, which lead to the evolution of LEAN systems (Toyota Production).  

Ownership of Industries

“Economics of Sizes”: As the volume of production and purchase increases the advantage of production. This fueled the transformation of enterprise ownership.  

Fuel triggered evolution of transportation system, which in-turn triggered supply chain, fueling globalization. 

The next posting will be about some thing i think will be the next stage of manufacturing ...

The Shiva Lingam

Hello Folks, This week is a great week ... Great is really under rated for the things that happened this week, The people who know me know how my life is spinning ... 

Just wanted to Thank God ... & wishing for pure Happiness, Prosperity & Respect... 

Ok Guys... In this occasion of my happiness i thought of dedicating this blog post to spread a thought of Shiva ... the lord i love most ... 

The "Shiva Lingam" at Lepakshi , AP, India Snap By : Niranj Vaidyanathan

Lord Shiva is worshiped in the form of Linga. The symbolic representation of Lord Shiva as Linga dates back around Harappa & Mohanjadaro civilization (Indus valley civilization) as of historians and scientists. I personally believe that its origin is even before that period of time. 

In the Book, Linga Purana, States "The foremost, Lingam which is primary, and is devoid of smell, colour, taste, hearing, etc., is spoken of as a representation of Nature."

Linga means mark in Sanskrit.When you see a big flood in a river, you infer that there should have been heavy rains the previous day. When you see smoke, you infer that there is fire. Similarly Lingam symbolizes this world of countless forms of the Omnipotent Lord. The Siva Lingam is a symbol of Lord Siva. When you look at the Lingam, your mind gets elevated and you ll begin to think of the Lord.

There is a divine power in the Lingam, to induce concentration of the mind. Just as the mind is focused easily in crystal gazing, the mind of a devotee is easily concentrated when he looks at the Lingam. That is the reason why the ancient Rishis (saints) of India and the seers have prescribed Lingam for being installed in the temples of Siva. Its beyond religion, any one who saw a well maintained shiva lingam will always have an effect of his divinity on his mind, it dosent need the brain and knowledge of shiva or religion. Siva Lingam speaks to you in the unmistakable language of silence: ‘I am one without form.’ Pure, pious souls only can understand this language. 

For a sincere devotee, the Lingam is not a block of stone. It is all radiant consciousness. The Lingam makes me shed tears, melting of heart, raises me above bodily consciousness, and helps me to sync with the Lord.

What a great mystic power of the Lingam!

(Ref Book: SIXTY-THREE NAYANAR SAINTS By SRI SWAMI SIVANANDA)

Drag Race Style - Greased Gremlin

Welcome to The Toy Car Photo Shoot

Enjoy the beauty of a Drag Race Car in this Photo Shoot ;)  ... This car is being manufactured under the Hot Wheels (R) Greased Gremlin (TM) 1978 ... 

So this is an not just an used toy ... its vintage ... I guess 

Few More Specifications:

• Model: Hot Wheels Gremlin, part of the Speedway Specials series
• Copy Right Year: 1978 
• Manufacturing Style: Die cast car
• Manufacturing Country: Hong Kong
• Manufacturer: Mattel Inc..
• Produced during: 1979-1987
• Color: Red 
• Interior: Yellow , Actual Paint Job 
• Seats: Driver Seat with A protective Roll Cage
• Creator: Larry Wood
• Scale: 1:64 (not sure)

Enough of Details ... Here comes the Red Beast ... A beautiful Beast ...

Macro View  - Hot Wheels (R)   Greased Gremlin (TM) 1978

Front View  - Hot Wheels (R)   Greased Gremlin (TM) 1978

Curb Side View  - Hot Wheels (R)   Greased Gremlin (TM) 1978

Driver Side View  - Hot Wheels (R)   Greased Gremlin (TM) 1978 

Bottom View  - Hot Wheels (R)   Greased Gremlin (TM) 1978

Hope It was a awesome time with the Photo Shoot ... PS: Let me know if any of you want this toy car ... :)