Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1466505
34 SMT007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2022 extra programming effort to accurately and efficiently get the file formats right. Our cus- tomers try to accommodate our request and most of the time we get ODB++ or IPC-2581 files. In our business, we also build boards that were designed 15 or 20 years ago and all they have are the Gerber files. As Kevin mentioned, when we do those, which might be 10% of the time, it takes Kevin and our other programmer three to four times longer to program a board with Gerber than it would if we had received either of the other two file formats. Matties: Does your pricing change based on file format? Rowland: Yes. If we get Gerber, we try to cover the additional cost. Programming is not an area we try to make a profit on, but we need to be able to cover our cost. If it takes us three to four times longer with a Gerber file, we need to cover the expense that we incur in doing that. Matties: Do the customers realize that they would save money by changing the file format? Rowland: Yes, if they're able to, that is. We have some boards that are so old all they have are Gerber files. We work with what they have available to them. One of our engineers was on the original IPC-2581 committee and is an expert with that file format. He helped some of our customers understand the 2581 format and we showed their design groups how to output the 2581 file format. Matties: Ultimately, it simplifies your custom- er's life as well with fewer questions on the back end and so on. Rowland: Yes, absolutely. If they give us what we need, then we don't call them as many times, if at all, because we have what we need vs. having a lot of questions because the file format isn't very good. Matties: When we did a survey, Gerber was by far the one people are using most oen. ey're familiar with it and there's no significant pen- alty to keep using it or changing. Rowland: Yes, I agree with you. In some cases, people don't understand there are better file formats for programming than Gerber. Gerber files are best suited for PCB fabrication; this format was never intended for programming SMT machines. at's why we work with our customers and try to educate them as much as we can so that we get the preferred file formats. Matties: Yes, that's very smart. Bennett: ere is a higher risk of quality- related issues with Gerber because it's such a manual process to program. e potential for error increases all the way through the pro- cess. If you receive a good CAD file, like 2581 or ODB++, the component orientation angles are already embedded in those file types upon import. Less verification is required to com- pare component orientation to customer assembly drawings. Rowland: If we're asked to quote a board build and all they have are Gerber files, we may no- bid the request because of the time it takes to do the programming. Johnson: I'm curious about the customer reac- tion to not bidding the Gerber files. How do they respond? Rowland: Fortunately, this doesn't come up very oen. ey are probably getting quotes from at least two or three different compa- nies and there may be an EMS provider that is willing to work with Gerber files. We have reached a point where it's not always a good fit for us, however we always try to work with our customers and provide the best ser- vice we can. SMT007