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Concurrent Design

With the traditional PCB design process, the designer executes each stage of the design in sequence. But, as designs become more complex and time-to-market schedules become more demanding, we must take advantage of pre-layout simulation, and simultaneous process design to beat the competition. The pressure is on engineering managers to achieve more with their existing resources, although the design tasks have become more complex with increased levels of functional integration.

Concurrent design is the practice of developing products in which the different stages run simultaneously rather than consecutively. It decreases product development time and also the time-to-market, leading to improved productivity and reduced costs. Concurrent design is a relatively new process strategy and although the initial implementation can be challenging, the competitive advantage means it is beneficial in the long term. It eliminates the need to have multiple design iterations, by creating an environment for designing a product right-first-time.

Typically, a high-speed computer based product takes two to three iterations to develop a working prototype. However, these days the product life cycle is very short and therefore time-to-market is of the essence. One board iteration can be very costly, not only in engineering time, but also in the cost of delaying the product’s market launch. This missed opportunity could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. All of the above impact on company profit by increasing prototype costs and the time-to-market. Computer-based products have a very small market window these days (e.g., one year). If the product is delayed by six months (e.g., two re-spins) then the company has lost half its projected return.

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Editor's Note: This column originally appeared in the July 2014 issue of The PCB Design Magazine.