Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1400005
46 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2021 vided "lunch and learn" sessions. Together we recorded a variety of video inter views and wrote articles to help fight the war on DFM failure. We were positioned to make a difference and we were. Slowly, the PCB designers we had schooled were send- ing balanced, even- layered designs with nicely spaced traces and appropriate widths with consideration for copper weight and out- erlayer/innerlayer pro- cessing. is was a DFM win for both design and manufacturing to be sure. ese recent grads didn't know what they d i d n ' t k n o w, a n d i t wasn't their fault. Most EE curriculum doesn't include much manufacturing content, though that is changing, as Marc Carter chronicles in his column. I really enjoyed my time teaching these grads. ese smart young people just needed someone to explain the best practices for DFM, and they were off to the races. I'm sure that the Zachs, Ians, and Ashleys are on their way to becoming solid PCB designers who will in turn share their knowledge with the next generation. DESIGN007 Kelly Dack, CIT, CID+, is an instructor with EPTAC and communications officer with PCEA. layers, unbalanced copper, quarter-inch-thick PCBs with tiny vias which would not plate through—you name it. Suddenly, with little time to react, our fabricators were being del- uged with overly creative designs which could not be manufactured. ese smart young engineers were sorely in need of an education on DFM. I'd found my calling. I teamed up with CAM expert and manufacturing industry icon Mark omp- son, and we were off to the races. I'd known Mark for years and he was always a helpful DFM mentor while I had worked at the gam- ing company years earlier. It was an honor to work side-by-side with him and help educate these new PCB designers. We invited these young engineering custom- ers to tour our fabrication facilities and pro- Figure 1: Kelly and Mark Thompson fighting the "War on Failure."