Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1408619
12 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2021 Feature Interview by the I-Connect007 Editorial Team We recently spoke with Patrick Davis, prod- uct management director of Cadence Design Systems, about the benefits of collaboration between PCB designers and fabricators—and the drawbacks to throwing designs "over the wall." Patrick explains why designers and fabri- cators oen seem to be talking past each other, the role that EDA soware companies can play in facilitating collaboration, and why IPC-2581 may be the right means for connecting all of design's stakeholders. Andy Shaughnessy: Patrick, please share your thoughts on collaboration between designers and fabricators, and where it all begins. Patrick Davis: I think the collaboration is extremely important. It's that last mile, as they call it, when you come out of the design pro- cess and you're trying to get it to the fab shop, Collaboration: The Key to Streamlining Your Design Process the assembly shop, in an efficient manner. Right now, the communications are through email, PowerPoint, Excel spreadsheet, carrier pigeon, and a few other ways to get your data back and forth. We want to streamline that and make a digi- tal thread to pull everything together. I like the idea of digital rope because the ends spread out, you have a lot of places in the very begin- ning and a lot of places at the very end, but it's all one common rope going back and forth. Cadence believes that this is pretty impor- tant, why we are so heavily invested in the IPC-2581 standard, and why we're trying to push that forward. We think it's the right tool to be able to help everybody communicate up and down the line, through the entire design process. Shaughnessy: Designers say there needs to be more collaboration with fabricators, but a lot of times it just doesn't happen. ere's oen very little communication with the fab.