Getting to market faster. II. Reduce manufacturing turn-around

Abstract

The ability to shorten production lead time while dealing with orders of smaller batch sizes has become increasingly important to remain competitive for PCB manufacturers. In addition, manufacturers are frequently asked to make up time that was lost earlier in the design or bare-board fabrication stages. The manufacturer can play a key role in reducing the time to go from specification to finished product and save money in the process. Using a CAD translator makes good sense for captive manufacturers with a single CAD standard and an integrated link to manufacturing. Contract manufacturers stand to benefit greatly from adapting a Gerber-based conversion and programming system to handle data from the multitude of CAD systems in a unified approach.