CircuiTree - February 2009 - (Page 20)

Are Better PCB Design Tools and Manufacturing Enough to Stay Competitive? John Isaac f you were to survey electronics companies today and ask what is driving business, you would likely get a very common set of answers. First, companies must get products designed and manufactured in time to hit very narrow market windows. In all industries this means minimizing design cycle times and getting products to manufacturing as quickly as possible. In many industries this also means reaching target manufacturing yields and full volume production without prototypes or re-spins. Second, product development costs must be reduced by increasing the productivity of design teams. This can result in either designing products with fewer people or designing more products with the same number of people. Either way means less money spent per product, lower budgets, and higher bottom-line proﬁt. Third, companies must produce ever more competitive and differentiated products. Faster, smaller, more functionality, at the lowest cost possible. This requires a combination of using the most advanced IC, FPGA, and PCB fabrication technologies with the added value of the designers’ most innovative and creative implementation (Figure 1). I past, not pressured to create the most competitive products and hit tight market windows. This has changed. While the cost of a car is largely the electronics (some high-end cars are 40 percent electronics), these complex systems must be designed quickly, at low cost, and often represent signiﬁcant factors that differentiate performance, safety, and sizzle factor. Compounding these business drivers is the current economic downturn. This recession is limiting the money spent on all products, including electronics. Whether the electronics company serves the public with consumable products (handhelds, cameras, TVs, computers) or other industries with support products (network servers, base stations, industrial controllers), the number of spendable dollars will decrease. Thus, the surviving electronics companies will be those that capture those dollars with the most competitive products in the market at the right time. Electronics Industry Trends At least three major trends continue in the electronics industry that add to the complexity of the product development and delivery process. The ﬁrst is globalization. Here we see many companies that have facilities spread around the country or world and need to organize design teams that might be globally dispersed. Different locations may have expertise that needs to be leveraged Across All Industries When we think of these drivers we naturally think of the consumer and computer industries. But today this applies to most industries. For example, the automotive and mil/aero industries were, in the 20 February 2009 • circuitree.com http://www.circuitree.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CircuiTree - February 2009

CircuiTree - February 2009 Contents Lead Wire The Wire Tech Talk Flexible Thinking Are Better PCB Design Tools and Manufacturing Enough to Stay Competitive? The Strategist Fein-Lines The Big Deal Over Fine Pitch Assembly Asian Section View From the Middle Market Outlook Technical Product Spotlights Classified Ads Upcoming Events Ad Index

CircuiTree - February 2009

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