Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1163814
8 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2019 Right now, there's a lot going on with stan- dards for the electronics industry. It's a busy time for all of the volunteers serving on stan- dards committees, and I say only half-jokingly that you have my sympathy! It's no secret that the standards situation in PCB design, manufacturing, and assembly is anything but standard. PCB designers have three options for data transfer standards: Ger - ber, ODB++, and IPC-2581. The overwhelming majority of PCB designs are handed off in Gerber files, but ODB++ and IPC-2581 are gain - ing popularity all the time. It's hard not to think, "Pick a standard and be done with it!" If only it were that simple. After attend- ing the IPC Summer Meet- ings in Raleigh, North Carolina, I have a better understanding of just how dif- ficult standards development can be. Of course, I couldn't get into the actual meet- ings where the industry volunteers debated vari- ous changes to the stan- dards and training docu- ments. But I attended all of the "Panelpalooza" forums and had some re- ally eye-opening conversations with commit- tee members. During lunch, one of the brand-new com- mittee members said that he couldn't believe that his group spent almost an entire day dis- cussing one word in a document. The grizzled veterans at the table laughed; that's just par for the course. I think I'd go crazy sitting in a room all day debating whether to change one word. But as I learned, this tedious, nuts-and- bolts work has to be done. For instance, does the word "lead" in your document refer to the chemical element Pb or to the legs that at - tach a component to a PCB? If you translate that doc- ument into Spanish or Mandarin, these small details can cause big problems down the road. Some committees were working to change the standards process it - self and make up- dates to the docu- ments in a more timely manner. Other were fo- cusing on the "harmonization" of this alphabet soup of global standards. There is The Shaughnessy Report by Andy Shaughnessy, I-CONNECT007 Time to Streamline Standards