Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1361971
50 PCB007 MAGAZINE I APRIL 2021 by on average 5.5% but the PLS has fallen by 46%. is has the effect of squeezing the time the products should make profits. e time it takes profits to pay for all the development costs is an important metric called the break- even time (BET). Also, notice that the elec- tronics industries represent the narrowest part of the graph. is means that, although other industries' profits are being squeezed as well, there is pressure on the electronics industry. e product, and or project (process) life cy- cle (PLC), is fundamental to a corporation in- tent on developing new products or process- es. It is sometimes called the new product in- troduction (NPI) process, but that is only half of the life cycle. ere is product support, en- hancement, and eventually, obsolescence. I was introduced early to the phases of the PLC process because our group supplied all the prototype printed circuits to HP Product Divisions. My first large PLC was the HP-35 hand-held scientific calculator in 1971. I prac- ticed the PLC on this, and subsequent calcu- lators, for the next 20 years. Many considered this battery-powered marvel to be the begin- ning of the portable appliance age. Until then, the only portable computing devices were the slide ruler and the abacus (not too many peo- ple had the mechanical Curta). e PLC process consists of all the work in- volved in developing, prototyping, manufac- turing, enhancing, supporting, and obsolet- ing a product as an organization's new prod- uct for a marketplace. ere are generally four to six phases: concept design, physical design, prototype manufacture, pre-produc- tion, and volume ramp. Aer this, the prod- uct is handed over to full production. e or- ganization may also have some involvement in aer-sales. e PLC was one of the most important of procedures used in Hewlett-Packard. HP de- rived their high-profit and stellar reputation be- cause of the innovations in their measurement instruments. HP prided itself on being able to measure anything physical. Later in the '70s and '80s, they expanded their product lines to include chemical, medical, nuclear, and genet- ics in the '90s. As the company grew and diver- sified, so did the number of products, reaching a peak in 1985 of 27,000 separate products hav- ing 35,000 options. Because of the state-of-the-art nature of most of these products, their life was only about three years before a better version was created. Many of the first generations came from HP Laboratories and their investment in groundbreaking concepts. e majority of new products were the result of customer feedback, based upon their needs. is PLC is the life cycle for those customer-needed prod- ucts and not the revolutionary products com- ing out of HP Labs. The Phase Review Process e phase review process (PRP) is another version of the product life cycle or product def- inition process. It is used to manage the inter- relationship among various entities within an organization or business, and its related tech- nologies in the development of products. e need for new products is a continuous pro- cess of innovations (revolutionary) and re- finements (evolutionary) conducted over time (Figure 3). Figure 2: The Curta is a handheld mechanical calculator developed by Curt Herzstark. (Source: Rama, Wikimedia Commons)