Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1491842
38 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I FEBRUARY 2023 you pick the alternates and refer back, or would you prefer the customer to identify the alternates? Sciberras: A little bit of both. When we're talking about some of the ICs that maybe are programmed, and they've got soware that's very specific to their system, how they write that soware may need to have some options in it so that it works with multiple manu- facturers. At the design stage, when you're writing that soware to do it in a way that allows you to be effective, a lot of the com- panies are outsourcing that soware design. ey might not have the information that they need to have in order to change it down the road. It requires thinking right up front about how many options there are on my most criti- cal components. Making a good plan at the start is ideal; there are a lot of pieces, and it starts with the design. en you work with your supplier; what does that communication look like? It will be multiple pieces, not just one magic piece that solves the entire prob- lem. Johnson: at definitely requires the design team. Dropping down into the more passive parts, how critical is that for them to be second sourcing those for you? Sciberras: It depends on how critical and able they are to accept alternates. If you are pretty open on caps and resistors, you can give me a specification of what you're looking for, and you can list the manufacturer as "any," and that gives us a lot of room to make decisions for them. It gives us a lot of capacity to give them what they need when they need it, but there are other places. If you have one AVL on your BOM, that's probably a bad idea to start because I can find you alternates if somebody else makes something. ere are some of these very criti- cal components that, right up front, where nobody else makes that exact style. You should probably consider having alternate options, maybe a different layout: "How else can I do this Bluetooth module?" Johnson: at makes the bill of materials spec particularly important because they can say, "I don't care." For example, a capacitance value and tolerance—it's on them to communicate piece-by-piece to the exact specification you need. Sciberras: Designers are engaging us earlier in the process than we've seen in the past. We've always been pretty early on in the design phase just because of the length of the relationship. ey understand it, but now, because they've been burned, they're willing to engage the contract manufacturer sooner. at's important because we have tools avail- able to us where I can scan their entire bill of materials and say, "Hey, this part is not really recommended for new designs." Sometimes, the designers are not paying attention to those same details. Johnson: anks for speaking with us, Jason. Sciberras: ank you. DESIGN007 At the design stage, when you're writing that software to do it in a way that allows you to be effective, a lot of the companies are outsourcing that software design.