With the challenges of 2020 behind us, what challenges and opportunities lie ahead for hardware designers in 2021? In this article Vince Mazur, Technical Product Marketing Engineer at Altium, looks ahead to three emerging trends and share steps to address each one successfully in the year ahead.
Introduction
It's an understatement to say that 2020 is a year that we won't soon forget. Last year imposed many new challenges on all of us-- specifically electronic product designers. Currently, things are looking up with the arrival of vaccines and lowering hospitalization rates. However, 2021 will likely continue to be influenced by many of the same dynamics as 2020. Additionally, the fast-moving electronics business will continue to bring about pervasive design challenges in 2021 that have little to do with factors outside of our industry.
In this article, I will address three challenges from the electronics design perspective. These include continued work from home, electronic component shortages, and virtual education. In each section, I will list some things you can do today to cope with these challenges, and I will close the article with a summary.
Continued Work From Home
Electronics design is a team sport. Even solo product developers need to collaborate with various individuals and companies that include manufacturer representatives, FAE's, board fabricators, contract manufacturers, potentially outside contractors, and more. Simultaneously, the complex mix of electronics design on a good day, under normal global circumstances, is loaded with headaches, challenges, and risks. It's just the nature of the exciting field of electronics design. While there are some benefits to working from home, the inability to collaborate in person continues to be problematic.
For medium-to-large organizations, the situation is even more complex. The physical topology of these organizations ranges from a single site to a globally connected network of sites. While there are exceptions, the primary collaboration method had been face-to-face communications, with videoconferencing between remote or global locations used as required. Discontinuity results naturally from disparate teams responsible for specific key product domains within a product or system design. The need for design team collaboration and strong communication between domains, such as ECAD and MCAD, is critical for success. These things were challenging before the pandemic and have been made more difficult by physical separation. Furthermore, the lack of access to vital well-equipped company labs that may contain millions of dollars of test and measurement equipment continues to create serious issues.
While some professions (sales comes to mind) were early adopters of working from home, electronics product engineering has not been widely accepted due to this need for lab access and collaboration. The transition many electronics OEMs made from their centralized locations and workforce to fragmented teams working individually from their homes created increased challenges. Designers, accustomed to interacting as a team, found themselves isolated to home offices. Fortunately, a fast pivot to use cloud-based tools, such a Zoom, Dropbox, Google Drive, and others, enabled teams to remain connected. Here at Altium, we had just released our new cloud platform, Altium 365, which was the first platform of its kind that allowed an effortless extension of the complete electronic product design environment to users anywhere there was an internet connection. The result was that the cockpit view if you will, was identical at home to how it was at the office.
Even as designers begin to move back into their offices, the working environment will likely be considerably different from the pre-pandemic atmosphere, especially in the area of face-to-face communications. Distancing will likely continue to be a watchword, and collaboration will likely suffer some inefficiencies due to the continued precautions.
Steps You Can Take Today
Here are some suggestions for steps you take today to optimize your work at home experience:
https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/teleworking-tips-for-coping-during-covid-19/
Component Shortages
The global pandemic, combined with the impact of a backlog of orders, has created significant component shortages in 2021. Reports show that several automotive manufacturers have had to close down assembly lines because key electronic components required for production are not available. Small companies are left to compete with larger companies for available parts stock. Unless there are contingencies already in place, there will be a growing trend of companies facing detrimental manufacturing delays due to the current shortages. In turn, this situation could compel companies towards risky sourcing decisions for components that turn out to be counterfeit. Counterfeit parts alone are estimated to cost manufacturers $7.5 billion annually in lost revenue. Against this backdrop, consider that IHS MarkitⓇ, the world's most accurate component intelligence source, says that an average of 15 end-of-life (EOL) notices for electronic parts are issued every day. It is worth noting here that IHS Markit is available as part of the Altium Pro Subscription Plan.
Managing BOM costs and selecting components or their alternatives is more complex than ever as obsolescence, stock-levels, counterfeits and environmental non-compliance challenges continue to build. It is critical to ensure that the components you need for a manufacturing run are available before the job is submitted. The alternative is a frustrating cascade of events that can lead to unnecessary production delays. While it is difficult for organizations to insulate themselves from all component-related risks, many can be avoided with proper contingency planning.
Steps You Can Take Today
Virtual Education and Events
A continuing commitment to education has long been part of the electronics industry landscape. Electronics have always advanced at a far greater pace than most other fields, and the rate of change continues to accelerate over time. Staying current on the state of technology and its related challenges is an implicit requirement of the career. You will be left behind if you don't stay current and implement the latest best practices.
Events such as classes, workshops, conferences, and trade shows have been a common way to stay abreast of new developments, challenges, and solutions. These traditional sources of education and information exchange have been eliminated or postponed in this post-covid era. In their place, a plethora of virtual events, webinars, and online training has arisen. While Designers have always spent many hours in front of a screen, the replacement of tradeshows and daily in-person meetings by virtual interactions tipped the balance of screen time to a point not seen before and are causing screen-fatigue and digital burnout.
In-person education and event participation offers many advantages over their virtual counterparts. Live events and education often deliver a welcome change of scenery and much-needed time away from computer screens. Off-site events give design engineers valuable opportunities to focus on professional development. Additionally, engineering team leaders can onboard knowledge and resources that they can take back to their teams. External event venues offer priceless opportunities for enriching group discussions and networking.
Practically speaking, comparable benefits are available in virtual settings. While rich resources are accessible through cloud and online events, this does little to address screen fatigue, home distractions, and the stressors resulting from isolation and remaining at your desk day after day.
Steps You Can Take Today
Summary
In this article, I reviewed some of the current challenges facing electronics designers in 2021, with the pandemic hopefully winding down. These challenges included the continuation of working from home, current electronic components shortages, and maximizing the value from virtual education and events. I've put forward some steps that may help meet each of these challenges. I hope you found this information helpful and beneficial in helping you further your professional efforts.
While 2020 provided many stressful challenges, the companies, and individuals that continue to overcome them have risen to meet these challenges by becoming more adaptable and resilient. As we venture ahead into 2021, I believe the hard-won lessons of 2020 and the spirit of adaptability and resilience will continue to provide value to your engineering career and the company you serve.