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FEATURES

MCAD-ECAD
Integrating PCB Layout and Mechanical Design
The integration of PCB layout with mechanical design is a tough problem to solve. Not only does the shared information have to bridge the 2D to 3D gap, the amount and type of information that need to be shared varies from design to design and company to company. The longtime preferred format, IDF, represents only "snapshots" of the design and does not support incremental changes. However, a new data format, known as IDX, provides a new level of collaboration between board layout and mechanical design.
by David Kehmeier

Careers
PCB Designers, Rev. 2
Has anyone seen the next generation of PCB designers? The window to identify and train them is closing. What we can do about it.
by Mike Creeden and Jeff Kuester

FIRST PERSON

• Caveat Lector
  Model behavior.
  Mike Buetow
  
  
  

MONEY MATTERS

• ROI
  No such thing as too big to fail.
  Peter Bigelow

• Global Sourcing
  Rebalancing the supply chain.
  Wally Johnson

TECH TALK

•  On the Forefront
  Not your father's MCM.
  E. Jan Vardaman

• Designer’s Notebook
  Getting embed.
  Per Viklund

• Data Transfer
  Validating the test plan.
  Edward B. Acheson

• Final Finishes
  'Rough' starts.
  Lenora Toscano

• The Flexperts
  Circuit failures.
  Mark Finstad

• Technical Abstracts
  In case you missed it.