6 Common Uses for Reverse Engineering

What is reverse engineering, and how can it benefit your company?

Reverse engineering is the process of breaking down a part, product, or software to discover how it was assembled and how it works. Engineers can then take what they learned to fix defects or even make new products.

Keep reading to learn 6 types of projects that are possible with the help of reverse engineering.

Common Uses for Reverse Engineering: 6 Types of Projects

Reverse engineering can be used for forensics and problem-solving, part improvement, replacing legacy parts, corporate espionage & competitor intelligence, improving product documentation, educational purposes, and much more. One of the most recent examples of the power of reverse engineering is Porsche and Audi’s Tesla Model 3s.

Porsche and Audi are working together to develop the next-generation EV platform. They ran into some issues when they discovered that Tesla’s PPE (Premium Platform Electric) was better than they thought. The Model 3’s platform is not only superior in technology — it’s cheaper to produce.

Reverse engineering gave them the tools necessary to size up their competition. Porsche and Audi are now looking for ways to reproduce Tesla’s technology for their own vehicles while keeping costs low enough to make it worth it. Let’s explore some more ways that reverse engineering can be used for 6 different types of projects.

1. Forensics and Problem-Solving

Reverse engineering can be used to discover product defects or help you understand why your machinery or equipment is malfunctioning. In the past, engineers would have to take a product apart and attempt to put it back together manually in order to learn how it works and discover flaws.

With advancements in technology, engineers can now trace over existing parts and assemblies and input them into a CAD system. This gives them a big picture view so they can pinpoint problem areas and come up with solutions to fix it.

Recommended Reading: Everything You Need to Know About Reverse Engineering

2. Part Improvement

The same techniques that are used for forensics and problem-solving can be used to improve parts. You can take parts that are no longer useful and reverse engineer them to find any imperfections. The parts can be redesigned to fix those flaws, or redesigned to serve another purpose.

3. Replacing Legacy Parts

Machinery and equipment are expensive purchases. In order to receive the most ROI (return on investment) for those purchases, you need to keep them up and running for as long as possible. When parts break or malfunction, you need to be able to replace them.

Sometimes this isn’t possible because the manufacturer goes out of business, or they stopped producing the part you need. Reverse engineering gives you the power to replicate and reproduce those parts for yourself so you can keep your machinery running longer.

Recommended Reading: Steps Involved in Reverse Engineering a Part

4. Corporate Espionage & Competitor Intelligence

Reverse engineering powers innovation, as seen in the case study above about Porsche and Audi’s Tesla project. You can discover how a competitor’s product works and then make improvements to create your own, better product. This helps you gain a competitive edge and inspires engineers to produce the best possible product to serve a specific purpose.

5. Improving Product Documentation

Product documentation can be incomplete, missing, or difficult to understand. Reverse engineering makes it possible to discover how a product was made and how it works so new documentation can be created.

Recommended Reading: Limitations of Reverse Engineering: Will it Work For You?

6. Education to Improve Future Production

Engineers can learn a wealth of information by reverse engineering software, products, parts, and more. The more objects they reverse engineer, the more skills and techniques they learn that can be used for creating something new. Reverse engineering inspires engineers to keep redesigning and repurposing products until they can’t improve on them anymore.

Is Reverse Engineering Right for You?

Every situation is unique, and reverse engineering might not be the best possible solution. Our team of highly skilled engineers can analyze your situation and determine if reverse engineering is the right course of action for you to take. Once we have determined that reverse engineering suits your needs, we can help you get the job done in a timely manner.

We can reverse engineer anything as small as a golf ball or as big as an entire manufacturing facility — and more. We use top-quality machines combined with best-in-class software to make sure that everything we produce meets our high standards. We can even put your prototypes to the test by running them through production in our fully equipped manufacturing and fabrication shop.

Here’s what some of our clients have to say about us:

“Good morning. I wanted to take a moment and brag on Chris Dowden and your team at EMS. Over the past five years, I have been working with EMS, everyone has gone out of their way to be very helpful and courteous. You all really have the customer’s needs in mind. Not only are you willing to take on difficult projects, but you make it seem easy. You really have a great team there.

Recently we were looking for someone to fabricate several difficult and unusual pieces made from polished SST. These pieces required roll forming and welding all while protecting the polished finish. I spoke to over a dozen fabricators and none of them were willing to even make an attempt. EMS stepped up to the plate and hit a home run. Chris Dowden was instrumental in making Phoenix USA, Inc. look good and also in making our customers very happy. He is great to work with and has been a big help to us on many occasions. I wanted to say thank you and I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.” — Design Engineer for Phoenix USA™, Inc.

“Thank you so much! We really appreciate that you all give us notes on the changes you make from issues found during assembly. It saves us a lot down the road if we ever need to order spare parts.” — Westinghouse Electric Company