PCB tracking in prototype - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Hawaka
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 16, 2022, 12:17:13 pm
content: Hello,At work we are currently developing a product that has around 10 different PCB inside it. As we have started to build full prototype for some time now,serial number are no more aligned (PCB sn!= product sn). We have products with different boards revisions, different modifications, some have been repaired, some not and so on.How do you guys keep track of what is where? The good old excel sheet(s) is showing it’s limit. Is there a good and easy tool for that kind of stuff?

author: daqq
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 16, 2022, 01:00:09 pm
content: In my previous job we had an information system that kept track and generated serial numbers. Each device could have sub devices, so X, SN 5 could have components A, B, C, each with their own unique serial number. The generation of serial numbers was handled automatically, the assignment of assemblies was done manually, since it was a low volume system it was okay.So the final assembler would have components X SN 8, A SN 3, B SN 9 and C SN 10. He'd manually assign components A, B and C to X SN 8, but the SNs for X, A, B and C were generated automatically. The information system kept track of everything - it wasn't anything special, pretty basic really, in house hacked together, but it definitely was more than a spreadsheet.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 16, 2022, 09:47:44 pm
content: What's wrong with a database?

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 16, 2022, 10:38:14 pm
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on December 16, 2022, 09:47:44 pmYeah but what database.. OP is looking for suggestions.

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 17, 2022, 01:51:46 am
content: Ah good old top level assembly problems!We had the same, multiple sub assemblies inside, we made our own "database" that was slow and shite! Done by some pleb in Access 2000, one piece of software you might want to take a look at is DBA Manufacturing.

author: Brianf
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 17, 2022, 12:29:59 pm
content: The weak link in any system is always the humans. If an spreadsheet can't keep track of things then neither will anything else.

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 17, 2022, 01:04:57 pm
content: You can store anything in a spreadsheet but it's not the best tool for searching and organising something like this, it needs a proper MRP system, you need to be able to select the top level product in a list and click "go" and it generates work orders, purchase orders etc etc, and if you spend the time to set it up right it can do all of that automatically for you.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 17, 2022, 03:03:57 pm
content: You need an ERP system, with BOMs put into it. There are free ones, like odoo, and very expensive ones like SAP.It's a whole can of worms, and the best I can suggest is: good luck.

author: Hawaka
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 17, 2022, 07:04:53 pm
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on December 16, 2022, 09:47:44 pmNothing's wrong with a database. We just don't have the time to do it ourself, therefore I'm looking for something existing.Quote from: Wilksey on December 17, 2022, 01:04:57 pmWe do have an ERP system that does that, but we use it only for production. We currently do not have single board tracking/numbering once we roll-out a product.What I'm looking for would be used only during the development phase. Don't really need the whole BOM and material management, just prototype and PCB tracking would be enough.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 17, 2022, 09:28:46 pm
content: Quote from: Hawaka on December 17, 2022, 07:04:53 pmIf you don't need anything ultra fancy, but still need something much better than Excel sheets, you can just use Libreoffice and set up a database. It's dead simple and will take up less of your time than trying to find something existing, not ultra expensive and that will not require hours of training.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 17, 2022, 09:33:29 pm
content: Can can add label barcode stickers to each PCB where each part has its own S/N range so you can tell them apart.Then create a small windows/python app with sql DB (maybe SQlite or even CSV db). When you click "new product" you can scan each part in the system with a USB barcode scanner and only when the app detects that you have scanned all the parts that make up the product will it log them all and print out the final main product SN label to be stuck to the product.That way it forces every product to go through the system to get the final label.Anyone who's made database apps before could get that running in a day. The amount of code needed is minimal.