Nortech Elettronica has recently organized a five-day technical seminar dedicated to one of our top clients, with the goal of providing concrete support to their R&D department.
The initiative stemmed from the desire to assist the client already during the design phase, offering technical recommendations aimed at optimizing each stage of production.
By acting on the design from the very beginning, it is possible to reduce defects, anticipate potential issues, and significantly shorten production times.
For each workshop day, we involved professionals and specialized partners to jointly assess the impact of design choices on each phase of the manufacturing process.
Workshop Topics
Day 1 – DESIGN IPC
- Theoretical foundations of DFM (Design for Manufacturing), DFA (Design for Assembly), and DFT (Design for Testability), with a focus on ISO/IPC standards applicable to the different design revisions (Review 1, 2, 3, 4…).
- Overview of the PCBA production process and the main technologies employed at Nortech.
📌 Technical note: we examined layout criteria for minimum clearance, thermal relief management, and best practices for signal and power routing.
Day 2 – DFM (Design for Manufacturing)
- Analysis and practical examples based on the client’s ongoing projects, applying IPC rules to optimize manufacturability and repeatability.
📌 Technical note: specific cases were studied concerning optimization in footprint selection, reduction of soldering steps, and improvements in SMT placement to minimize the risk of tombstoning.
Day 3 – DFA (Design for Assembly)
- Description of the various production processes and simulations using dedicated software.
📌 Technical note: discussions focused on how component polarity uniformity and the reduction of BOM variants can speed up both manual and automatic assembly, reducing errors and rework.
Day 4 – DFT (Design for Testability)
- In-depth exploration of testing theories and techniques, with hands-on exercises for creating functional test specifications.
📌 Technical note: simulations were carried out on in-circuit and functional test strategies, assessing proper test point placement and integration with automatic fixtures to reduce debugging times.
Day 5 – Review & Q&A
- Overall review of the work performed and a Q&A session, consolidating the shared guidelines.
📌 Technical note: the final day concluded with a direct discussion on expected KPIs: reduction of line scrap, increase in OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness), and shorter time-to-market.
An Added Value for Everyone
Workshops of this kind are essential to foster synergy between us and the client, strengthening project quality and production efficiency. Nortech Elettronica is ready to extend this opportunity to other clients who wish to enhance their projects by starting from solid technical and methodological foundations.
If you wish to have more info about our workshop, please do not hesitate to contact us.