Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1219242
30 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2020 Feature Interview by Andy Shaughnessy I-CONNECT007 How can designers and design engineers be sure that they're cutting any excess cost from their designs? According to Chris Banton of EMA Design Automation, providing designers the data they need early in the design process is a big part of making cost-effective design de- cisions. I sat down with Chris at DesignCon to discuss some of the ways designers can make their designs and final products more profit- able. Andy Shaughnessy: It's good to see you again, Chris. Can you give us a quick background about what EMA does? Chris Banton: Sure, Andy. Thanks for chatting with me. We know engineers are being tasked with more and more responsibilities within the design cycle and have shorter time-to-market deadlines. Our mission is to help engineers de- sign reliable products quickly through software solutions catered specifically to our client's de- sign and to-market goals. EMA is a design au- tomation company focused on the electron- ics and high-tech industries for over 25 years. We've been doing this for over 25 years, primar- ily on PCB design analysis. For the bulk of that time, we have been a Cadence channel partner, where we focused on helping Cadence custom- ers within their entire design ecosystem. Shaughnessy: Earlier, we were talking about designing for cost and profitability. You have a few thoughts on this topic. Banton: It's an interesting topic because engi- neers don't necessarily get a chance to do that. While engineers can have a huge impact on the cost and profitability of a product, I also believe we don't really empower them with the information they need to be able to do that. We started doing some work with SiliconExpert, a leader in the supply chain world; they are fo- cused on helping supply chain engineers make sure they're picking the right parts and have stock in everything. Through this collabora- tion, we found that, oftentimes, an engineer will design something with the data they have, which is not necessarily the data they need. EMA: Early Access to Data Is Key to Cost-driven Design Chris Banton