Writing sample · Cognex · Abby Schervish

Names, product names, customers, and locations are redacted, and product images are removed, for confidentiality. The writing is otherwise unchanged.

Some Assembly Required

Edition 3, December 2020

What’s Included

Dear xxxxxxxx,

2020 has been a rocky but successful year for the Hardware Platform team and the company as a whole. We supported the release of many new products and made great strides in building the foundation for 2021.

Next year, we look forward to refreshing our entire Fixed Mount camera product lines, starting with the xxx as a xxxxxxx release and later in the year as an xxxxxxxx release. We also look forward to the release of the xxxx and xxx in the second half of 2021. With this, we are looking forward to another successful year!

Thanks to everyone for contributing to another great year!

Work Hard! Play Hard! Move Fast!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Senior Director, Hardware Engineering

Equipment Needed

Voice of the Customer Training

The purpose of these trainings is to align Global Product Marketing on what “Voice of the Customer” is and its importance to the company, then introduce a new framework and tools to help guide us. Watch the recording here.

System Overview

Breathing Life into the xxx Hardware

Hardware and Software Platform teams are working together to update the xxx. So far the team has successfully performed an emissions test and temperature test. Next step – getting images out of the device!

Product renderings removed for confidentiality

xxxx Rings in 2021

The xxxx follows a similar architecture to the xxx, supporting our Platform approach. The first Hardware elements just arrived, and we expect a fully assembled unit to be available shortly after Shutdown. The xxxx is mounting and optical compatible with older xxxx devices and will become a drop-in replacement unit. It is the company’s first embedded camera with a direct HDMI monitor connector and follows the xxx with a Dual Ethernet port communication.

Power and IO

The Power and IO Strategy has reached the beta phase having received the first units for final testing, the environmental testing is almost finished, and the UL certification is ongoing.

The first tunnel has been installed at xxxxxxxxx test facility in xxxxx with 32 xxxxx readers. The first actual installations at xxxxxxx are planned for Q1 of 2021.

The test system in xxxxxx is currently set up as a “xxxxxx Ship Sorter” with a 6-sided tunnel with 19 readers.

Notices

ECAD design tools had not changed over the last 16+ years. The current tools and workflow were selected during a time when many PCB layouts were done in cooperation with external layout companies. Today we are doing most of the layout work by ourselves.

In 2020, xxxxxxxxxxxx and a team of Electrical Engineers from xxxxxxxx and xxxxxx worked on establishing clear gaps we are seeing with our current solution and new functions we would like to use for streamlining our workflow. As a result, we are now preparing for switching to a new professional ECAD suite.

With the change, we expect significant improvement in these areas:

Since we have many active projects already designed with the current tools, the migration will be step-by-step, preferably only starting new projects with the new suite. The first projects using it are expected to start in Q1 2021.

Notes of Thanks

xxxxxxxxxxxxx has taken on the role of Security Officer for the xxxxxx office in 2021. Thank you, xxxxxxx!

xxxxxxxxxx is finishing up a 2-year run as the Minister of Culture (MOC) for the xxxxxx office. xxxx was an excellent MOC and helped lead our culture through an unprecedented year. Thank you, xxxx!

Team Moves

xxxxxxxxx joined the Electrical Engineering group supporting a large team with FPGA related development targeted at improving the performance of our cameras. xxx will work closely with the xxx and xxxx product teams, as well as the Advanced Technology team in xxxxxxxxx.