Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1245291
14 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2020 Korf: I expect the designer to send me a file to build, and I can build it as they sent it to me. I can compensate for etching and drill hole siz- es, etc., but I expect the design to be correct. I shouldn't have to determine if they designed it right. Did they meet their own specifications? You send me a Gerber plus an ODB++ data, and they don't match, so which one is right? The fabrication print is different than the graphical file, and the design violates their own specifi- cations. I break these issues out into three ar- eas. One is the design doesn't match the capa- bility of the supplier; we can talk about that extensively. The second is the design violates its own specifications. For example, they re- quire four mils between layers, while they send the design in with two. The third is conflicting data and requirements in the data package. In the '60s, some board fabricator must have built a board that didn't work because they didn't find the designer's error, and they of- fered to pay for it. They said, "I'm sorry. I'll build it for you for free." That's when all this tribution. We marketed it for many years then it finally took off. That was with Zycon, then we got bought by HADCO and subsequently by Sanmina, so we had a lot of board shops around the world. I was responsible for the front-end engineering for all the shops glob- ally, where the key challenge was to be able to transfer designs from North America to Eu- rope and Asia; that was difficult because the materials and plant capabilities were not al- ways the same. Then, I got intrigued by an offer to be the chief PCB technologist for Huawei in Shen- zhen, China, which resulted from a confer- ence call. They asked me to talk to them about high-speed design for 30 minutes. I had to ask them about what part; I could talk for hours on that. At the end of the phone call, they said, "Are you going to come work for us in China?" I laughed because I was in California. Two days later, they called me back, "Are you?" I said, "Oh, you're serious." A few weeks lat- er, I moved over there, and that was a great experience. My focus was on developing the designs and PCB fabrication supply chain for 5G technology with a continual focus on cost reduction. After my contract expired, I went to work for Multek in Zhuhai China for a few more years, doing the same thing—front-end engineering with a lot of focus on trying to improve design quality, which goes both ways, and we'll dis- cuss that later. Then, last year it was time to leave them, return to the U.S. and semi-retire. Now, I'm in Bremerton, Washington. I formed Korf Consultancy, and my challenge is to im- prove design transfer from design to manufac- turing. I want to get to where there are abso- lutely no issues. It can be done. I've done it on spot occasions with various companies by working on both ends of the candle and try and help fix up the issues. That's my end game job. I'll keep running with this until I can't anymore. Shaughnessy: That ties right in with this topic. With your manufacturing hat on, what do you expect from the designer, or what should man- ufacturers expect from the designers? Dana spent almost eight years leading engineering and DFM teams at Huawei and Multek in China.