Design-to-Cost

You’re always looking for ways to save time and money when designing electronics. And even though you might spend hours and hours trying to save a fraction of a cent per component, it’s worth the huge difference you’ll see in total production costs. Your design practices have the biggest consequences on a product’s lifecycle, but what tools are available to help you with designing to cost?

Making Sure Components Are Accurate and Up-to-Date

Figuring out pricing and quantity information for the parts in your design can be a messy and costly process. You might be pulling details from several different sources, and if you’re doing this process manually, there’s no way to really know whether you’re getting accurate or up-to-date vendor information. How can you automate the process and pull all your supply chain information from a single source?

Real-Time Supply Chain Information for Every Component
No more old or inaccurate vendor information in your designs

• Link to real supply chain solutions from major vendors like Digi-Key and Mouser. 
  Learn More about Supplier Links
• Directly connect to your organization’s internal part database and attach those solutions to your designs. 
  Learn More about Database Connection Supplier Link
• Manage your entire bill of materials using ActiveBOM technology, giving you full visibility into your supply chain. 
  Learn More about ActiveBOM

Organizing and Keeping Track of Design Data

There are lots of different sources of design data in an organization. Manually keeping track of the who, what, where, when, and why of all that data can leave your design flow at a standstill as you try to sort out the details. And if your data isn’t properly managed when disaster strikes, you’re left with costly redesigns and re-spins. Wouldn’t it be better to work with a system where all the little details of data management are taken care of, behind the scenes?

Comprehensive Data Management
Ensure all your projects are managed from concept to production

• Guide your designs through company-approved revision and lifecycle states, ensuring that everything is tracked and managed from prototype to production.
  Learn More about Lifecycle Management
• Maintain data integrity and real supply chain solutions for all your components.
  Learn More about Component Management
• Speed up your design flow by re-using managed designs and templates.
  Learn More about Design Re-Use

Effectively Collaborating as a Team

Some electronic products just can’t be designed by one or two people. It might take many designers, spread out across the globe, to bring a concept to market. And streamlining the collaborative design process can go a long way towards meeting your budget and improving your time to market. Whether it’s for teamwork on a single PCB, between a schematic and PCB, or across different design environments, what can you do to streamline the collaborative process?

Centralized Design Collaboration
Get all the tools you need to work as a team, without the struggle

• Work with several designers simultaneously on a single board using powerful tools for PCB collaboration.
  Learn More about Collaborate, Compare and Merge
• Connect and synchronize all documents in the design process, including library, schematic, and PCB documents. 
  Learn More about SCH/PCB Integration
• Seamlessly collaborate between electrical and mechanical design environments.  
  Learn More about ECAD/MCAD Collaboration