September 2021 Design007 Magazine Available Now

Estimated reading time: 1 minute

For the September 2021 issue of Design007 Magazine, Collaboration by Design, we asked a variety of contributors to discuss their collaborative relationships, as well as the advantages that accrue from such collaboration. We found a common theme: it's better to fix simple design errors earlier in the process through open communication.

In recent surveys, designers pointed to a lack of collaboration with fabricators as among their biggest ongoing challenges. And some respondents noted that when they did work with their fabricators, it was late in the design cycle, usually fixing simple design errors that could have been avoided by communicating with the CAM engineer earlier in the process. Does that sound like your design team’s relationship with your fabricator?

So, for this issue, we asked a variety of contributors to discuss their collaborative relationships, as well as the advantages that accrue from such collaboration. We kick off with an interview with Patrick Davis of Cadence Design Systems. Patrick draws on his experience on the manufacturing floor to address key areas where designers and fabricators can work together to streamline the design process. Altium’s John Watson has a feature column about the need to view PCB design as a “team sport.” Calumet’s Ian Huibregtse explains why a good board shop will welcome your questions and act as a “sounding board” for PCB designers.

Rich Tighe discusses the role of EDA tools in helping bridge the designer-fabricator gap. Columnist Tim Haag explains why designers must build solid relationships with every fabricator they use, and the benefits of today’s EDA tools and intelligent data transfer formats. And Tara Dunn explains how collaboration can shorten the learning curve for designers and fabricators.

FLEX007: By their very nature, flexible and rigid-flex circuits can benefit greatly from the “left-shift” of manufacturing-aware capabilities earlier in the design process. This month, Patrick McGoff of Siemens EDA outlines how DFM analysis tools can shrink the distance between flex designers and manufacturers—and the design cycle.

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