Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1491842
36 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I FEBRUARY 2023 always a next one—we will be better prepared than we are today. In the last 20 years, we've seen similar cycles that affected the micro lead-frame chip carri- ers (MLCC), and we had an IC issue also. is one has lasted longer and has affected more products than anything we've ever seen before. e best thing about this one is that the entire world is going through it. We have great rela- tionships with our customers; they're working with us to solve these problems. ey under- stand what's going on. As a team, we've been very successful at keeping them going in some fashion without interruption. Nolan Johnson: It seems like designing for alter- nate packages or multiple choices would be a good design practice even when the supply chain is operating smoothly. Sciberras: I'm hoping that's here to stay. We're seeing customers ask, "What are the five or six critical components that would most likely impact my ability to keep the line up and run- ning? What kind of solutions can I design into the layout right up front so that if, God forbid, we come down this path again, we know what to do about it?" Shaughnessy: Do they call this out in the assem- bly notes? Where do they notate that there is an alternate if needed? Sciberras: ere are a couple of different ways you can handle it. As long as you're specific on your bill of materials, we're not going to switch back and forth. With the type of customers we're working with, traceability is critical; I can't avoid traceability. Shaughnessy: One of our designer friends says that maybe we should have been double- and triple-sourcing parts all along. We probably should have been, but we didn't need to. You just knew the part was there. A lot of compa- nies now say every component must have a backup. Sciberras: We see a lot more options on a bill of materials today than we have in the past. We have some customers who are real trace- ability guys who say, "It's got to be this exact part." ey've learned to rewrite their design so that they can get them through certifica- tions with multiple AVLs. In the past, they just thought it was a challenge they didn't want to deal with. Saline has a component engineer on staff. We're able to quickly identify alternates and tell customers what the exact differences are. eir engineers are just as busy as our engi- neers. If we can give them a really tight, nar- rowed-down piece of information, there's a higher success rate getting the customer to approve that and keep moving forward. Johnson: What's a good best practice in this situation for the design team? Should they be specifying as much as possible their own alternates? You just mentioned that you can identify alternates for them. Do you prefer seeing a plan A, an ideal bill of materials, then Jason Sciberras