News & Highlights
Create High Quality Documentation Saving Time and Money
Organizations that demand high quality PCB Documentation to be an integral part of their process realize shortened turn-around times, improved product quality, and overall reduced costs.
BluePrint-PCB - Wednesday, May 2nd - Registration Options
The Problem
Current tools and methodologies for creating PCB Documentation are essentially workarounds that, rather than automate, become obstacles to producing detailed and accurate PCB documentation in a timely manner. The traditional approach to PCB documentation is to use drawing features of the native PCB CAD system. Those features were designed for producing graphics for PCB elements - not PCB documentation. Current tools lack the basic intelligence of a word processor or spreadsheet application necessary for the creation of notes and parts lists. The use of rudimentary graphic tools for PCB documentation tasks also leads to more time consuming and error prone ECO processing - simple unintelligent graphic objects must be individually revised and adjusted to document the changes.
The Benefits of Creating PCB Documentation with BluePrint-PCB
BluePrint-PCB is a new approach to PCB documentation - a tool built specifically as a PCB documentation authoring tool. Use it to quickly create the documentation required to drive the PCB fabrication and assembly processes. BluePrint-PCB leverages the PCB CAD data to automatically create and intelligently link PCB Views, drill charts, parts lists, detail views, fabrication and assembly notes. Change made in the PCB design are instantly propagated to drawing elements across all drawings and all sheets dramatically reducing time spent maintaining PCB documentation. BluePrint-PCB enables you to create high quality PCB documentation in less time than traditional methods and to implement a best in class NPI.
Watch this webinar on Demand now
Discover the DownStream Difference
Shaughnessy: Do you perform post-processing and documentation manually, or use a tool such as DownStream?
Dack: I have great things to say about DownStream's BluePrint. I'd probably say great things about any other automated doc tools too, but there aren't any! DownStream has done a great job of filling the void in EDA market. DownStream's BluePrint tool is a bonafide cost time / cost saver. I can say that because while working for Northern Nevada gaming company and pitching the idea of using BluePrint for years, a progressive manager I worked for at the time became interested and we diverted licensing fees we'd been paying for an archaic, manual form of documentation utilizing four peripheral sofware tools.
After installing BluePrint we reduced our entire PCB documentation time down to approximately 10 minutes! BluePrint leveraged our source database to allow us to manipulate data to specify and document a PCB in ways our source layout program could not. These guys got kudos and two thumbs up not only from me, but our entire team of designers and management as well.