In an industry wide survey we conducted, nearly every PCB Designer cited that current PCB documentation methods are
time-consuming, make it difficult to implement any design revisions, and prevent them from moving on to the next project.
In a response to this industry-wide dilemma and concern, we developed BluePrint for Printed Circuit Boards.
Importance of Complete Documentation
PCB documentation creates the manufacturing specification for an electronic product. Comprehensive
documentation records the engineering “intent” of a design specifying the form, fit and function of the PCB. Documentation
drives the procurement process, aids manufacturing engineering and is used in final inspection to verify the product was built
to engineering’s specification. It also gets archived to ensure later production runs can be repeated with the same level of
consistent quality. PCB documentation must capture all of the information necessary to not only build the product today, but also
any repeat builds in the future - eliminating any guesswork.
- To specify form, fit, and finish, as well as drive procurement and scheduling
- To build and inspect finished good to the original engineering specifications
- To archive intellectual property, retaining instructions to ensure consistent quality
- To produce release milestones for manufacturing
The Challenge
PCB documentation is a critical part of the design chain as it defines the
specifications on how an electronic product is to be built. The more detailed the documentation the less
likely manufacturing mistakes will occur. It also ensures that repeat builds of the same product
are consistent and makes final inspection easier with less chance of unit rejection or shipment delay while
waiting for assembly deviations to be approved.
The Solutions
BluePrint is a dynamic new solution, developed in the style
of Microsoft Office that quickly creates electronic drawings
to drive PCB fabrication and assembly. BluePrint “knows” it
is creating a PCB document and imports PCB CAD data to
automatically create and intelligently link PCB Views,
details, document notes, external documents, URLs and
multi-media content. The result is an electronic document
which better articulates the instructions for successful
fabrication, assembly and inspection of printed circuit
boards and which contains all the data necessary to build,
view and archive the final product.
- BluePrint-PCB creates PCB drawings for fabrication, assembly, and inspection
- BluePrint-PCB uses MS Office methods to increase productivity and ease-of-use
- BluePrint-PCB creates and displays documents as they would appear to document control and manufacturing
- BluePrint-PCB is the most revolutionary breakthrough in the PCB market since the inception of PCB CAD
This new, state-of-the-art solution creates PCB
documentation quickly and easily and replaces the more
error-prone, manual approach currently employed.
Documentation created with BluePrint is more detailed, can
be changed instantly and will lead to faster and more
accurate new product introduction.
Problem with PCB Documentation Today
- Tools today are NOT designed for PCB documentation
- Tool constraints create documentation constraints
- Tools used require extensive translation of data
- Documentation process is long, as high as 40% of design cycle
- ECOs, even small, require same documentation time
- Process is unintelligent and manual, prone to error
- Solutions and output vary from company to company
- Critical link in the design chain is made of paper
BluePrint's Value
Product success requires solid execution. Documentation provides zero end product value, but requires skilled PCB Designers to produce it.
Poor documentation increases manufacturing complexity.
- Minimize time spent on low-value task
- Move onto the next design sooner
- Increase documentation quality eliminates manufacturing guesswork
- Lower risk of shipment delay owning to deviations and MCO approvals
