In my time, I’ve designed everything from silicon chips and circuit boards and brainwave amplifiers to Steampunk Prognostication Engines (don't ask). Sad to relate, I don’t tend to design too much these days. Instead, I seem to spend an increasing amount of time waffling on about how the young designers of today have things so easy and how much harder everything used to be in the days of yore when I was coming up... More >

I’m always on the lookout for ways to cut time to market. Over the years this has become my personal passion. No matter what I am looking at I am always second guessing the way things are being done. How could they be done faster? How can a step be eliminated (without hurting the integrity of the end product)? How can lull time be cut shorter? I even study bake and curing times to see if they can be shortened.

I assume I do this because time to market and new product introduction have been part of my life for so many years now. The interesting thing is that just when I am sure, just when I am convinced that ever single minute has been taken out of the process, I find something else that can go faster... More >

"Will my parts fit on the board?" That seems like it should be a rhetorical question that needs no answer but reality tells us, as you transition from the design stage to manufacturing, issues with parts fit are one of the most frequent causes of delays and cost overruns.

We see it every day. Designs are submitted that can’t or shouldn’t be manufactured because the parts will not fit properly. This creates issues with performance and durability—effectively reducing the overall quality of the board.

Following are six methods that will help you avoid common, parts-related manufacturability pitfalls... More >