Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/942744
32 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I FEBRUARY 2018 Gorajia: Right, and we're uniquely positioned as a company, because we have both. As an organization, Mentor has the full design suite of tools and processes. We have a full suite of manufacturing tools and processes. We're in a unique situation where we can have a big impact in the industry and for sure with orga- nizations looking to streamline the full digi- tal enterprise. We know where things tend to stitch together to optimize. Most organizations just want us to come in and help them and solve this or that problem. Matties: So how does the consulting work? Do they hire you, or is it part of a package? Gorajia: Both. I mean, it's kind of flexible. A lot of times I'll start the conversation with an organization because they want to either pull some experience, knowledge or ideas from us or take our guid- ance on which direc- tion to take. Then, whether that conver- sation turns into a paid engagement, part of a package with Men- tor tools or whether we give them enough information for them to go do their own research, that's up to them. Either way it's fine. Matties: What is your background? Gorajia: I have a bachelor of science in elec- trical engineering with an MBA in technology management. I've been with the Valor technol- ogy for 22 years. I ran the operations in Asia for Valor for almost eight years, which fully indoctrinated me in the manufacturing envi- ronment…even though electronic design was my degree. I was responsible for integrating the design consulting group and the manu- facturing consulting group together two years ago. That enabled us to start creating these synergies I discussed earlier. Matties: Now, as I was standing at your booth, I noticed people saying, "Oh, a Siemens busi- ness." How's that working out? Gorajia: It's actually fantastic. Siemens has tons of tools around the mechanical, electrome- chanical, design, and manufacturing process. We fit in with all the electrical and electron- ics. When you build a car, you have all these ECUs and all the wire harness and all that that still needs to be modeled, simulated, designed, and manufactured. We kind of filled that out in their digital enterprise strategy. Matties: Is simulation something that design- ers are using on a regular basis in an effective way? I hear mixed reviews about whether they use it to begin with, and why wouldn't they? Secondly, how are they interpreting what they see? Maybe that's just knowledge, because the tools aren't talking about best practice, are they? The tools are just talking about design rules. Gorajia: Yeah, to some degree. I think one of the places that, at least in my group, we've embarked on is taking simulation and moving it from being—I hesitate to say it—but moving it from being an art to becoming a sys- temic science. You always have the SI expert, the PI expert, and the DFM expert. Many times, they're the bottleneck in the process. Organiza- tions may have 20, 30, 40 designers, whether they're at the schematic capture or the layout side pumping designs out. Then it hits the experts and it comes to a grinding halt due to bandwidth. If we can take that knowledge, put them in a system that says, "Okay, for every- thing that looks like this, these are the things that need to run. Go." Then we can start mov- ing it into the designers' hands, because the designers probably need that feedback much sooner than they're getting it today. You always have the SI expert, the PI expert, and the DFM expert. Many times, they're the bottleneck in the process.