Where the defects are, and what they are
A located list: which part of the design carries which problem.
Design verification for equipment software
Find the design defects
before they reach the floor.
Design problems that surface once the equipment is on the floor are the most expensive kind to fix. Whether the machine is new or one you are modifying, DatumProof finds them while it is still a drawing.
Every year, quietly
Every equipment maker carries a cost no ledger names.
It is the design problem found only after the machine reaches the customer's floor. Days lost tracing the cause, a schedule that slips, parts rebuilt — and at the worst end, a recall or a safety incident.
No account line reads "design defect". So the pain is felt at board level while the number is known to nobody. What is certain is that it is not small.
And the number changes by an order of magnitude based on one thing: when you find it.
- ×1 Found at design
- ×10 Found at integration test
- ×100–1000 Found on site or in production
A long-standing rule of thumb in software engineering. In equipment development, on-site rework, schedule slip and safety re-certification stack on top of it.
What we do
We take on the checking of the design, without you adding headcount.
Before the machine reaches the floor, we search the design for the defects hidden inside it. New design or a change to one already running, what we read is the drawings and the design documents. We walk the states the design can reach and return a verdict on whether a dangerous combination can occur.
What we checked, and what we could not, comes back with the result. Think of it as the role a newly hired senior engineer would fill, filled another way.
It does not replace testing. We check the design, not the built machine — wiring, assembly and physical response stay testing's job. The two answer different questions.
What you receive
The order of events that triggers each one
Not "something is wrong somewhere" — the exact sequence that produces the fault.
Proof that the dangerous states cannot occur
Not "it did not happen when we tried". Within the scope we check, it cannot happen in this design. That scope is agreed with you before work starts.
All of it in a form your engineers can take straight into the next design review — results to work from, not a report to decode.
The proposal
There is no need to start big. Start with one design.
One electrical design — the most concrete kind — is enough. We put confidentiality in writing before anything changes hands, and you decide the next step after you have seen the result.
We would rather not argue the case in words. We will show it on one real design of yours.
- Scope
- One of your designs (electrical design recommended). The scope is fixed before work starts
- Duration
- Agreed with you once the scope is set
- Terms
- Under NDA. Design documents are treated as confidential
- Hardware
- Not required. The precondition is that the operating conditions and states are traceable from the design documents
- Cost
- First engagements are priced as reference work
Try it on your own design.
Not a concept pitch — the specific defects and counterexamples that come out of your actual design. Start by choosing one target.