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Current IssueShowing Some Constraint
A strong design constraint strategy carefully balances a wide range of electrical and manufacturing trade-offs. This month, we explore the key requirements, common challenges, and best practices behind building an effective constraint strategy.
All About That Route
Most designers favor manual routing, but today's interactive autorouters may be changing designers' minds by allowing users more direct control. In this issue, our expert contributors discuss a variety of manual and autorouting strategies.
Creating the Ideal Data Package
Why is it so difficult to create the ideal data package? Many of these simple errors can be alleviated by paying attention to detail—and knowing what issues to look out for. So, this month, our experts weigh in on the best practices for creating the ideal design data package for your design.
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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.
Suggested Items
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.
Facing the Future: Time for Real Talk, Early and Often, Between Design and Fabrication
07/08/2025 | Prashant Patel -- Column: Facing the FutureThere has always been a subtle but significant divide between those who design and those who build printed circuit boards. It’s not a hostile gap, but it is a real one, and in today’s high-speed, high-complexity, high-stakes environment, that gap is costing us more than time and yield. It’s costing us innovation.
Elementary Mr. Watson: Retro Routers vs. Modern Boards—The Silent Struggle on Your Screen
06/26/2025 | John Watson -- Column: Elementary, Mr. WatsonThere's a story about a young woman preparing a holiday ham. Before putting it in the pan, she cuts off the ends. When asked why, she shrugs and says, "That's how my mom always did it." She asks her mother, who gives the same answer. Eventually, the question reaches Grandma, who laughs and says, "Oh, I only cut the ends off because my pan was too small." This story is a powerful analogy for how many PCB designers approach routing today.