With long warranty periods, a problem often arises in electronics production: a discontinued assembly is needed again, but the warehouse is completely empty, the old CAD data can no longer be found, the former developer has retired or changed companies and the test adapter is irreparably damaged.
But the customer is now demanding this assembly again. And important safety tests are essential before the final use.
The test service provider endtest from Berlin faced this very customer problem and was confronted with a problem project of 650 networks/nodes and around 1500 components. Re-assembling was necessary to create the test application. The endtest developers had to make do with purely graphical Gerber data without any information about electrical connections. Existing circuit diagrams and parts lists were scanned and incorporated into the software. Missing information on electrical connections and components was regenerated manually, piece by piece, using the circuit diagrams and a sample. In the end, up-to-date software was created that allowed the electronic assembly to be tested perfectly with a flying probe. The customer also used this new CAD data to produce a new adapter for its internal test system.
