1.Digitally Integrated and Optimized Multi-Domain Design
In order to keep pace with the complexities of design and maintain a smooth flow of information between design and manufacturing, companies must choose a PCB design environment that facilitates a Digital Thread. This enables teams to stay up to date on project status and collaborate globally across engineering domains.
By using a digitally integrated platform, companies can develop a complete and accurate multi-domain bill of materials that can be easily integrated with other enterprise applications. Design teams can also create templates to promote best practices and enforce standards across the organization. To streamline the transition to manufacturing, it’s crucial to share a complete understanding of the product and provide early downstream access to data.
2. Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE)
To promote a system-of-systems mindset, many systems companies are turning to MBSE, where sub-systems from electrical, mechanical, and software domains, including PCB Design, are modeled and brought together in a comprehensive Digital Twin before design begins.
With MBSE, the architectures for the electronic sub-systems are communicated as a “bill-of-functions” to drive the electronic system definition. At the start of the process, the system’s architects define all external interfaces for harness and cable design. The electronics, defined through PCB Design, are then placed into their logical and physical design implementations.
The comprehensive Digital Twin allows engineers to start working on trade-offs in different domains earlier in the design cycle. This can improve the overall product by determining the best trade-offs earlier on. Additionally, by looking at the entire system through an MBSE perspective, teams can analyze not only electrical and functional trade-offs, but also product trade-offs based on factors such as weight, cost, and available components.
3. Digital-Prototype Driven Verification
To reduce time-to-market and maximize profits, leading design teams perform analysis in short, iterative loops during the design process. This is preferred over analysis after the design is complete or after a physical prototype has been assembled. Tools like Xpedition and PADS Professional allow design groups to perform analysis iteratively and create a digital prototype for early analysis.
Having a comprehensive system allows for localized iterative loops and broad system analysis. Performance must be analyzed and verified at the largest system level, from 3D electromagnetic modeling to the creation of multi-substrate, digital, system-level models. True system-level thermal analysis is necessary for heterogeneous silicon integration and advanced IC packaging, with concurrent analysis that models IC thermal effects on packages and PCBs in the context of the entire system.
4. Capacity, Performance, Productivity, Efficiency
Successful companies in their digital transformation choose PCB design environments that scale to their organization’s size, challenges, and design team expertise. The most sophisticated environments also allow companies to catalog and leverage design reuse across the organization, reducing cost and design time through derivative designs.
5. Supplier Strength and Credibility
To succeed in digital transformation and continue to innovate, it’s important to partner with reliable suppliers who not only offer leading solutions, but are committed to helping companies succeed. Siemens and Cadlog are such suppliers, offering a complete, next-generation systems design platform that works seamlessly with manufacturing, PLM, and enterprise flows.
