BluePrint-PCB® works your PCB CAD system and/or CAM350® to help you quickly produce comprehensive electronic drawings to drive PCB fabrication, assembly and inspection processes.
Automating the Documentation Process
BluePrint-PCB “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.
- Automatically create PCB views, details, and tables from PCB CAD data
- Remove constraints of PCB CAD but retain design intelligence
- Use PCB intelligence to create common drawing elements
- Create live and interactive documentation with hyperlinks and multi-media
- Store all information associated with the PCB assembly in one electronic “release package”
- Support instantaneous engineering changes (ECOs)
- Allow viewing of documents without the application – web, PDF, or viewer
The Benefits
With BluePrint, PCB engineering groups can expect to reduce the documentation process to a fraction of the time it normally takes – even more when engineering change orders (ECOs) are required. With ECOs, since all views, details, and charts of the PCB remain linked to the original PCB CAD data, they are instantaneously refreshed in BluePrint whenever the original CAD data is changed. This technology received a US Patent.
- Lowers documentation cost and time, and increases detail accuracy
- Shortens PCB design cycles
- Reduces documentation time by as much as 60-80%
- Improves manufacturing instructions
- Simplifies manufacturing inspection
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.
Excellent articles from the perspective of the manufacturer
The Printed Circuit Designer’s Guide to Assessing Your PCB Documentation Process™
i007ebooks.com | Mark Gallant, DownStream
Mitigating the High Cost of PCB Documentation
The PCB Design Magazine, March 2014 | Mark Gallant, DownStream
Key Components to Quality PWB Fabrication Drawings
Wednesday, June 5, 2013 | James Brown, PCB Solutions
Proper Documentation Demands Dumby-Proof Instructions
Wednesday, June 5, 2013 | Zulki Khan, NexLogic Technologies, Inc