Why is ECAD/MCAD Collaboration Important? - Part 1/2

Electrical and mechanical design are two sides of the same coin, and both are equally important in modern product design. Yet you’re often challenged with having to master both domains and understand how to effectively collaborate between them. What happens when this doesn’t go as planned? Communication breakdowns and designs that fail to meet those critical deadlines. You can work smarter. Common issues you may encounter when collaboration is not efficient: DISCONNECTED DESIGN WORKFLOWS While most electronics design may start with the Schematic or PCB, the product design itself often starts from within the mechanical realm. You not only have to worry about your board’s circuit design and layout, but also how it will fit into the final product design. How do you easily integrate your mechanical design workflow into your electrical design tool, while efficiently collaborating with designers from different domains? COMMUNICATING WITH MECHANICAL DESIGNERS If you’re working with different CAD tools for your electrical and mechanical designs, then you know how frustrating it can be to transfer accurate design data back and forth. There’s also the time-consuming task of keeping your data organized, while ensuring everyone on your design team is using the latest design revision. Managing this process with manual ECOs, e-mails, and voicemails just adds to the confusion, leaving you to sort out the details while attempting to keep your project on track. There is an easier way to do this. COMMUNICATING WITH MANUFACTURERS Effectively communicating your design intent to a manufacturer can often be a painful and time-consuming process. Continuous cycles of data translations often leads to ambiguity about the most critical elements of your design. How can you ensure that your manufacturer knows exactly what you want?   Jamey Larocque, C.I.D Applications Specialist CAD MicroSolutions Inc. 65 International Boulevard, Toronto ON, M9W 6L9 Canada jameyl@cadmicro.com | T: (416) 213-0533 ext 232

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