Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1114420
14 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2019 but unfortunately, nobody is taking the time to put down rules or write the software that es- sentially creates a planning tool. I've looked at this for the last 40 years, so I have a planning tool, but I can't sell it because it has no docu- mentation and if you look at it cross-eyed, it will go apart, but I call it a virtual prototype. Our industry keeps adding new sets of rules as we come up with other devices and con- straints. For example, there are requests for de- signers to design for recycling and being envi- ronmentally friendly. Matties: With the movement to the digital fac- tory and smart manufacturing, what impact, if any, is that playing on the design community? Creeden: I'm not seeing much at all, but I'm sure hoping that universal manufacturing rules are a byproduct of it. One of the most ad- vanced, leading factories is GreenSource Fab- rication is in New Hampshire, and at some point, the industry's goal is that the automa- tion that they have would be transferable to the layout project. Matties: A whole new level of data will have to be uniform and provided. Kluever: I don't see how there could be one rule that fits all because all of these manufac- turers have such a wide range of capabilities. Creeden: Nobody's saying that there's one rule; we're saying that there's one format whereby each factory can plug in their capabilities ma- trix and process allowances. Holden: Yes, that's what I call the virtual proto- type or the design planner, which is badly need- ed software. One of the things I saw while work- ing with Freedom CAD on their eBook is that the majority of their work is in the front-end plan- ning of the design—not operating the EDA tool. Johnson: Happy, I just want to tie the thought that you just made back to something that Rich said earlier, describing your Valor mod- el as being a user and defining your rules in may have misunderstood or made mistakes before. Understand what all of the terms are. It's tough to just say, "Here's everything you need to know," because all of us on this call probably have been doing this for 30 years, and we don't know everything we need to know. Matties: Is there a design review process that a service bureau offers versus just doing the de- sign? Creeden: I deal with this a lot as a trainer, and I think your ques- tion is, "What about the EE who has now been conscripted to do PCB layout and has no design train- ing in college?" We're looking hard at that subject. Surveys say that 50–60% of designers will be gone in five years, so that knowledge base will be gone. But the industry thinks a MOOC (massive open online course) class can be a Band-Aid solution. It's an online course that you can take in two hours to learn how to be a designer. Anyone who has been in the busi- ness for a while laughs because it's so ineffec- tive. Kluever: And it's important to understand the "why" of the rules as much as the "what." You're going to have times that you will have to balance these things and make tradeoffs. You need to understand which one you can give more than another, and if there is a fail, is it a less serious fail than something else? For ex- ample, finding a failure in the fabrication pro- cess is better than finding one after you've sol- dered on a $1,000 BGA. Matties: It sounds like there's no piece of soft- ware or book that will guide you to that end. Happy Holden: Yes, but that's the problem. De- sign rules can be determined mathematically, Mike Creeden