“Nearly every PCB designer has cited that current PCB documentation methods are time-consuming, make it difficult
to implement design revisions and prevent them from moving on to the next PCB layout project,” said Rick Almeida,
founder of DownStream. “We have developed a truly unique approach that creates more accurate and detailed documentation,
in a fraction of the time, and allows companies to better utilize a PCB designer’s greatest skill – designing
printed circuit boards.”
Revolutionizing and Automating PCB Documentation
PCB documentation is critical to companies as it defines the specification on how a 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.
Until now, PCB Engineering groups have faced two undesirable choices when it came to producing efficient
PCB documentation. One, use highly-compensated, skilled PCB designers and increase the PCB design cycle by
an additional 20%-40%*; or two, provide very cursory, paper-based documentation and increase the risk of
manufacturing mistakes or product shipment delays. This dilemma is a direct result of the lack of available
software tools that address the unique issues associated with creating PCB fabrication and assembly documentation.
“The PCB CAD model works well for PCB design but actually creates obstacles for PCB documentation,” said
Almeida. He cites the need to show a PCB from both the top and bottom view simultaneously in a single drawing
as a good example. “Mechanical CAD systems help work around this issue but require heavy data translation and
lose the design intelligence that could be used to create PCB documentation accurately,” he added.
In contrast, BluePrint “knows” it is creating a PCB document and imports the entire PCB CAD database once
to automatically create and link unlimited PCB views and details, while at the same time maintaining the design
intelligence and overcoming the constraints imposed by both PCB and mechanical CAD alternatives. The result is
an electronic document which better articulates the instructions for successful PCB manufacturing and which
contains all the data necessary to build, view and archive the final product anywhere, anytime.
Bringing PCB Documentation into the 21st Century
BluePrint is truly an innovative new product, more closely aligned with Microsoft Office than traditional EDA tools.
It uses a myriad of methodologies not usually associated with PCB documentation to increase productivity and ease-of-use.
BluePrint uses a document and sheet based approach allowing users to drag and drop PCB views, details, notes, and tables,
onto a drawing sheet, then arrange and format them as needed. This approach bypasses the typical display and concealment
of CAD layers to show a “picture” of a drawing on the computer screen even though the actual document never exists in
the CAD database. With BluePrint, users view and work with the actual documents as they will be delivered to document
control and manufacturing. Users can create an electronic PCB release package that is more complete than what is being
created today. BluePrint also supports the integration of digital multi-media content such as JPEGs, audio files, and
even video files to better communicate the often complex instructions needed to fabricate or assemble a PCB. “The use
of multi-media can go a long way to removing any misinterpretation that may occur when reading text or looking at a
drawing detail,” said Almeida.
In addition, BluePrint’s hyper-linking capability allows the creation of links between different document elements,
external files, URLs and email addresses. “We believe that in today’s world, documentation should provide information
to the reader, not require the reader to hunt for data. Technology like this has been widely adopted in almost every
other industry, and now with BluePrint we can make PCB documentation live, interactive, and much more informative”
Almeida continued.
Saving Time and Money While Improving the Process
DownStream expects BluePrint to shave as much as 60%-80% off the PCB documentation creation process — even more
when engineering change orders (ECOs) are required. One of the key technical breakthroughs with BluePrint is that
all views, details, and charts of the PCB remain linked to the original PCB CAD data and are instantaneously refreshed
whenever the original CAD data is changed in BluePrint. DownStream has filed for a patent with the US Patent Office for
this technology.
Key Features and Functionality
Full Importation of the PCB CAD File – BluePrint uses PCB CAD data to drive the documentation process.
Components, pins, assembly mounting sides, layers, vias, nets, assembly variants, part attributes, drill holes and
symbols, are just a few of the data records that can be imported into BluePrint to accurately create PCB document elements.
Unlimited PCB Instances and Views – BluePrint can create and display unlimited views of the PCB simultaneously
on any drawing sheet. Each view is independent and may have its own unique display settings to show top side assembly,
bottom side assembly, inner layers, drill patterns, or any combination of layer data contained in the CAD database.
Exotic File Importation – Data from other Windows® applications can be imported and used in the BluePrint
documentation package. BluePrint imports PDF, RS274X, DXF, XML, ODB++, JPEG, GIF, TIF, BMP. BluePrint’s clipboard
function also allows cutting and pasting with other applications including text and raster graphics.
Fabrication and Assembly Detail Wizards – BluePrint automatically creates common detail elements such as
the PCB Layer and Via stack up, V-Scoring, Finger Chamfer, Exploded views, and Side and Sectional Views using
component height attributes contained in the PCB CAD data.
Full Word Processing with Spell Check – BluePrint supports a full word processor with both on-line and
batch spell checking, font, and paragraph formatting. BluePrint creates documents in local languages such as
Italian, German, Japanese, English, etc.
Mechanical Component Support – BluePrint is the only EDA tool on the market that understands that PCBs are
comprised of both electrical AND mechanical components. Users may define any drawing item as a mechanical component
and associate it to an electrical component to help automate correct parts list quantities particularly when Assembly
Variants are also used.
Assembly Variants – BluePrint is the only EDA tool on the market that supports Assembly Variants in both
the parts list AND the assembly PCB view. Each Variant of the final assembly can be depicted in the assembly drawing
with its corresponding parts list. Component installation status can be displayed graphically for easy visualization
of the final PCB assembly build. This function minimizes ambiguity and time in final inspection to insure that all
parts are installed correctly.
Unified Parts List Creation - BluePrint’s Parts List Manager allows the user to interactively modify parts
list data to ensure that all the necessary parts list items are included in the final release package. Information
such as reference documents and files, mechanical components, and the PCB can be added and modified. Parts List data
can be imported and exported to and from ERP/MRP and PLM systems for the enterprise.
Fast Engineering Change Orders (ECOs) – BluePrint supports an instant ECO function that refreshes all
views of the PCB CAD data in the documentation package whenever the source PCB CAD file is updated. A graphic indicator
informs the user if the BluePrint documentation package is in or out of synch with the source PCB CAD data to dramatically
reduce the amount of time associated with changing documentation due to PCB artwork changes.
Template Framework – The template framework is the foundation for BluePrint’s automation. The template framework
allows any combination of graphics, tables, or text to be created and linked to the source PCB CAD data. This capability
enables unprecedented customization of the system to support unique company standards and requirements. In addition,
any documentation package created can be saved as a template for reuse further expediting the documentation process.
