About Author

John Watson

With nearly 40 years in the Electronic industry with 20 of them being in the field of PCB Design and engineering, John has stayed on the cutting edge of the PCB industry as a designer/Engineer and more recently as a trainer and mentor. His primary work has been in the Manufacturing field but it has also expanded to several PCB Service arenas. As a veteran, he proudly served in the Army in the Military Intelligence field. John is a CID Certified PCB designer. Presently pursuing his Advance CID certification. Now as the Senior PCB engineer at Legrand Inc, he leads the PCB Designers and Engineers in various divisions across the United States and China.

Recent Articles

Singularity in PCB Design Keeps the Team On the Same Page

Singularity in PCB Design Keeps the Team On the Same Page S.M.A.R.T. Rule First Pillar - Singularity "If we fail to plan then we are planning to fail." -Benjamin Franklin Given a professionally diverse readership composed of many people with differing company structures and situations, my intention isn’t to give a ‘sole’ method or plan that will magically fit everyone’s situation. Rather, I want to give a detailed explanation of how it “could” be done. I aim to give the bird’s eye view of this whole Read Article

How Do the Seamless Transfer and Use of PCB Design Data Improve Workflows?

How Do the Seamless Transfer and Use of PCB Design Data Improve Workflows? Introduction One of the more thrilling events in track and field is the 400 Meter relay race. Understand, I don’t run; rather I enjoy watching. However, the most critical part of every race is the transferring of the baton to the next runner. I was watching a race some time back where one team was way ahead of the others and was coming around the final turn for the last hand-off. But, THEY DROPPED THE BATON, and they ended up losing. How Read Article

PCB Design - It is a Team Sport

PCB Design - It is a Team Sport Introduction A poem by John Donne is the source of a phrase we are all familiar with: “No man is an island.” Although he was speaking of how human beings do rather poorly when isolated from others and need to be part of a community to thrive, this principle is especially true when it comes to the PCB Design process. That no single person—or better said, roles—are involved in the PCB design. I would contend that for any PCB Design to be a success Read Article

How does Altium Designer improve PCB design workflows?

How Does Altium Designer Improve PCB Design Workflows? One of the great pleasures in my life is to be the grandfather of—as of now—five grandkids. It’s interesting to watch them go through various stages of learning. There is Caleb, who is four, and Ashley, who is five (though she loves to remind everyone that she is NOT five, but five and seven months). Both are in different stages of learning. Ashley’s question for everything is “WHAT”, and Caleb, his question is “WHY.” What are we doing? Why is Read Article

Why Your Root Cause Analysis Starts with Component Traceability

Why Your Root Cause Analysis Starts with Component Traceability At this point, we’ve reached a significant milestone. Having followed through with the last article, we now have a very stable and, more importantly, reliable PCB library. Since we can safely use the data in designs, many people decide not to go beyond the review process. You should, however, continue to the fifth pillar if you want to ensure success. So, why the fifth pillar? Because although we have a great structure, we must take the Read Article

Growth and the PCB Design Learning Zone

Growth and the PCB Design Learning Zone The phone rang at my desk. Tracy was on the other end. It had been several weeks since she had surgery for her implant. I could tell from the tone of her voice that she had exciting news. “Do you think you might be able to get an afternoon off?”, she asked. “Sure, how come what’s up?” I responded. “Well, it’s been 5 weeks since my surgery, and everything is completely healed up. I wanted to ask.” She hesitated for a moment, “Wanted to know if you Read Article

High-Quality, Reviewable PCB Component Libraries

Mastering PCB Design: Best Practices for Developing Accurate and Reliable Component Libraries Over many years, I have seen many elaborate PCB Library systems. The best ones were not based on the size, but rather on the quality of the information. The old axiom is “not Quantity but rather Quality.” I recently sat with a VP of Engineering, and I asked what he thought of his PCB Library. He thought for a moment and said, “I believe it is pretty good.” I asked my question another way, “But do you know?” There is a difference. If I tell you Read Article

Smart Architecture for Successful PCB Component Libraries

Smart Architecture for Successful PCB Component Libraries Organizing is what you do before you do something so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up. - A. A. Milne Architecture is the specific structure that governs our collected data. It determines how we store, arrange, and utilize the data in the system. In a way, the architecture of your PCB library is like the architecture of a building. You need to have it completed before you build your library so you don’t wind up with a virtual Hotel Del Read Article

PCB Librarians and SMART PCB Component Management

PCB Librarians and SMART PCB Component Management In the 1972 classic movie “The Candidate”, Bill Mckay, played by Robert Redford, ran for the State Senate. Although he was a long shot and an underdog, McKay ends up surprising everyone with an incredibly close win. After the concession speech of his opponent, a vast mob surrounds McKay. He fights through the crowd, trying to reach his campaign Manager Marvin (played by Peter Boyles). Finally reaching him, he pulls him aside into a hotel room Read Article

How to Establish a PCB Library for Your Design Practice

How to Establish a PCB Creator Library for Your Design Practice When we think of a library, we first think of a building which holds materials of some kind. In April of 1800, when the seat of the government moved from Philadelphia to Washington, one of President Monroe’s first acts was allocating $5,000 to purchase books for Congress to use. Once established, the Library of Congress originally held a total of 740 books and three maps. Now, it contains 32 million cataloged books and other print materials in Read Article

Parametric Information and PCB Data Management

Parametric Information and PCB Data Management In the words of Tim O'Reilly, the founder of O'Reilly Media and a major proponent of Open Source & Software Development, “We're entering a new world in which data may be more important than software.” I tend to disagree with that; I believe that data is enhanced by software especially when we are talking about data related to PCB Management. I’m a long-time user of Altium software and very pleased with the way the software has evolved. So get Read Article

How Can You Make Sure PCB Design Data Is Both Accessible and Secure?

How Can You Make Sure PCB Design Data Is Both Accessible and Secure? As a grandfather, one of the great joys of my life is to play with any of my five grandchildren. On top of their fun list is to play on the teeter-totter at the playground. They usually enjoy it until grandpa gets on one side and they try to lift me. Then the poor little tykes get a harsh lesson in leverage, balance, and just how heavy grandpa is. In PCB Design, it is all about balance. IPC-2221 reminds us that the design process comes with its Read Article

Operational Process Improvements and PCB Data Management

Operational Process Improvements and PCB Data Management Is it practical or indulgent to look at exactly how the principles of good PCB Data Management can and should change our normal PCB Design processes? It is practical and necessary for operational processes to benefit from continual improvement. Let’s explore how to do so with PCB data management. Root Causes You need to allow specific PCB Data to change your operational processes so you can analyze and find the root causes of problems. However Read Article

PCB Layout Tip: Save Time with Reusable Blocks

PCB Layout Tip: Save Time with Reusable Blocks To survive today’s business environment for PCB Designers, design reuse is crucial for quick PCB layout. We must always work faster and smarter. That means whatever available methods might streamline the process to make it more straightforward and faster the better. However, when things go faster, usually more mistakes occur, and they are generally not caught. One strategy that helps tremendously is using reusable designs. A common practice in Read Article

Key Documents for Fabrication and Assembly

Key Documents for Fabrication and Assembly I come from humble beginnings - a long line of farmers in central Pennsylvania. It is amazing how one can take a simple seed, place it in the ground, and tend to it. Before long, you have a mature plant with a variety of uses: food for people, feed for livestock, and most importantly, more seeds for the next growing season. With so much riding on the seed, it is no wonder why you want to guard and protect it. Your PCB Designs are like that simple Read Article

Successful PCB Design Data Management

Successful PCB Design Data Management Previously, we looked at what a successful Data Management system entails and how we would identify a reliable System that is safe to use. In this blog, we’ll look at what your Data Management system will need to ensure its success. While every Data Management System is unique, there are universal principles which we’ll explore that are vital to a PCB’s utility. These principles are like pillars supporting a bridge; if any single pillar is Read Article

Top Issues in PCB Data Management Systems and Processes

Top Issues in PCB Data Management Systems and Processes PCB Data Management is a journey with no final destination. On this journey, significant issues can and often pop up. If you decide to ignore them, they can worsen and ultimately lead to completely ruining your PCB data management systems and processes. In this blog, we will look at several of these issues. I prefer to call them pitfalls because they can appear suddenly, and you can easily fall into them if you’re not careful. But, if you are Read Article