In an earlier paper, we established the importance of Design for Manufacturing (DFM) in today’s PCB manufacturing environment. PCBs designed using those techniques typically experience reduced failure rates, cost less to manufacture, and minimize waste during production. While DFM certainly … [Read more...]
Last in our 4 part series – PCB Assembly for Smarties
Our For Smarties series concludes with the fun part—PCB assembly. It is time to stuff the bare board with components and put it to work. This paper will offer strategies for ensuring a smooth assembly process that produces a quality product. … [Read more...]
PCB Design for Smarties
Four Strategies for Becoming Your Own, Best PCB DesignerPrinted Circuit Boards (PCBs) support the functionality of just about every working electronic device in use today. They are integral to every professional discipline from mechatronics to robotics and process automation. If you want to make … [Read more...]
C-DUS Lab Case Study
Miki Szmuk is an aerospace engineer with big ideas for building better unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). As a doctoral student from the Controls Lab for Distributed and Uncertain Systems (C-DUS) of the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Texas (UT) in Austin, Szmuk specializes in … [Read more...]
Finding the Right Manufacturer for Your Design
To receive a quality PCB, you need an efficient design and a manufacturer capable of producing it. This paper will examine the challenges and best practices associated with matching your design requirements to a manufacturer's capabilities. To download this white paper please fill out the form … [Read more...]
How Lean Manufacturing Adds Value to PCB Production
In this whitepaper, we will explore the impact of Lean on the PCB industry, including how it may provide competitive advantage to those organizations making Lean a key part of their culture. To download this white paper please complete the form below. … [Read more...]
Guidelines for Ensuring PCB Manufacturability
The rules of PCB design have changed little over the years, but the demands on the boards themselves keep increasing. The need for smaller, more complex boards used in smartphones, tablets, and other handheld devices translates into less real estate for greater functionality. Design for … [Read more...]
Domestic Versus Offshore PCB Manufacturing White Paper
It had long been accepted that as products move through their life cycle towards standardization, manufacturing migrates offshore. Eventually, even leading edge products are also produced overseas with the help of new technology and an increasingly symbiotic global economy. But circumstances have … [Read more...]
The Value of PCB Manufacturing Quality During Prototype: You Get More Than You Pay For
In a recent research document, Michelle Boucher, from The Aberdeen Group, writes: "The number of engineering changes is also a top challenge of PCB design. A strategy that enables designers to obtain early insight into behavior, allows them to catch problems earlier in the process. It also makes it … [Read more...]
Using Stencils to Simplify the Printed Circuit Board Assembly Process
The process of creating a prototype circuit board requires multiple phases and a large number of steps. The process starts with the specification of the design, then proceeds through electrical design (often done with a schematic or similar symbolic notation), into the physical design (layout), … [Read more...]