Producing a device
Preparing the crowdfounding of a device requires multiple steps, including a clean and efficient preparation stage, a production stage and a post-production stage. The preparation stage ensures that the device is clean and can be produced with industrial constraints.
Formal device production steps in H2Lab
The preparation stage requires the following steps to be validated:
- Initial device design check: validation that the initial open hardware device does work and complies to its published capacities
- Hardware redesign and optimization: check the production feasibility of the hardware, replace potential costly or out of stock components
- Software stack check: validate that the embedded software is stable, that it can compile easily and that it is properly documented
- Industrialisation constraints: check that the device can be easily produced in numbers, flashed and tested without requiring complex methods and tools. The tooling may be updated here
The Production stage requires the following steps to be validated:
- Cost calculation: defining the amount of devices to be produced, and as a consequence, the global cost (including production, validation, packaging and delivery). The more devices there are in the batch, the less each device will cost
- Crowdfunding start: based on the previously estimated number of devices, the Crowdfounding is started and registered in one of the existing Crowdfounding companies
The Post-production stage requires the following steps to be validated:
- Board validation: the received boards batch is tested using a set of predefined unit tests. Depending on the type and number of devices, unit tests are run on the complete batch or on a representative subset
- Packaging and delivery: Now that boards have been tested and flashed, they are packaged and sent to each participant of the crowdfunding
- References all design, documentation and datasheets on device’s page: All information associated to the produced device, including design, documentations and datasheets, are referenced on the device H2Lab page
At project start, all required steps and stages are defined. They are denoted in a short table describing the current state of the production:
| Preparation Stage | Status |
| Initial device design check |  |
| Hardware redesign and optimization | |
| Software stack check | |
| Industrialization constraints | |
| Production Stage | Status |
| Cost calculation | |
| Crowdfunding start | |
| Post-Production Stage | Status |
| Board validation | |
| packaging and delivery | |
INFO: Some devices may requires more production steps, depending on the way they are handled in H2Lab. In these case, these optional steps are described in the device’s page and added to the device table.
Each time a step is validated, the corresponding line is upgraded as the following:
| Step name | =>  |
If H2Lab specific updates has been made on the device, the corresponding upgrades are described below the global production table.
The effective crowdfunding project date, from which people can start participating, is also specified in each project page, as soon as it is defined.
NOTE: For each device, the batch volume, the way people can participate to the crowdfunding and the crowdfunding duration may vary, as these three components are device-specific.
For more information about the way H2Lab handle boards production, don’t hesitate to request information to bureau@h2lab.org.
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