Design Libraries

PCB Component Data Management Resolved with Connected Component Applications

PCB Component Data Management Resolved with Connected Component Applications My mouth was watering as I picked up the box sitting on my front porch. Dinner would be ready in 20 minutes. I was so hungry, having just gotten home. The box contained recipe cards and ingredients for making dinners throughout the week. I put on my slippers, and I pulled a recipe card from the box. All the ingredients were there. This new meal delivery service was growing on me. I’d be eating dinner soon, with time to spare for needed downtime Read Article

Scaling, Not Sinking Your Electronics: BOM Management Advice

Scaling, Not Sinking Your Electronics: BOM Management Advice The most stressful part of owning a boat was when it came time to launch or recover it from the river. The boat was large and together with the trailer and truck, there was a lot of equipment to maneuver up and down the ramp without making any mistakes. If some kind of problem came up I would end up with the boat, the truck, or me sinking into the water. That sense of anxiety was very similar to the feelings I’ve experienced working with Read Article

7 Benefits of Bringing Additive Manufacturing In-House

7 Benefits of In-House Fabrication and Additive Manufacturing If you are like 98% of the PCB designers out there, you know what it can be like to run through the gauntlet of outsourcing a design to a third-party manufacturer to receive a prototype or two. The process is usually a little painful, often pricier than you’d have hoped, and leaves you waiting for longer than you’d expect. I often think that the manufacturing process is similar to going out to dinner at an overrated restaurant; you’ll wait on an Read Article

Inventors Should Spend Time Designing and Less Time Writing a Bill of Materials

Inventors Should Spend Time Designing and Less Time Writing a Bill of Materials There’s a beautiful sense of satisfaction that comes with building something great. You took the time to think through the concept, perfect your design, and translate your vision into a functional prototype. You’re driven to bring your product to market, but you don’t want to spend time worrying about documentation. Your bill of materials is like a recipe and a shopping list for your new product, all rolled into a single document. The bill of Read Article

Electronic Product Life Cycle Management Avoids Unpredicted Application Results

Electronic Product Life Cycle Management Avoids Unpredicted Application Results Everyone has a smartphone these days. Well, everyone except my grandparents. They still use clamshell phones and perfectly happy with them. The rest of us have moved on to leaner and meaner communication devices. Eventually, the product life cycle for clamshell phones will end and they will be relegated to the history books. A look back through the history of technology reveals that no piece of technology can thrive forever. Project life cycle Read Article

In Your Altium Library, Multiple Part Symbols Ease Your Design Time

Creating Multiple-Part Symbols for a PCB in Altium Designer How to create multi-part components and symbols in Altium Designer^®. Build a symbol manually or use an advanced symbol generator to do the heavy lifting of symbol creation for you. Read Article

Ease the Pain of Your PCB Supply Chain Management with Intuitive Design Tools

Ease the Pain of Your PCB Supply Chain Management with Intuitive Design Tools Have you ever been writing something and can’t figure out how to spell a word so you rephrase the entire sentence in order to use a different word? As much as replacing a word can kill your creativity in writing, it is much worse when you have to replace a component while designing electronic circuits. It happens a lot though when you aren’t connected to your supply chain management design. Problems like these can kill your creativity and cause Read Article

Soothe PCB Schematic Library Management Pains with Straightforward Software

Soothe PCB Schematic Library Management Pains with Straightforward Software Outdated schematic library management processes cause a large bottleneck for the design group. These processes are often based on tools that are not up-to-date with current design methodologies and technologies and are therefore limited in what they can do. In the same way that a compact car isn’t going to be able to pull a heavy trailer, using an outdated library management system isn’t going to be able to handle the heavy work-load either Read Article

Ducks in a Row: Process Control and Document Traceability in One Place

Ducks in a Row: Process Control and Document Traceability in One Place Louis Pasteur captured the essence of complicated endeavors when he stated that “fortune favors the prepared mind.” Don’t miss opportunities for excellence when faced with complex tasks. Designing and building printed circuit boards and their assemblies is a complex task, made up of many meticulous endeavors. You could say that unified PCA documentation and communication favors successful outcomes when building products. Document types and Read Article

Obsolescence Management of Electronic Components Throughout Product Lifetime

Obsolescence Management of Electronic Components Throughout Product Lifetime I know what you’re thinking. Why can’t my manager automate a process for obsolescence management of electronic components? It would be nice to have one database compatible with each user’s software. Until then, I’ve set up weekly meetings so stakeholders can collect germane information about components into a common spreadsheet. It has been working but I would like to automate with software that all departments can use effectively. Let’s face it Read Article

Using Platform Unification Removes Need for BOM Analysis

Using Platform Unification Removes Need for BOM Analysis One of my friends laments that her husband has three versions of the same flat-head screwdriver. He doesn’t put his tools away so when he goes looking for a flat-head screwdriver, he can’t find one let alone three. Rather than spend his day looking for the lost tool, he conveniently drives to the hardware store and buys another. Enterprise databases are prone to the same redundancies, that’s why BOM analysis is important. Over time, designers Read Article

How an Integrated PCB Library Can Reduce Development Cost

How Integrated PCB Libraries Can Lower Development Costs Editorial credit: MikeDotta / Shutterstock.com I’m pretty stubborn when it comes to developing new recipes for my kid. Just last week, I insisted on preparing the bolognese sauce from scratch as I tried to whip up a decent pasta dish. I ended up taking more time than I should have, as my son grew in frustration and hunger by the minute. That’s when I decided to just buy off-the-shelf pasta sauce next time. When I started working on electronics, I Read Article

Successfully Source Your PCB's Electronic Parts With a Great BOM

Great BOM Tools for Successfully Sourcing Your PCB Electronic Components Use your bill of materials for sourcing and supply chain management My friends think I’m neurotic for making so many lists. I always hand-write thorough lists before heading to the grocery store, budgeting my money, or just planning out my day. While it might seem obsessive, my lists help me stay on track and let me track my goals. Once you have finished your PCB design and you are ready to move to the testing and manufacturing phase, you will Read Article

BOM Planning for Different Levels of Production

BOM Planning: Different Levels of Production There is one really great thing about social media and that is catching up with old friends. I connected with a high school friend who did a lot in his life including some great achievements in the world of Taekwondo. He talks about the different tournaments that he attends, the people that he associates with, and how he has progressed through the different levels of this discipline. There appears to be a lot more to Taekwondo than I would have Read Article

Unifying a Comprehensive Collection: PCB Library Management

Unifying a Comprehensive Collection: PCB Library Management Remodeling my kitchen was a project long overdue. I made a mental list of the materials I would need, such as appliances, cabinetry, countertops, flooring, and paint. Eagerly I drove to the local discount warehouse to peruse the materials. I sat with the store clerk making plans and quickly realized I’d need more than a few mental notes to stay organized. Keeping track of individual tasks within any big project is a chore if you don’t have a Read Article

Add Any Component to Your Design With Unified Component Libraries

Add Any Component to Your Design With Unified PCB Component Libraries When embarking on the PCB design journey, there are some initial hurdles you’ll need to overcome in order to get your design process running smoothly and without interruption. Sometimes the hurdle is as manageable as making sure you get your coffee in the morning. Sometimes the hurdle is as tall as not having the knowledge, comfort, or software you need to accomplish your design tasks. Oftentimes, when sketching out an initial PCB design, there Read Article

Managing Your PCB Design Through BOM Planning: What’s Important

Managing Your PCB Design Through BOM Planning: What’s Important Back in my younger days, I was infatuated with Legos. Every chance I had, I would run into the toy store with a pocket full of change from weekly chores swiping as many sets as I could afford. Looking back on these days, I’m surprised at how complex these structures were that I (at the ripe age of 8) was actually able to assemble. It never seemed like it was too difficult of a task either. I never felt incredibly overwhelmed with the procurement Read Article