Engineering Blog for High Performance Insights

PRODUCT SECURITY BRIEF: Why CRA Annex I fulfilment cannot be left to P&Ls and their engineering departments alone Annex I obligations attach to the manufacturer, a single legal entity, not to the P&L that happens to build the product. When divisions each interpret, implement and evidence Annex I on their own terms, the entity can accumulate several incompatible answers to questions the Regulation expects it to answer once. A market surveillance authority, a notified body or

PRODUCT SECURITY BRIEF. This article discusses the impact when manufacturers of CRA impacted products transition. The EU Cyber Resilience Act hangs every obligation on a single role, the manufacturer, and says almost nothing about what happens when the company holding that role is sold, split, rebranded or wound up. In operational technology, where assets outlive the companies that made them, that silence is a liability someone is already carrying. Usually it is the buyer, a

MANAGEMENT BRIEF: We analyze cost down opportunities during redesign efforts. Coupling LTBs may present options that extend life and reduce product cost—maybe. Cost reduction is critical for product profitability. It ensures that investments yield high returns. During redesign efforts, we focus on identifying opportunities. The aim is to enhance efficiency while minimizing engineering redesign and manufacturing expenses. Last Time Buy (LTB) from a component manufacturer can

MANAGEMENT BRIEF: We discuss how to manage parts obsolescence. Companion to the Rationed by the Boom. From Reaction to Platform Transition Instrument “Rationed by the Boom” established the problem: AI-driven wafer allocation has sunset the memory standards beneath long-life OT platforms while those platforms sit at peak deployment, and the standard mitigations — last-time buys, qualified crosses, redesigns — each carry costs the generic playbooks understate. This brief addr

SECURITY BRIEF: We look at the CRA impact to component vendors and what it means for OT device suppliers. The Cyber Resilience Act names one primary obligor: the manufacturer who places a product with digital elements on the EU market under its own name. Read narrowly, that puts the compliance burden on the device maker — the relay vendor, the RTU manufacturer, the drive OEM — and leaves the supply chain beneath them untouched. That narrow reading is already failing in pract

AI TECHNICAL BRIEF: We explore the realities of deploying ML at the OT Edge Condition monitoring of rotating machinery has become the flagship use case for machine learning at the OT edge, and for a structural reason: sound and vibration are dense signals. A single sensor emits hundreds of kilobytes per second, and no plant can round-trip that volume to a cloud and expect real-time answers. Interpretation has to happen where the data is born. Add the environments that defi

SECURITY BRIEF: Quantum computing will introduce cryptography challenges for Edge devices now and in the future. Here we look at this challenge relative to the OT environment. Quantum computing occupies an unusual position in the OT security conversation: it is simultaneously the reason current encryption will eventually fail and one of the technologies proposed to replace it. For OT and embedded environments, both sides of that story collide with the same structural problem

EXECUTIVE BRIEF: We examine trends in real time control compute hardware Executive Summary For seventy years, the question “what controls the machine” had one answer: a ruggedized, single-purpose box on a DIN rail, programmed in a language that looked like a relay schematic. That answer is no longer singular. Market data through mid-2026 shows the traditional PLC market still growing at a healthy 4–11% compound annual rate depending on the research house consulted — but grow

The European Union is advancing its approach to cybersecurity with the introduction of the Cybersecurity Resiliency Act. This legislation aims to strengthen the security of digital products and services across the EU, addressing the growing threats in an increasingly connected world. For organizations operating within or with the EU, understanding how to conduct a thorough risk assessment under this act is essential. This guide breaks down the key elements of the EU Cybersecu

Reducing time to market (TTM) while improving first pass quality in printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing is a challenge many electronics companies face. Faster product launches can mean the difference between success and missed opportunities, but rushing production often leads to defects and costly rework. Balancing speed with quality requires a clear strategy focused on process improvements, design optimization, and effective communication. This article explores practic