Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1441485
84 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2022 count on repeating this inefficiency with each supplier as you ramp up to your definition of volume production. Even if the manufacturing package is com- plete and without conflicting instructions, designers still impose significant inefficiencies on their manufacturing partners when they compel them to wade through all the pack- ages manually to find the details required to manufacture a PCB, such as identifying which features are actually test points and determin- ing the finished hole size vs. drill size. And the contract manufacturers doing the PCB assem- bly need to know pin-1 and polarity indicators as well as the process direction going through the SMT line—because the process direction affects shadowing of adjacent components for wave solder and AOI. Have you stopped to wonder how much time your manufacturing partners spend perform- ing these non-value-added tasks? More impor- tantly, have you ever thought about how much faster you could get your PCBs if your suppli- ers didn't have to have CAM engineers spend so much time manually processing files? Digitally transforming the sharing of data and files between all the players in the PCB design and manufacturing flow eliminates these inef- ficiencies and manual busywork, delivering contract manufacturer everything they need to build a custom PCB, the OEM needs to include the following additional material in their man- ufacturing package: • Gerber files • Drill files • Netlist files • Test files • Centroid data • BOM • Drill drawings • Assembly panel drawings • Rout drawings • Stackup drawing • Drawing notes at makes 11 different types of files, draw- ings, and instructions, most of which are created by different systems. What are the chances that each of those 11 pieces of the puzzle are based on the correct revision, and that, combined, they provide all the necessary instructions without any conflicting details? Pretty slim. is leads to the manufacturing supplier putting the job on hold while they work through the technical queries with you, the designer. And given that you likely have multiple PCB fabrication suppliers and mul- tiple contract manufacturing partners, you can Figure 1: Legacy data exchange involves multiple formats, each requiring verification and consuming multiple days. Intelligent data formats like ODB++Design provide a single container of comprehensive, validated data with a fraction of the effort.