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8 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2025 The Shaughnessy Report Feature Column by Andy Shaughnessy, I-CONNECT007 If you ask fabricators about their biggest challenges, they'll oen point at PCB design- ers—the readers of this magazine. Yes, you! Why is it so difficult to create the ideal data package? It's a fairly straightforward task. But this part of the design process keeps tripping up designers, even those who started in the industry before Pink Floyd split up. I get it—this is the least favorite part of the process for many PCB designers. e fun part is earlier, when you're putting the puzzle together, making everything fit onto the board. Post-pro- cessing is the "housekeeping" part of the design cycle. By this time, many designers are already thinking about solving their next puzzle. CAM departments cite data errors and miss- ing data as among the most prevalent miscues and missteps they encounter. Missing drill files seem to be the biggest snafu. If your fab drawing info contradicts your layout, your job might get put on hold (or CAM may fix the discrepancy and not even tell you about it). But designers can also give fabricators too much information; as our contributors explain this month, instead Solving the Data Package Puzzle