-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- design007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueLearning to Speak ‘Fab’
Our expert contributors clear up many of the miscommunication problems between PCB designers and their fab and assembly stakeholders. As you will see, a little extra planning early in the design cycle can go a long way toward maintaining open lines of communication with the fab and assembly folks.
Training New Designers
Where will we find the next generation of PCB designers and design engineers? Once we locate them, how will we train and educate them? What will PCB designers of the future need to master to deal with tomorrow’s technology?
The Designer of the Future
Our expert contributors peer into their crystal balls and offer their thoughts on the designers and design engineers of tomorrow, and what their jobs will look like.
- Articles
- Columns
Search Console
- Links
- Media kit
||| MENU - design007 Magazine
Designers and Design Engineers: Two Sides of the Same Coin
June 1, 2016 | Andy Shaughnessy, PCBDesign007Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Andy and Sue Critcher have been the lead designers at Total Board Solutions Limited, a UK-based design bureau, since its founding in 1998. I asked Andy to share his opinion about the friction between some PCB designers and their engineers, and what can be done to improve communications between these groups.
Andy Shaughnessy: Andy, tell us a little bit about your company and how you operate.
Andy Critcher: Total Board Solutions Limited (TBS) is a design services bureau based in the UK. We fit into our customer’s design process, providing whatever is not a core competency. This means that for some customers we perform just the layout portion of their design while for others we enter the schematic, libraries, create the layout and even get the boards fabricated and assembled—no two customers are exactly the same. When working with startups we provide the link between the concept, or idea, and product realization; providing knowledge of design process, fabricators capabilities and our experience when discussing the inevitable tradeoffs between the requirement and what is possible.
Shaughnessy: A recent survey of our PCB designer readers found that there’s often friction between PCB designers and engineers. Some designers say, only half-jokingly, that their EEs are their biggest challenge. Why do you think there’s such disconnect?
Critcher: Looking solely from the PCB side, I think that the disconnect mainly arises from the lack of understanding of what a PCB designer actually does, it is perceived as a simple task of dot joining and that anyone can do it. I know that this is a bit of a cliché but it does seem to hold true. As an example, in a number of the companies that I have worked with, PCB progress meetings are held and the PCB designer is never asked to attend; their input can be easily be determined by the engineering team/project manager.
This perception is backed up by the lack of formal qualification for PCB designers—for my generation, we generally started off as mechanical draughtsman in the traditional drawing office and then moved to the PCB section.
This perception means that the status of the PCB designer is quite low, so when they advise the engineer that something is not possible this can be met with a certain amount of derision. The engineer possibly thinks that the PCB designer is just being obstructive, while conversely, the PCB designer thinks that the engineer is very dismissive of his knowledge, capabilities, opinion, etc.
Let’s look at the issue from the engineer’s perspective. By providing design consultancy, we are fortunate enough to be a lot more involved in the engineer’s world, including some of the problems that they have to deal with as part of the overall product development. One engineer explained that the design part was relatively straightforward, but the need to meet cost, functionality, component sourcing, obsolescence, test plans, as well as reading through 150+ pages of documentation on a device’s timing “makes life interesting.” As PCB designers, we tend to have a lot of questions, especially about the newer technology, so we can bombard the engineer with a number of questions concerning unfamiliar topics expecting immediate answers, and normally at this point the pressure to get it finished is already building.
To read this entire article, which appeared in the April 2016 issue of The PCB Design Magazine, click here.
Suggested Items
Bridging the Gap Between PCB Designers and Fabricators
04/03/2025 | Stephen V. Chavez, Siemens EDAWith today’s advanced EDA tools, designing complex PCBs in the virtual world does not necessarily mean they can be built in the real world. This makes the relationship between a PCB designer and a fabricator pivotal to the success of a project. In keeping with solid design for manufacturing (DFM) practices, clear and frequent communication is needed to dial and lock in design constraints that meet expectations while addressing manufacturing concerns.
IPC APEX EXPO Newcomer: Faith DeSaulnier of TTM Technologies
04/03/2025 | I-Connect007 Editorial TeamDuring the Newcomer’s Welcome Reception at IPC APEX EXPO, the I-Connect Editorial Team spoke with several first-time attendees. The following is our interview with Faith DeSaulnier, a process engineer based at TTM Technologies’ facility in Forest Grove, Oregon.
Ansys Semiconductor Solutions Certified by TSMC for Reliable, Accurate Analysis of Evolving Chip Designs
04/03/2025 | PRNewswireAnsys announced that PathFinder-SC is certified as a new ESD analysis solution for customers designing with TSMC's N2 silicon process technology. PathFinder-SC delivers a novel verification solution that provides superior capacity and performance, easily accommodating large designs in the cloud.
Real Time with... IPC APEX EXPO 2025: Insights into PCB Design and Manufacturing with Polar Instruments
04/03/2025 | Real Time with...IPC APEX EXPOErik Bateham discusses Polar's latest book, which enhances insights for PCB designers and manufacturers. The book, "The Designer's Guide to... More Secrets of High-Speed PCBs," features a guest chapter on 2D via design modeling. Erik highlights the industry's shift towards UHDI and the challenges in measuring at micron levels.
Connect the Dots: Stop Killing Your Yield—The Hidden Cost of Design Oversights
04/03/2025 | Matt Stevenson -- Column: Connect the DotsI’ve been in this industry long enough to recognize red flags in PCB designs. When designers send over PCBs that look great on the computer screen but have hidden flaws, it can lead to manufacturing problems. I have seen this happen too often: manufacturing delays, yield losses, and designers asking, “Why didn’t anyone tell me sooner?” Here’s the thing: Minor design improvements can greatly impact manufacturing yield, and design oversights can lead to expensive bottlenecks. Here’s how to find the hidden flaws in a design and avoid disaster.