Life in the 21st century cannot be imagined without electronic devices. All the major technological revolutions brought forth in the past few decades, owe their existence to the advances in electronics technology. From consumer and commercial grade electronics devices like cell phones, computers, power supplies, TVs, routers and modems, to sophisticated defense and military grade electronic equipment like radar systems, microwave systems, radio frequency hardware, control system equipment and communication systems hardware, electronic systems are enhancing and impacting our lives in each arena imaginable.
Need for electronic equipment repair
With the advancement in microelectronics technology, cheaper, faster and more efficient electronic devices are becoming more and more common. As a result of this, the prices of consumer grade electronic devices are dropping rapidly. This leads to a trend amongst consumers, not to go for a repair and simply replace the devices. However, this is largely true only for inexpensive and mass-produced consumer-grade devices like smart-phones, TVs and media players.
Industrial and military grade electronics hardware is a different story altogether. Although designed for high reliability and extended life spans, these devices also get damaged and worn out over time. These are usually expensive and specialized pieces of equipment which cannot be replaced very easily. These types of devices are expensive, classified, and are often not readily available. Hence, the most cost-effective and quickest way to deal with issues in such equipment is to repair them.
Apart from industrial and defense-grade hardware, the repair of expensive and higher-end consumer grade electronic devices is also a highly efficient and cost-effective way of dealing with erroneous hardware. It is much more feasible and cheaper to repair an expensive phone, TV, media player, printer, plotter or a scanner, as opposed to simply replacing it. This also helps in conserving the natural resources, reducing the carbon footprint and cutting down the amount of e-waste.
In-house versus outsourced electronics repair
The electronic hardware used in RF, microwave, satellites, controls and communication applications is often a complex electronic system built from hundreds of sub-systems and specialized components. A typical industry or organization can have hundreds or thousands of such varied devices in service. It is highly likely that the different hardware systems employed by a particular industry or organization, have different technical specifications, different designs and are manufactured by different manufacturers. Therefore, it is virtually impossible for an organization to gather all the required components, as well as the expertise to repair such complex devices.
An electronic hardware system is quite a complex system and requires a high level of expertise and knowledge for fault diagnosis, circuit testing, circuit rebuilding, component replacement, and firmware upgrade. In addition to the expertise of the personnel, specialized tools and machines are required to analyze, diagnose, test and repair the electronic hardware. Hence, it is not possible for an organization to divert its attention from the area of its core competence and build a full-fledged department for repairs. Such a venture would need heavy investment in the areas of hiring of experts, purchase of machines and tools, component inventory, and quality assurance.
It is clear that organizations and companies do not have enough expertise and resources to perform the repair themselves. Thus, they are left with two options for the repair job. They can either go to the manufacturer or a third-party repair company. If establishing an in-house repairing facility is not an option, then the customer is left with only two options. The first option is to go to the manufacturer and the second option is to opt for a third-party company specializing in repairing and calibration.
At first glance, it seems more suitable to go directly to the equipment manufacturer (OEM) for the repair. However, there are many catches and bottlenecks in that approach. First of all, many manufacturers do not have an active and dedicated repairing department and therefore, reject the requests for any rebuild or repair. Secondly, the manufacturers have a vested interest in selling more of their equipment rather than repairing the old equipment. Due to this reason, many manufacturers discourage the customers from repairing the older equipment and advise them to replace it with a fresh piece of hardware. Thirdly, most of the times the repairing services offered by the manufacturer are not cost-effective at all and in many cases cost almost as much as the new hardware.
Electronics repairing is a complex job and requires a combination of skills and expertise such as electrical design, electronic design, circuit testing, fault diagnosis, CNC machining, fabrication, microwave testing, and quality assurance.
If in-house repairing or repairing by the OEM is not an option, then the only cost-effective, quick and efficient solution left for the customer is to get the repairs done by a third-party company which specializes in electronic hardware repairing, rebuilding, and refurbishment. Such specialized companies have a high level of expertise in the repair of electronic hardware from different manufacturers and equipment of different types and hence, are able to offer more professional services than the manufacturer itself. Other than that, the repair companies perform the repair and rebuild job at a fraction of the cost at which the manufacturer typically repairs the device. Therefore, both in terms of expertise and cost efficacy, third party repair companies are able to pull off a much better job than the OEMs.
Another major advantage of specialist repair company is that they can also cater to the obsolete hardware which is no longer supported by the OEM. In fact, for such hardware, the customer has no other real option left other than availing the services of a specialist repairing company.
After careful analysis of all the options available for electronic equipment repairing, we can safely conclude that 3rd party repair companies are our best bet for the repair of specialized electronic hardware.