Sunstone Circuits Develops Concept-To-Delivery Opportunity System Veteran PCB Team Creates Design, Manufacture ECOsystem
by Sunstone Circuits -- EDN, April 23, 2007
Veteran PCB Team Creates Design, Manufacture ECOsystem Sunstone Circuits, the Portland, Ore.-based PCB prototype solutions provider, has announced its strategic vision, the Sunstone ECOsystem, and its commitment to improve the printed circuit board process from concept-to-delivery. A recognized leader in the PCB prototype industry, Sunstone’s PCBexpress, PCBpro, and PCB123 products are driving Sunstone’s new ECOsystem. The ECOsystem brings together Sunstone’s PCB services to provide a complete concept-to-delivery customer experience that contains the four discrete PCB segments: knowledge, tools, libraries & parts, and fabrication. Sunstone’s ECOsystem creates a seamless PCB production pathway that reduces churn, delivery time, and total costs for designers and engineers. “Sunstone is leading innovation and creativity in the PCB industry, and we strive to provide the easiest, hassle-free customer experience to quote, order and receive a completed board,” said Terry Heilman, CEO of Sunstone Circuits. “We want to support designers from the time their project is conceived until the board is in their hands. Sunstone stands by our customers with a global commitment to 24/7/365 customer service.” Ecosystem Offers Intelligent Transfer of Know-How The PCB quickturn market has historically been disjointed, with no successful attempts at integrating the intellectual property inherent to each segment. The segments represent the necessary knowledge, capabilities and expertise required to produce PCBs and include: Knowledge – PCB expertise, best practices and experience Tools – Software and processes to create PCBs Libraries & Parts - Sourcing and tracking of materials Fabrication - Prototyping and manufacturing Traditionally, each segment is the domain of specialized companies that protect their expertise and capabilities. The Sunstone ECOsystem is based on Sunstone’s PCB manufacturing expertise, best practices and experience, creating an open and programmable environment that contains these segments under one unified system, while retaining the respective intellectual property. The process starts with Sunstone’s open CAD/EDA tool, PCB123, which directly links engineers to Sunstone’s design and manufacturing expertise, providing cost projections and component availability in real-time during design. PCB123 designs can then be quickly prototyped and produced, with Sunstone’s manufacturing facilities providing all production segments, from concept-to-delivery, within the Sunstone ECOsystem. “PCB123 is a key portal into PCB fabrication. It simplifies the entire production process for designers,” says Lee Harding, Sunstone’s Manager of Product Development. “PCB123 creates a more efficient and quicker PCB production process that other design packages can’t achieve.” Why build an ECOsystem With increasing pressure to reduce prices, the players in the quickturn PCB business have to find ways to add value to their services, and must provide compelling reasons for customers to procure boards and remain loyal. There is a growing trend toward PCBs being specified and developed by other disciplines, such as Mechanical Engineers and other technical professionals who work one-step-removed from the PCB portion and are learning to run the CAD tools and/or departments. Some may lack experience with the PCB tool market, but are developing highly-complex feature sets into their designs. The high purchase prices of these feature sets, which include design tools, libraries and production, has created a mid-range market of emerging designers that need, but can’t afford, high-end tool prices. “Over the last 10 years, large volume PCB production has experienced significant improvement in cost and quality, but the prototyping process has not been able to achieve the same efficiencies due to the uniquely interactive process between designers and producers,” said Nolan Johnson, Sunstone’s EDA Product Marketing Manager. “The Sunstone ECOsystem makes it easy for designers to prototype their new boards with Sunstone, and even easier for us to scale up into production with our manufacturing capabilities.”
|
Talkback
