The Electronic Design and Manufacturing Association (FED) organized the PCB Designer Day for the eleventh time. This year, the conference took place in Leipzig in cooperation with the EMS company beflex.
FED Chairman Dieter Müller and Jens Arnold, Managing Director of beflex electronic, welcomed 100 developers, designers and other interested parties from the industry. Under the motto 'Miniaturization, problem solving and error prevention in PCB design' , the agenda included five specialist presentations and a factory tour at beflex - part of the KATEK Group.
"The personal exchange within the design community is extremely important," emphasized Dieter Müller. "The PCB Designer Day offers a platform for this - both for networking and for further training. Practical relevance is important to us. Our speakers are all experienced practitioners. We also give participants the opportunity to visit an electronics production facility. Many designers rarely have the opportunity to do this."
Communication was a recurring theme throughout the conference: All speakers saw the designer's early exchange with developers, PCB manufacturers and EMS companies as absolutely crucial for successful collaboration in the supply chain.
In his presentation, Stefan Burmeister (beflex/KATEK) addressed the requirements and challenges from prototyping to series production. He explained a range of targeted services at EMS in order to be able to comprehensively support the development process of electronic assemblies through to series production.
Kurt Härri (Sonova) dealt with the particular challenges of PCB design for hearing aids in his presentation: many components, little space on the PCB, the effects of heat and moisture and the acoustic requirements must be taken into account in the design with little available energy. Härri showed how these pitfalls can be avoided with creative approaches in the design of flex PCBs.
Practical tips for PCB designers
In his presentation, Michael Schwitzer (CiBOARD) showed how to get started with embedded component technology using the example of control electronics for an e-cigarette. CiBOARD received the PCB Design Award in 2022 for this project. The implementation of all mechanical and design requirements was achieved through the use of embedded and HDI technology and close coordination with the PCB manufacturer from the outset.
Bernd Lauterwasser (beflex/KATEK) addressed the 'craft' of the PCB designer in his presentation. Using practical tips and concrete examples, he explained how costly mistakes in PCB design can be avoided from the outset. His tip: talk to the developer, PCB manufacturer and component manufacturer at an early stage and find a good compromise.
Michael Matthes (Würth Elektronik), who also moderated the event, concluded the session. In his presentation, he provided information on innovative applications in the PCB and their implementation with EDA tools, focusing on new technologies for PCB manufacturers. He used examples of digital solder resist and Stretchflex to demonstrate the possibilities of implementation in the EDA tool.
