Re-Engineering
Following the company’s first Xerox copier machine sale in the firm first rumors circulating first two products was purchased by IBM and Kodak. This gossip although it contains humor, all three companies are examining competitors’ products in detail. This is called re-engineering or reverse engineering
Research firms are developing their designs by knowing what their competitors doing and looking for ways to cut costs rather than researching for an easy way to get into the market.
Reverse engineering is an uncovering engineering approach used for testing competitors products, the firm entering to a new sector being able to get the a new product into the market faster, comparison of current products, comparing the strong, weak, and properties that make a difference.This approach unless putting exactly the same product into the market under another brand does not cause any problem with the law. Law and Technology Director Jennifer Granick of Stanford University have commented that ” You have a car and your not allowed to open the hood” for debates in a legal sense about reverse engineering works. Both in software development and engineering of new products design reverse engineering studies should be considered two main issues.
- Copyright – protection of the appearance and shape of the product
- Patent – Protection of the function new product idea
Reverse engineering efforts are required to add value to the product. Enables firms come to the forefront in their sector with new products by modernizing the look, developing functionality with new ideas.
Differences in the products should be revealed by comparing different products with similar functions. It will be much easier to find creative solutions to make a difference in the market by applying the comparison method which is taught in business schools under the name of SWOT analysis. SWOT analysis reveals the position of the product in the market and the necessary stages to overcome for a firm in order to reach its goal.
Reverse engineering work, not only for design engineers but manufacturing, materials, operations, maintenance, and purchasing expertise in various disciplines are required for the realization of a project management. The required infrastructure of a team should be established for the competencies required by the product being worked on. The requirement of team work arises in order to add value to the efforts ,renovate with the creative ideas or come up with a completely new product.
