Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1288481
54 PCB007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2020 do I approach my supply chain? It's not exactly the components and chips and ASICs that af- fect me; it's a different set of raw materials that I'm using. Rodgers: Bare boards are basically custom com- ponents. Whether they're designed in-house or by somebody else, they must be consistent with a schematic by your designers. I suspect a lot of companies are still designing their own. Some are probably outsourcing even that part of the operation, working with the dedicated design team at the fab shop. But the compo- nents on that board is where you might be able to save a lot of money. One of my first responsibilities at HP back in the 1980s was working on a design for manu- facturability manual. We wanted to put a DFM manual in the hands of our printed circuit de- signers to help them with their decision-mak- ing process. Is it better to add more layers, or is it better to have finer lines and spaces? Which one adds more cost? Finer lines and spaces typ- ically mean yield loss due to opens and shorts, but more layers lead to higher material cost. You should look for a fab shop that can sup- port you in DFM decision-making, knows their own production processes, understands where the yield losses are, and what the contributors are to the overall cost. You want to have a part- ner who can work with you on circuit design to help you lay out your bare board in a way that minimizes your costs but still maintains the level of performance you're looking for. Johnson: That makes sense, except that in the industry right now, even the PCB fabrica- tors tend to push board fab into a commod- ity service. A common refrain is, "Bring me your design when it's finished, and I'll tell you what it will cost." As we move forward, there needs to be more engineering consult- ing in the process. The decision and selection of your fabricator shouldn't be when your de- sign is done, and you've accidentally built in a whole bunch of cost additions, but early in the design so they can collaborate along the way, making sure that the design team makes appropriate trade-offs. Rodgers: Absolutely. It will save you more money in the long run. I always advocate for a close relationship between hardware design- ers and your procurement or purchasing team. There needs to be a collaboration between those two groups within your organization. We don't want the procurement people always looking for the lowest quote. Sometimes, it's a question about the total cost of ownership. You get better results in the long run by working with a supplier that has the engineering capa- bility to work with your hardware designers to create a lower-cost product and can collabo- rate in that process. I suspect your readers are outsourcing the design work as well. Maybe they provide a schematic, and then somebody else creates the Gerber files that are necessary to actually drive the production of the circuit boards. We can't just look at this in isolation. There has to be a marriage between the technical solution needs and cost opportunities. Unfortunately, in many companies, the pro- curement and engineering parts of the organi- zation aren't cooperating or collaborating. In some ways, they're at odds. The procurement people are being measured on how much they can drive costs down, but the engineering part of the organization is being measured on how well it can drive performance up, and those are often in conflict with each other. Johnson: Can you share an example of a com- pany that has either a great experience with that collaboration or an abysmal one? Rodgers: In Colorado, there's a division of a company that makes controllers used for flow meters and other devices like that. They do a really nice job of integrating and getting the engineers who develop new products to work with the supply chain team and procurement team. It's not just looking at current products, either. When they think about future designs and products, they want to make sure their suppliers have the capabilities that they need for the future. In some cases, that means working with their existing suppliers to improve their capa-