Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/713934
14 The PCB Design Magazine • August 2016 sometimes a happy coincidence can help two seemingly unrelated issues. For example, the adoption of flat glass for better laser drilling has the beneficial side effect of a more homogenous dielectric constant in the base material, which is a positive. What I really like about the industry… How so many different disciplines need to work in conjunction with each other to realise the technically miraculous products we take for granted. My favorite tip or trick to share is… If you are unsure of a concept and how a sys- tem behaves, try thinking of what may happen at the extremes. For example if you are thinking about how to model pressed thickness, consider the thickness when all the layers are 100% Cu and then consider it with all the Cu removed. Apply this kind of thinking to any mathemati- cal challenge, and it gives you a min and max to start working from. Abby Monaco, CID Product and Marketing Director INTERCEPT TECHNOLOGY If they would just do this... One of my duties is trying to help steer soft- ware projects and priorities. As I continually cull information and make recommendations, I do find myself wishing that there was more love in the industry. First, between EDA software ven- dors, and second, between manufacturers and EDA software vendors. Speaking of the friction between EDA ven- dors, it has caused our customers countless headaches to have larger company vendors pre- vent us access to their so-called "open" tech- nology partnership programs. On the surface, these programs are intended to help the indi- viduals behind the software grappling with the need to move among different vendors. But in reality, they only operate on the surface—they look good to the engineering managers of said customers, but do nothing to help the actual designers with the real problems to solve. There is also a gray middle ground between PCB design and manufacturing, where manu- facturers and software vendors are doing very good work to help ease the transitions between the worlds. But a lot of the time, a happy solu- tion for all involves custom coding on one side or another, and this custom code may or may not work for the long term because it goes be- tween these two worlds that don't exactly talk the same language. I do wish there was a bit more standardization of processes among man- ufacturers, though I also see clearly that it's not an easy problem to solve. If they would only listen... Talk the finer points of politics and religion, mixed in with some banter about kids and grandkids. Political correctness is anathema around here. If I were in charge... Shoes would be optional. Nap time would be encouraged. Commuting would be out of the question. What I really like about the industry/ my company is... What I really like about Intercept is our col- lective dedication, our expectation of nothing but the highest quality, and the positive atti- tude everyone brings in meeting that expecta- tion. All facets of the company work together closely every day, and we never lose sight of our goal: to please our customers, prospects, and partners. I also don't think I've ever heard any- one say a bad thing about Intercept. We've al- ways been a friendly, work hard, play hard sort of company. My favorite tip or trick to share is... Be friends with everyone, and enemy to no one. There is no "us" and no "them" in this in- dustry. We are all just individuals with the same choice to make. Remember that you never know how bad a day your coworker is really having. Assume it's worse than you think, and let the VOICES OF THE INDUSTRY X