Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1369942
MAY 2021 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 59 Using the data our PCB assembly group had collected, we analyzed all the DFM issues that had been recorded. We noticed that many were obscure and happened infrequently or only once or twice. We compared the DFM issues to each of our own design rule-checking routines and checklists. Amazingly, some of the DFM issues appeared on one or more of our personal checklists. What could this mean? It meant we were each doing a bad job of checking for DFM issues. Our manager asked why. One of the most striking reasons was that one of the designers had compiled a checklist of 200 things before release, yet nobody was signing up for peer review and reporting on the 200 items on each other's PCB layouts. Our manager asked, "Why do you think you need to check 200 items?" at's the moment when my life changed. Mark showed us how to leverage our PCB assembly stakeholders' data to solve our problems. We identified the top eight DFM problems identified on the spreadsheet. We referred to this list as the Great Eight and it became our new checklist. We instituted a new DFM process requiring our designs to be peer reviewed by another designer half an hour before release. rough communication, our overlooked DFM issues and "oopsies" were quickly identified and updated before release. We kept a scoreboard. When a DFM issue was found during check, it was logged on our own spreadsheet. Each week we reviewed Figure 2: An example of capability issues from offshore suppliers as recorded on an engineering query (EQ) tracker. Often, this requires customer approval.