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Design007-Oct2021

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64 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2021 Feature Article by Gene Weiner WEINER ASSOCIATES A f t e r m o r e t h a n s i x decades in the specialty c h e m i c a l , e l e c t r o n i c interconnect, and elec- tronic packaging indus- tries, I remain puzzled by the resistance to c h a n g e . N o t e v e n higher co st s, p o orer quality, or impending failure appears sufficient to motivate many to act, even for their own better- ment. One may ask why I am writing about change today. We h av e s e e n d r a m a t i c changes in our lifetime. A h a l f - c e n t u r y a g o , A l v i n To f f l e r reminded us of the inevitably of change in his classic book, Future Shock. I recently began to investigate "tribal knowl- edge" in PCB and PCBA operations. My goal was to determine whether anything of value would be lost if it were not recorded or pre- served for future industry technologists. In the face of modern material science and industry standards, the descriptive title "tribal knowl- edge" suggests that one must determine what is fact, what is fiction, and what may just be plain embellishment, coincidence, or even magic. In many cases, tribal knowledge seems to be composed of memories of problems solved due to trial and error, coupled with observations of resulting causes and effects. During my search for more information, I read the August 2021 issue of PCB007 Magazine that focused on DFM from the perspective of the fabricator. Several of the articles discussed the challenges involved in DFM and design data trans- fer. What seemed to leap off the pages was that much of today's design and data transfer utilizes a 60-plus- year-old format named Gerber. I remember visiting Gerber Systems Corp. (no longer in existence) in Connecti- cut many years ago. e system is now sup- ported with continuing developments by an entirely different entity. is system does not capture and retain data as the modern intel- ligent systems do. Important DFM notes are not retained or transferred by Gerber. ese notes are lost with the passing of those who have solved manufacturability issues. is important (tribal) knowledge may or may not have been recorded. Tribal Knowledge and Design Data Formats

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