Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1345210
58 SMT007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2021 torial changes and tweaks, I am not the author; IPC documents are created "in the open" by industry volunteers. In fact, IPC-2231A is built from more than a century's worth of collective experience through the participants of the IPC 1-14 DFX Subcommittee. For this column, I thought that it would be interesting to high- light some of the 1-14's dedicated volunteers who have helped IPC-2231A come to fruition. eir insight and experience have helped to build the A Rev (and in some cases, the vanilla document) and I cannot think of any better individuals to speak on its need and promise. I spoke with a few of these supporters and asked them about their involvement in IPC-2231A's development as well as why they feel the docu- ment is needed. Russ Steiner is a team leader in the ECAD Operations Department at CASCO Auto- motive, an Amphenol Com- pany. He has been involved with the IPC 1-14 Subcom- mittee for the last two years. Russ manages a global team of engineering professionals who design robust products, and therefore has a critical need for a global DFX process that ensures complete compliance and integrity. When asked about the need for 2231A in industry, he responded, "Global operations and design portability is a key consideration for hedging against prospec- tive manufacturing venue catastrophes, manu- facturing redundancies, and predictable AQL/ PPM." Others find value in how a guideline like IPC-2231A can help single employees work cohesively inside of a huge team, either as part of large companies or within manu- facturing supply chains. Joe Clark of Lockheed Marin Missiles and Fire Control, PWB Fabrica- tion and Design, has been involved with 1-14 for about a year. Referring to IPC-2231A, Joe said, "Knowledge continuity in the electronics industry is an issue at many companies since the design and manufacturing processes span many functions and roles. e IPC-2231 doc- ument helps bridge the gap in knowledge for those who may play a single part in the overall process." Indeed, by capturing the knowledge and needs of the complex chain of require- ments imposed by manufacturing, testing, and lifecycle considerations, guidelines like IPC- 2231A can become the leverage that designers can use to justify design decisions. Patrick Phil- lips of Northrop Grumman put that more suc- cinctly by replying that IPC-2231A contained "tools for people to use for building a case to drive product improvements." Others still found that the general mindset of DFX will not only help individual com- panies cohere their processes internally or the processes of their contractors and manu- facturing verticals, but also to create some alignment between companies in general—even compet- itors—who all would benefit from best prac- tices offered by a consensus document. Pietro Vergine, president of Leading Edge, provided an excellent summary of this point: "I think that most companies are already using internally developed rules/methodologies that are DFX oriented, but maybe call them something dif- ferent (i.e., designing documents with design rules, or rules for the assembly, or design rules for manufacturing, or electrical design rules). As with all other IPC standards, I think that having [IPC-2231A] that has a general con- sensus from the electronics industries with the collaboration of several companies may have a great impact on all of their activities. It might not be perfect, but it will let us think about the global picture, and not just a single problem." Many found that certain sections of the doc- ument contained knowledge that is critical to help designers understand the effects of their design choices on downstream cost driv- Russ Steiner Joe Clark Pietro Vergine