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Industrial circuit boards are typically used in applications that require high power levels to drive motors or other heavy-duty equipment. Because of these power requirements, the layout rules and constraints are different than what would be used to layout a low-power IoT device. Here we’ll look at some of the differences with this type of circuit board layout technology and what designers need to understand about industrial PCB design rules.

Thankfully, most people do understand the importance of PCBs and their uses, but very few understand the design and manufacturing processes required to build them. To help, we have put together a PCB flow chart that describes the design and assembly processes and how the two interact with each other. For clarity, we have omitted the fabrication process—other than to note the procurement of raw PCB fabs; otherwise, the following should help to simplify the overall process.

This component availability problem can be traced back to several reasons. In some cases, it is due to inadequate planning, while others are due to CAD library management issues that designers need to understand better. Here we will examine these potential problem areas and some good PCB design BOM inventory management practices.

The chip shortage and the global supply chain problems are big news these days, but do you realize how much the chip shortages impact supply chain resiliency? When one semiconductor chip is unavailable, it affects the next chip in line like dominos. Similarly, this process continues until an entire row of semiconductors is knocked over. Let’s look at this problem, its results, and how original equipment manufacturers guard against these problems to protect the production of their valuable electronics.

There have always been inventive ideas that don’t make it into production because they couldn’t be mass-produced efficiently enough to return a profit. Cost-effective manufacturing also applies to electronics, where refining a product for production is essential to its ultimate success. It is important to design electronics for production-ready assembly, to ensure their success in development. To help, here is a new product introduction checklist for manufacturing to keep in mind.

To keep production on track, original equipment manufacturers must avoid supply chain disruptions in PCB assembly. Here we’ll look at the electronic component supply chain problem and how you can avoid its potential disruptions to your circuit board manufacturing.