Refurbishing

In my previous company, I've done quite a fair bit of refurbishing work on top of PCB testing and repairs. One such project I still recall fondly was the control panel of a lighthouse installation on the controversial island-rock of Pedra Branca.

The unit was sent to my work centre for repair—not just the PCB within but also the front panel which suffered defacing from constant use. After assessing various options, I reckoned that the easiest and safest way was to recreate the panel layout using Microsoft Visio, print out in color and laminate the pieces, which were then affixed over the original damaged artwork using double sided tapes.

Crude, but it worked and was aesthetically appealing as far as the customer was concerned. That was my first attempt at refurbishing and I was quite pleased with the outcome.

Industrial refurbishing, however, is more than just a cosmetic operation. Once you define what refurbishing is as the starting point of combating obsolescence, the process—from assessment to aesthetics becomes obvious. Then the decision naturally rests on when to choose refurbishing over repair and replacement.

This is the route I'm taking as I started out to write for the first of three parts for my upcoming book on Solutions to Obsolescence. It'll be a good idea to also throw in an actual case study to cement the practice, if necessary.

We'll see how that works out...