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SEPTEMBER 2022 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 47 MCAD authoring database (a high-fidelity digital twin) to minimize rework. While adopting these tools sounds like extra work, it's been proven that "virtual pro- totyping" (analysis and verification dur- ing design) saves significant time and cost through respin reduction. Take a look at your current cross-domain design process with an eye for inefficiencies. It may be "working" today (i.e., nobody's complaining), but a few steps can dramati- cally improve your engineering team's perfor- mance. DESIGN007 David Wiens is Xpedition product manager for Siemens Digital Industries Software. To read past columns, click here. Increased collaboration and efficiency • Provides consistent, iterative communica- tion throughout the development process • Accelerates decision making to mutually agreed changes • Le-shis 3D clearance and collision checking into the ECAD domain Achievable first-pass success • Provides an integrated process to avoid rework due to electro-mechanical issues • Reduces design iterations by verifying design intent throughout the development process • Increases the probability of meeting the product launch target So, what does a best-practice deployment look like? Here are a few recommendations: 1. Obviously, the tighter the connection between tools in each domain, the cleaner the data transition and the higher the collaboration efficiency. e industry stan- dard for electro-mechanical integration is IDX, facilitating frequent, incremental collaboration. But as noted, even tighter integrations are possible. 2. A model-driven approach, with both ECAD and MCAD sharing the same component library, can save significant library creation time and ensure that all of engineering is on the same page. 3. 3D ECAD design tools enable layout designers to view what the mechanical engineer is working on without leaving their native environment and verify their design in that context. Likewise, PCB data down to the trace and via levels helps the mechanical engineer accurately model and simulate the board in their environment. On that point, as noted earlier, there are a number of analysis tools available to vali- date the digital twin before prototype. Ide- ally, these work directly off the ECAD or Additional content from Siemens Digital Industries Software: • The Electronics Industry's Guide to... The Evolving PCB NPI Process by Mark Laing and Jeremy Schitter • The Printed Circuit Designer's Guide to... Stackups: The Design within the Design by Bill Hargin • The Printed Circuit Assembler's Guide to... Smart Data: Using Data to Improve Manufac- turing by Sagi Reuven and Zac Elliott • The Printed Circuit Assembler's Guide to… Advanced Manufacturing in the Digital Age by Oren Manor • The Printed Circuit Designer's Guide to… Power Integrity by Example by Fadi Deek • Siemens' 12-part, on-demand webinar series "Implementing Digital Twin Best Practices From Design Through Manufacturing" • Rountable: RealTime with... Siemens and Computrol: Achieving Operational Excellence in Electronics Manufacturing • You can also view other titles in our full I-007eBooks library.