Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1161956
24 SMT007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2019 Shaughnessy: It will create more commu- nication between the designer and fabrica- tor, which is almost nonexistent sometimes because designers often don't know where it's going to be fabricated. But this way, it will be bidirectional. Ford: Yes. You can imagine the kind of frustra- tion from a designer's point of view. They make the design that they think is absolutely perfect, and they review it with their peers. Six months later, they hear that there are problems in man- ufacturing and in the market. "You didn't do a very good job on that design." They might say, "It's not my fault. You're using materials that are completely different from what we speci- fied. You're using machines that are incapable of producing that kind of board." For the first time, the clarity is there. And it's presented to the designer in a way that they understand. Statistics tell the designer that this is something that needs to be changed to accommodate the use of different materials or processes; they don't need to understand materials or processes themselves, but they will understand the need, and that's what we bring back in terms of statistics so that their world is the same. But it's so much more valu- able to have all of the information that design- ers need to make design decisions. Shaughnessy: So, if the designer needs to look downstream and see what kind of material they switched to in Shenzhen, all of that will be brought back. Carter: With the digital product model exchange, they should be able to model that upfront. The stackup exchange is one of the features we added to DPMX some time back. You'll be able to have that upfront negotiation and say, "These are my impedance requirements and edge rates, and this is the kind of product it is. What materials do you have in Shenzhen?" In the case of the actual materials that your con - tract manufacturer might be doing substitutes on, now, you have a way to collect the as-built conditions. For example, you could say, "Wait a minute; that one's not equivalent. It may have saved you a dime, but there's the root of the problem." Shaughnessy: What are you going to call the combination? Is it going to have a name? Ford: It's going to have an X in it. That's all we know at the moment (laughs)! We have CFX and DPMX, and we're putting together this as a whole digital manufacturing engine exchange. "X" means excellent and exchange. Shaughnessy: And they'll be communicating whether they want to or not. Ford: They're going to have to because man- ufacturing is changing. Instead of being six months of planning, it's six days. Getting infor- mation digitally and being able to snap your fingers and make things happen on different production lines and configurations and mate- rials is the future; as a matter of fact, that's what's happening now. People can't click their fingers; they have to do it manually, which is a real cost for them. But this is essential for modern manufacturing. If people want to con- tinue making progress with their customers and expanding their business, this is a neces- sity. You can't do it with human beings alone. Shaughnessy: And it will bring designers into smart manufacturing. If you ask most design- ers what they think about smart manufac- turing, they'll say that they don't have any thoughts on it. But if they start using this com- bination, that should change. Ford: Yes. They're going to get a lot more enjoy- ment out of not having problems with any design, especially ones that are not their fault. And it will let them see any opportunities to improve. Shaughnessy: It has been great talking to you. Thank you. Carter: It's our pleasure. Ford: Thank you for your time. SMT007