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50 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2022 other stakeholders and implementing any improvements they suggest. e higher-level structure of DWM takes effort but yields superior results because it helps the designer avoid delays while lower- ing manufacturing costs and maintaining a high-quality finished product. For example, deadlines are more likely to be met by com- municating early with the assembly team on bill of materials component availability. For those designers using revision control, com- municating early can help avoid the costly pro- cess of rolling a revision for minor last-minute design changes. Communicating with the fab- rication team before beginning assembly can help lower manufacturing costs and turn times by discovering cost reduction opportunities, such as combining similar drill sizes. DWM seeks to unify all stakeholders of the circuit board design and development process, including the designer, fabricator, and assem- bler. For components with specific require- ments, DWM may also include involving the component manufacturer. e final complete data package sent to the assembler includes drawings, specifications, requirements, rat- ings, a bill of materials, Gerber, and drill data, etc. DWM thus requires contributions and feed- back from members of the team most famil- iar with the different documents of the data package. e designer should review prelimi- nary Gerber and drill data with the fabricator to ensure the design is manufacturable. ey should also discuss the bill of materials with the assembler to make certain that all compo- nents are available for purchase. Each docu- ment of the data package should be reviewed by an expert in the corresponding process. Designers embracing DWM should take advantage of the latest in technology. While the hand-drawn graphics of circuit board design are far in the past, some methods for integrating separate documents into the data package can be archaic at times. If you are still sending your data package in a compressed file through email, get creative about how you can improve that process. ink about how you are sharing other important files within your organization—can you use those same meth- ods for your data package? ink of ways you can incorporate the cloud into your process. Workplace-specific messaging programs are modern tools you can integrate into your workflow as you communicate with fabrica- tion and assembly teams through a work- space. List-making applications are powerful resources used to assign and manage tasks, and track their status. What resources do you use in other aspects of your work that you can apply to data package management and distri- bution? Counting the Advantages e advantage of consistent collaboration with all stakeholders in the manufacturing process is that, as a designer, you can improve Kyle Burk