Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1522071
12 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2024 and sometimes, they have to take what they're given and try to produce a printed circuit board the best they can. But yes, there's much more to it than meets the eye. A collaborative process would be great, especially if you have a top-notch designer who can come in and look at your designs—prior to them even going out to a fabrication house—and critique them or make suggestions. We also have some really nice tools that have been around for decades, like Valor and Downstream CAM350. You can program these tools to say, "is is what the design needs to look like before it can go through our shop or our fabrication process." On a high level, at a Tier 1 EMS company, they will do a full Valor check or something of that nature before it even makes it out to the floor. ey will make sure that they know how to build it exactly beforehand. Not everybody has that luxury, of course. Matties: That's an interesting spin on collabo- ration, not necessarily with the fabricator, but in the design review process. at's correct. We don't always have that lux- ury. It may be a time or a resource constraint. When you're doing a project at home, and you get your first quote, and it's $20,000, you might say, "Wow, that's pretty expensive. Let me get a couple of other quotes and some other opin- ions as well." Well, it's the same thing with PCBs. You don't necessarily want to go with Joe Blow down the street. He may have been designing for 30 years, and everybody thinks he's great. But is he really? Nolan Johnson: Some companies are trying to create a more collaborative environment for design, from design into manufacture and the transfer of data electronically. I'm starting to realize that it's much like social media for circuit board design. Yes, that's about right. Johnson: Today's CAD tools can connect you to the different suppliers on the manufactur- ing side, and their vision is you can all collab- orate on that design. So, before you manufac- ture it, you have a chance to have it looked at while you're working on it and adjust it so that you get great results. Is that something that you're tracking? I am not, but that's a great idea. I've heard of some of that type of stuff going on, but how much do you charge for that service? It's $150 an hour. How many hours would you like to buy? People just freak out and say, "Oh, I thought it would be free." No, I have better things to do. If you want an expert's advice, that's pretty much free. But if you want their help, that costs money. Shaughnessy: We hear stories all the time about the simplest boards getting put on hold in fab or assembly, and endless respins. A lot of times, this is already built into the budget. Matties: It's almost like hiring a lawyer: You may spend a little more money up front, but you're saving a lot on the back end by not having respins. I agree with you 100%, Barry. In our culture these days, for a lot of companies, it's a matter Charlie Capers