Services · Systems- & Lifecycle-Management

Support for the whole life of your product.

After the release to series production, components are discontinued, vulnerabilities come to light and standards change. We keep your device's electronics, firmware and cloud available and secure for as long as it is on the market.

What we stand for

Availability is a design decision

  • We plan for ten years

    We design devices to be available for at least ten years. We choose the components accordingly and keep the bill of materials under review.

  • Hardware and software age differently

    A component is discontinued, a library turns out to have a vulnerability. We monitor both, report them to you and fix them.

  • Every change runs through a change request

    Replacement part or patch: the change is described, assessed, verified and released. If it affects the regulatory approval, we organise the re-assessment with the certification body and compile the documents for it.

What we take on

  • Obsolescence management

    We monitor your bills of materials and report discontinuations before they turn into a supply stop. For critical components we look for alternatives and assess them, and where none fits, we plan the last-time buy with you.

  • Vulnerabilities throughout the service life

    Your device's libraries, kernel and images stay under observation. We assess new vulnerabilities against your device and tell you which of them affect you.

  • Change and re-approval

    If a replacement part is not a one-to-one fit, we change the design, verify the change and carry out the necessary re-certification. You receive the evidence along with it.

  • Supporting series production and manufacturing

    We support ongoing manufacturing at our EMS partners and keep the end-of-line test station up to date with the current device variant.

  • Getting updates into the field

    A patch is only useful once it reaches the device. Through qdCloud we distribute firmware and configuration to fleets of any size, controlled according to your strategy.

  • Support and maintenance

    We record faults in hardware and software, investigate them and bring the fix back into the field.

A product works for as long as somebody looks after it.

Obligations throughout the service life

  • Security updates throughout the support period

    The Cyber Resilience Act requires that vulnerabilities can be fixed throughout the defined support period. We keep the necessary update process running.

  • Meeting the reporting deadlines

    Actively exploited vulnerabilities must be reported within 24 hours, with the full report following after 72 hours. We monitor continuously and pass every finding on to you immediately, so the full window remains available to you.

  • A software bill of materials that stays current

    The SBOM lists every third-party component with name, version and licence. It is the basis for assessing whether a report affects your device.

  • Input to post-market surveillance

    The MDR requires post-market surveillance. The medical assessment remains with you. We supply the technical input: field evaluations, implementation of the changes and the evidence for them.

  • Changes assessed and released

    Every change after release is assessed before it goes into series production. For regulated products, this includes a formal change impact analysis.

  • A management system under external audit

    Sales, development and manufacturing of electronic and electromechanical assemblies and systems are certified to ISO 9001. Beyond that, our management system conforms to ISO 13485, IEC 61508, IEC 62443 and ISO/IEC 27001. What we do for your device over the years is itself governed and traceable.

  • Cyber Resilience Act
  • MDR
  • ISO 9001
  • ISO 13485
  • IEC 61508
  • IEC 62443
  • ISO 27001

The cycle after the release to series production

It keeps turning for as long as your devices are in the field.

  1. Monitor

    The bill of materials and the software bill of materials are monitored continuously: discontinuations and product change notices on one side, new vulnerabilities on the other.

  2. Assess

    Every report is checked against your device: is the affected function used at all? That decides whether action is needed.

  3. Act

    Alternative component, last-time buy, patch or redesign. Which route we propose depends on stock coverage, effort and the consequences for regulatory approval.

  4. Document

    The change is verified, documented and, where necessary, re-approved. Then monitoring starts again with the new version.

Your benefits at a glance

  • Less load on your team

    Monitoring components and libraries continuously takes knowledge that has to be kept current. You hand that routine over, and your developers gain time for the next product.

  • Predictable changes

    Maintenance releases run on fixed cycles that we agree with you. For critical findings, we also act in between.

  • Less effort per change

    The person who designed the circuit assesses a replacement faster than someone who first has to get to know it. Assessment, verification and the regulatory consequences all come from one source.

  • Demonstrable compliance

    Your product meets the requirements of the Cyber Resilience Act and the MDR throughout its service life. The evidence is on hand and reduces your liability risk.

Our foundation for running your devices long term

  • Logo qdCloud
    IoT platform

    qdCloud

    Operation, monitoring and OTA updates for device fleets. The route a correction takes to reach the device.

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  • Logo qdTest
    Production test

    qdTest

    Programming and testing at the end of the production line. Stays valid even when a component changes.

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  • Logo qdCoreX
    Operating system

    qdCoreX

    Buildroot-based Linux with a mainline LTS kernel. Fail-safe updates and certificate management are already built in.

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Transparency from the start

Can you take on a device someone else developed?

Yes, provided we can look inside. We go through the schematic, the bill of materials, the source code and the test records, and then tell you what we can commit to and what has to be brought up to date first.

Where is manufacturing done?

Component population, assembly and logistics are handled by our EMS partners AXON Electronics e.K. and A2000 Industrie-Elektronik GmbH. Alternatively, you can bring your own manufacturer, and we manage the transfer to series production with them.

Where is the work done?

In Offenburg, and nowhere else. We work with our own people. Whoever replaces a component years later sits in the same building as the person who designed the circuit.

What happens when a component disappears without warning?

Then your stock coverage is what counts. Within a few days we assess which alternatives are suitable and what a change would mean for testing and regulatory approval. You get the options with effort and timescale, and you decide which route we take.

Tell us about your next project.

Tell us about your product and your schedule. We will tell you how we would approach the project and whether we see any major risks. The assessment, up to an indicative price, is free of charge.

Florian Seibold

Managing Director

info@querdenkerengineering.de

+49 7807 890 80 10