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Floor planning decisions can make or break performance, manufacturability, and timelines. This month’s contributors weigh in with their best practices for proper floor planning and specific strategies to get it right.
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What’s New in Design Education at IPC APEX EXPO?
April 11, 2024 | Kelly Allen, IPC Training ManagerEstimated reading time: Less than a minute

Kelly (Kel) Allen shares her thoughts on the educational offerings at IPC APEX EXPO and beyond. In this interview, she discusses some of the newest classes taking place during the conference in Anaheim, covering everything from design, fab, and assembly through mil/aero, test, and supply chain issues.
Kel, why should PCB designers and design engineers attend the conference at IPC APEX EXPO?
Kelly Allen: Adult learners appreciate practical knowledge. In our online classes, PCB designers and design engineers connect theoretical concepts to real-world situations, making our online classroom discussions dynamic and relevant. Many are driven by personal and professional goals so attending an APEX EXPO Professional Development Course allows them to actively participate, ask the speaker thought-provoking questions, and engage in meaningful dialogue. Our industry keeps our designers so busy that many do not have time to take one of our long-form courses. Yet they can invest a few days to take PD courses, attend committee meetings, network with colleagues, and see the latest in manufacturing and products on the show floor.
To read this entire conversation, which appeared in the April 2024 issue of Design007 Magazine, click here.
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The Shaughnessy Report: A Plan for Floor Planning
08/11/2025 | Andy Shaughnessy -- Column: The Shaughnessy ReportMost of the time, we cover topics that designers say are giving them trouble. But designers don’t usually cite floor planning as one of their bigger challenges. No, it’s the fabricators who say that floor planning is an ongoing problem for their designer brethren, usually after having to put yet another job on hold.
Elementary Mr. Watson: Closing the Gap Between Design and Manufacturing
07/23/2025 | John Watson -- Column: Elementary, Mr. WatsonModern PCB designers are not merely engineers or technicians. I believe that PCB design, at its core, is an art form, and modern PCB designers should be considered artists. Beyond the technical calculations and engineering rules lies a creative process that involves vision, balance, and a passion for what we do. Like any artist who works with brush and canvas or chisel and stone, a PCB designer shapes invisible pathways that bring ideas to life. Each trace, layer, and component placement reflects thoughtful decisions that blend form, fit, and function.
The Pulse: Design Constraints for the Next Generation
07/17/2025 | Martyn Gaudion -- Column: The PulseIn Europe, where engineering careers were once seen as unpopular and lacking street credibility, we have been witnessing a turnaround in the past few years. The industry is now welcoming a new cohort of designers and engineers as people are showing a newfound interest in the profession.
Meet the Author Podcast: Martyn Gaudion Unpacks the Secrets of High-Speed PCB Design
07/16/2025 | I-Connect007In this special Meet the Author episode of the On the Line with… podcast, Nolan Johnson sits down with Martyn Gaudion, signal integrity expert, managing director of Polar Instruments, and three-time author in I-Connect007’s popular The Printed Circuit Designer’s Guide to... series.
Elementary, Mr. Watson: Rein in Your Design Constraints
07/10/2025 | John Watson -- Column: Elementary, Mr. WatsonI remember the long hours spent at the light table, carefully laying down black tape to shape each trace, cutting and aligning pads with surgical precision on sheets of Mylar. I often went home with nicks on my fingers from the X-Acto knives and bits of tape all over me. It was as much an art form as it was an engineering task—tactile and methodical, requiring the patience of a sculptor. A lot has changed in PCB design over the years.