Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1538269
38 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2025 ing better to do than take on risk-heavy work that's likely to be scrapped or reworked—while other teams get their ducks in a row. Let's be clear: True collabo- ration only works when all stakeholders deliver their part of the process on time. Anything else is just a game of hot potato disguised as teamwork. Design Silos: How We Got Here Let's look at how a siloed design approach plays out in real product development cycles: The Product Concept Silo Industrial designers, armed with digital pastels, render colorful visions of sleek, ergonomic prod- ucts. They work from napkin sketches and clients' dreams, turning ideas into photogenic models. Ide- ally, they will collaborate with engineering, but this rarely happens. The Mechanical Design Silo Mechanical engineers take those dreamy render- ings and try to make them real. They factor in draft angles, injection mold constraints, materials, and structural integrity. They create CAD models, simu- late stress, and ensure manufacturability. But they often do this without full visibility into the electron- ics design because it's "not ready yet." The Electrical Design Silo Meanwhile, in another corner of the building (or on a Zoom call), electrical engineers are working on the schematic and BOM, which are completely sep- arate from the mechanical realities being decided elsewhere. Sometimes, layout starts before mechanical or electrical teams have locked down even the basics. The result is that components don't fit, thermal problems arise, and boards need rework. The PCB Floor Planning Stage Finally, here comes our hero, the PCB designer. Our hero begins trying to stitch all of this together. But without clear con- straints or complete information, even the best PCB designer becomes a cleanup crew: making guesses, juggling iterations, and trying to jam everything into a space that may or may not exist. A Tale of Two Floor Planners Let's explore what this looks like when the silos collide in real life. Meet Alex, a young PCB designer who has relocated here with her room- mate Lisa to start a new job. Alex is tasked with creating a board layout for a new product. She's been given the electrical specs and parts list, but no final enclosure or mechanical constraints, except that the board area should be about 15 square inches. She is being compelled to get the design started but she has been waiting on the electronics engineers to finalize the bill of mate- rials and for the mechanical engineers to provide a final outline and some height constraints. Confi- dent in her skills, she compromises her workflow and begins the layout. Alex is now so busy at her new job that her roommate is tasked with finding their new apart- ment. Lisa finds a stylish, small apartment down- town, near coffee shops and microbreweries. A few days later, the moving company calls Alex to tell her that her furniture will be arriving the follow- ing Monday. "Oh, no!" Alex exclaims. I've got a lay- out placement review scheduled for Monday." But she will make it work. It will be a busy Monday. The Disastrous Move-in Day Experience The placement review began at 9 a.m. Monday. Engineers filtered into the conference room as Alex set up her files and pulled up the layout on TA RG E T C O N D I T I O N