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44 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2025 The Show Floor On our first day at IPC APEX EXPO, we walked the aisles, surveying the capabili- ties of the new PCB manu- facturing machinery. Expe- rienced PCB designers form solid contact with the com- panies that turn their CAD data and documentation into printed boards. Understand- ing manufacturing capability is key to never laying down a track that cannot be printed, plated, and etched. Supplier capability must be under- stood to effectively design a PCB stackup for imped- ance control or to select the proper hole size for a filled via. Machine process options and accuracy must be com- prehended to define tolerance zones of a routed, punched or V-scored board edge. ese are all top examples of still-common design for manufacturing (DFM) failures that stop hundreds of production orders every day until a concession or design change is made to match supplier capability. At IPC APEX EXPO, PCB designers get the opportunity to keep up with improvements in machine and process capability. If you're lucky, you may even see one of your suppliers inking a pur- chase order for new machines to update their own capability. Standards Meetings, Sessions, and Discussions I suggested to Chad that we attend sev- eral technical conference sessions, standards development committee meetings, and since we spe- cialize in assembly, to attend the IPC EMS Leadership Summit. We spent a con- siderable amount of time in each, and I was glad we could do that together. is show brings together indus- try stakeholders to develop and establish our electron- ics industry standards—our rules of engagement—for design, process, and manu- facturing expectations with the goal of achieving mutual quality success for all. Each session focused on chal- lenges to updating older specifications and regulating which new committees must be formed to keep up with new technologies. It is at these meetings that our industry's PCB design and manufactur- ing standards are craed and revised. We were impressed to hear so many industry leaders address their challenges by stepping up plans to improve standards and guidelines. When followed, these standards streamline the many PCB project workflows for quoting, materials, manufacturing process and quality. Design and manufacturing specification committees are widely represented, and their content is reviewed throughout the year to present best value standards for quality. e committees have cross-functional representa- tion. No single stakeholder speaks for the oth- ers' areas of expertise or defines a process that benefits their responsibility alone. PCB designers should take note of this col- Chad Orebaugh INVENTING = LARGE INVESTMENT OF COST + TIME + TRIAL & ERROR DESIGNING = LARGE SAVINGS BY LEVERAGING PAST INVESTMENT OF INVENTORS INVENTING = LARGE INVESTMENT OF COST + TIME + TRIAL & ERROR DESIGNING = LARGE SAVINGS BY LEVERAGING PAST INVESTMENT OF INVENTORS