Dan’s Biz Bookshelf: 'This Is Strategy: Make Better Plans'
The Chemical Connection: Reducing Defects in Circuit Board Production
It’s Only Common Sense: Trust Is All You Need
PCBflow Helps Designers Choose Best Manufacturer for the Job
March 28, 2024 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007 MagazineEstimated reading time: 1 minute
IPC recently partnered with Siemens for the development of IPC DFM profiles in PCBflow, a cloud-based platform that organizes manufacturers’ capabilities into DFM profiles, which helps designers ensure that they comply with their manufacturer’s capabilities and pick the right manufacturer for each job.
I recently spoke with a few technologists who have first-hand experience with PCBflow: Susan Kayesar, technical product manager with Siemens; Evgeny Makhline, CTO of Nistec, a CEM based in Israel; and Peter Tranitz, senior director of technology solutions and leader of the IPC Design Initiative. They explain how PCBflow functions, from the designer’s and manufacturer’s viewpoint, and how this database helps break down the wall between these stakeholders.
Andy Shaughnessy: Susan, give us a quick background on PCBflow and the DFM profiles.
Susan Kayesar: Sure. PCBflow is an online platform and collaboration space for designers and manufacturers in the electronics industry. We enable transparent transfer of information between designers and manufacturers, which is something that is sorely missing in the industry. At a very functional level, we allow designers to upload their designs into a secure environment online and grab sets of pre-made DFM profiles. Basically, these are rules that represent either the constraints that they're looking to comply with or the actual manufacturing environment. To date, we have many suppliers of DFM profiles that are a representation of the real-life manufacturing environment. You can test your design for compliance with those rules, and you can communicate freely with the manufacturer that has provided these DFM profiles.
Our friends at IPC see this platform as critical to their objective of promoting the transparent transfer of necessary information. IPC came on board and provided nine DFM profiles, which enable our users to test for compliance with various aspects of IPC design standards. Evgeny Makhline is one of our “power users,” and he can speak a little about how Nistec has been using those profiles.
To read this entire conversation, which appeared in the March 2024 issue of Design007 Magazine, click here.
Share on:
Suggested Items
New Companion Guide to ‘DFM Essentials’ Delivers Deeper, Practical PCB Design Insights
06/05/2025 | I-Connect007The Companion Guide to DFM Essentials: Tips for Designing for Manufacturing is now available for free download. Building on the popular Printed Circuit Designer’s Guide to... DFM Essentials, this new resource from American Standard Circuits and ASC Sunstone Circuits offers advanced, real-world guidance to help PCB designers streamline production and avoid costly pitfalls.
Explore Thermal Management Solutions in Latest Podcast Series—New Episode Now Available
04/30/2025 | I-Connect007I-Connect007 is excited to share the latest episode in our new podcast series! In this episode, Ryan returns to discuss practical strategies for managing heat, starting early in the design planning and specification phases. After all, prevention means there’s less to mitigate later.
Learning to Speak ‘Fab’
04/23/2025 | Ray Fugitt, DownStream TechnologiesOver the years, I’ve seen many PCB designers make DFM mistakes. At DownStream, I work with design and fabrication, and sometimes it feels as if the two segments are speaking completely different languages. But once designers learn to speak “fab,” many of these DFM challenges disappear.
Connect the Dots: Involving Manufacturers Earlier Prevents Downstream Issues
04/17/2025 | Matt Stevenson -- Column: Connect the DotsIf you have read any of my earlier columns, you know I am passionate about helping designers design for the reality of manufacturing. Designing for manufacturability (DFM) is a team sport. DFM is a design process that looks forward to the manufacturing process and integrates with it so that manufacturing requirements and capabilities can be accurately reflected in the design work.
PCB Designers: Enhance Your Listening Experience With New Companion Download to the DFR Podcast Series
11/11/2024 | I-Connect007Exciting news for listeners of On the Line With... Designing for Reality, the popular podcast series hosted by I-Connect007. A 10-page companion guide featuring insights from ASC Sunstone’s expert Matt Stevenson is now available for download.