Product category:
Design and Development Software
News Release from: Innoveda | Subject: FabFactory
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 02 March 2001
Package streamlines bare-board
fabrication
FabFactory is a new product line created by Innoveda specifically for fabricators of bare PCBs.
FabFactory is a new product line created by Innoveda specifically for fabricators of bare PCBs FabFactory builds on Innoveda's proven CAM technology, adding new features that offer performance and flexibility advantages to cost-conscious mainstream board fabricators
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 13 Mar 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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PCB design suite checks up on fabrication
Innoveda has announced an enhanced version of its popular PowerPCB printed circuit board layout system that incorporates the powerful CAM350T DFF Audit module for board fabrication checking.
Software simplifies complex wiring harnesses
Innoveda has announced TransOVM, a powerful options and variants manger that simplifies the time-consuming, process of designing complex wiring harnesses for large-scale projects.
As part of its strategy to further strengthen its PCB product offerings, the company has also announced the latest version of its CAM350T tool for PCB designers.
In today's PCB fabrication industry, where 24- to 48-hour turn times are becoming commonplace, mainstream fabricators struggle to compete with larger shops in meeting cost, quality and time-to-market demands.
Increased design complexity and shorter product life cycles only add to these manufacturing pressures.
Further reading
Wiring design bridges to the mechanical domain
Innoveda has released TransBridge, a wiring topology interface between the company's TransDesign tool suite for electrical system design and SDRC's I-DEAS mechanical design automation software.
Hardware and software coverified faster
Innoveda has enhanced its V-CPU tool to boost coverification performance through integration with Axis Systems' simulation acceleration and emulation systems.
Improved design verification covers mixed code
Innoveda has made major extensions to its HDLScore tool for code-coverage analysis.
FabFactory was created to help streamline and automate the board fabrication process to improve performance yields and accuracy.
As a result, this affordable, easy-to-use tool can enable fabricators to reduce typical CAM tooling time by four to eight times, while improving board manufacturability.
FabFactory includes a Panelisation Editor which helps streamline and optimise the process of tooling a PCB for bare-board fabrication.
Instead of a lengthy, highly customized setup, CAM operators can quickly establish templates for different sizes of panels, or bare boards.
The Panelisation Editor then uses these parameters to calculate the number of images that a particular panel will yield.
Once these templates have been created, the tool will automatically rotate and place the images and then perform a step-and-repeat function to yield the maximum number of copies.
This turnkey, out-of-the-box capability is critical to mainstream fabricators who need to get the tool up and running quickly to achieve optimal manufacturing efficiency.
Design-for-fabrication (DFF) audits are a series of checks that analyse PCB data for manufacturing problems.
Integrated into Innoveda's highly sophisticated Latium architecture, these audits can help to improve accuracy by up to 50 times and boost performance - from 10 times, on average, to as much as 100 times.
As a result, potential defects such as acid traps or soldermask slivers can be detected in a matter of seconds rather than several minutes.
Because the process is very quick, fabricators will be less tempted to skip the analysis phase, ultimately yielding a higher percentage of functional boards.
FabFactory's manufacturing rules-check (MRC) agent speeds the pre-analysis process by allowing fabricators to define an entire set of rules or characteristics for a given technology (eg a four- or eight-layer board) and store them in a parameter, or agent, file.
Once these characteristics are defined and stored, they can be run anytime on any job, providing consistent, accurate manufacturability analysis of PCBs.
Automating this process saves considerable time compared to scripted analysis environments.
The ODB++ interface option gives FabFactory users a competitive advantage.
Many mainstream fab shops cannot afford high-end tools based on ODB++ and so are unable to compete for business from customers who have standardized on that format.
Those that have invested in these tools typically can afford only one system, which limits their ability to take on larger jobs.
FabFactory with ODB++ offers a cost-effective alternative for these customers, enabling them to take on business they previously would have been forced to turn away.
Available on all Windows PC-based platforms (NT, 95, 98, 2000, ME), FabFactory is scheduled to begin shipping in March.
Pricing ranges from US$6,000 to $12,000, depending on the model selected.
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