Reverse Engineering vs. Reengineering: Understanding the difference

The manufacturing of a product is the result of several processes being accomplished together in a planned fashion. Individually, these processes are often referred to as modules. For business owners, the only way to achieve sustainable growth is when each of these modules is working at its optimum efficiency. However, the challenge is that the industry is growing at a dynamic pace. What was the perfect process, just a few years ago, may end up becoming an outdated module for your business today. The only solution is to constantly renovate and revamp the processes integrating them with the latest technology in order to amplify the chances of growth.

When it comes to renovating an existing business module, business owners have two options to choose from-reengineering or reverse engineering. While both terms may sound similar, there is a stark difference in their meaning. In fact, there have been occasions when reengineering has been incorrectly used in reference to reverse engineering. This happens often because both reverse engineering and reengineering deal with investigation of the end product.

What is the difference?

As Mr. Prashant Deshpande, from Expertgs, one of the leading Engineering service companies in India, puts it, "Before we proceed to understand the functional utility or outcomes of reverse engineering or reengineering, it is important for us to understand the basic difference".

Unlike CAD design or embedded electronics, reengineering is a science that deals with investigation of the process at every stage. The purpose is to understand the process in-depth and redesign the individual components in order to maximize the efficiency. Taking the overhaul of the design into account, the team will work with the current design only by improving only certain aspects of it. In this case, engineers rely on methods of using engineering drawings, implementing certain advancements, and of course detailed testing of the new prototype before restarting the production process.

However, reverse engineering is a completely different ball game. In this case, the engineer will take the final product and work backwards. Yes! The idea is to work backwards and establish the processes that were involved. This method of engineering is often used to understand the competitor’s product and accordingly add more leverage to the existing business strategy. Often analysis of this kind requires lesser effort on part of the engineering team as well. The basic method involves identification of the modules involved and working out the link between them.

Which is better?

"When people have just started to understand the difference, there are a lot that come back to us, asking which one is better. However, the key is to understand that each of these engineering methodologies have a different purpose to serve. So, the better option, depends entirely on the business purpose that you are planning to serve", said Mr. Mukund Kulkarni from Expertgs.

While reengineering is best used for increasing the efficiency of processes that are slowing down the overall pace of production, reverse engineering is also good enough to understand the strategy of your competitors. Business owners need to take informed decisions while making the choice.

Mohan Kumar I am a Professional Blogger and Content Writer for Expert GS. http://expertgs.com/