Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1494346
68 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2023 "But that's the way we've always done it." Many electronics engineering groups have a hierarchical structure, with senior-, mid-, and junior-level engineering personnel possessing various depths of subject matter expertise. e head of an engineering group is usually one who has risen through the ranks of the orga- nization and has fought and won many proj- ect battles; they've survived and can pass on knowledge, wisdom, and guidance. Every so oen, though, an engineering group leader must call together their team, and tell an ancient story passed down from the "elders" to steer the group in the right direction. I recall a gathering like this: Several PCB project stakeholders could not agree upon a way to move forward with a challenging PCB The Tale of Five CAD Monkeys assembly which had suffered failures on the SMT line. Small, newly-specified chip capaci- tors were "tombstoning" and "skewing" on the PCB, and the root cause could have been attributed to many different variables. e conference meeting room was packed, and the VP of engineering wisely started the meeting by giving each one an opportunity to share their experience regarding the assembly defects. One by one, they methodically went around the room. e first one spoke up, "We're using all our standard equipment, materials, and processes the same way our people always have; our manufacturing constraints have not changed for many moons." en he looked to the customer's PCB design stakeholder, who Target Condition Feature Column by Kelly Dack, CIT, CID+