What’s New in PCBflow – Release Notes

Approval required to join the network.

Starting April 4, 2023, all companies are subjected to an approval process to be visible in the PCBflow network.

To join the network, provide the required information in your Company Profile and submit your request.

The approval process is fast, but in some cases may take up to a few days. You will receive notification when your request is approved or if there are additional details required.

As part of this change, some PCBflow accounts were pre-approved to ensure continuity of service. If your company was pre-approved without completing all required information, please open your Company Profile and complete the missing information now.

DFM profile selection made easy

Its important to select the right DFM profile when you run DFM analysis. Now you can easily see all the manufacturers that are offering their DFM profile for you to use.

Use these 3 easy steps:

1. Run your DFM.
2. Choose your DFM partner.
3. Select the right profile.

Of course, you can still choose a generic DFM profile provided by Siemens.

Download DFM results in Excel format

You can now download your DFM results to Excel format for offline review.

In the online viewer, choose between PDF and Excel format.

Click to contact your DFM partner

Its now easier than ever to contact your DFM partner – the people who set up your DFM rules.

• Contact information now appears at the top of the online report viewer, and on the project report tile.
• Click to automatically start an e-mail to the right people.

Reminder: make sure your company contact information is up-to-date so that its just as easy to find you!

Auto-create dielectric layers for Gerber data

Gerber data lacks dielectric layers, so we added a button to auto-create a single dielectric layer between all inner layers.

You’ll find the button in our stackup editor. Make sure to set the correct thickness for the dielectric layers that are added (default .001 mil).

Upload accessory project files

Upload and store up to 10 additional files with each project, in the Files tab.

Use these files to easily pass additional information to your manufacturing partner, such as fab drawings, project specifications, readme files and more.

Accepted formats: .pdf, .doc,.xls, .png, .jpg, .txt, .dxf, .dwg

Easier BOM Pricing and Sourcing

Get instant, accurate component pricing and availability information with the BOM Pricing and Sourcing tool. The new interface makes it easier to understand the important information that this tool provides. Upload your BOM file in Excel format. Change selection of preferred suppliers at any time, and the results will be updated automatically.

Spare parts marked in BOM Pricing and Sourcing.

If you decide to buy more parts than you need in order to get a better price, we provide a handy calculation of how many spare parts you will be left with.

New company tags: “DFM Provider” and “QuickPrice”

Companies can earn tags for providing an original DFM profile and for becoming a QuickPrice provider.

The tags “DFM profile” and “QuickPrice” appear on the company card and can be used to search for a manufacturer in the network.

Manufacturers – now is a good time set up your DFM profile from Manufacturer Tools, and add your QuickPrice URL to your company profile.

DFM Checks explained

We provide a searchable, comprehensive list of DFM checks that are available in PCBflow.

Note – not all DFM profiles are set to contain all checks but now it is easy to see which checks could be part of your DFM analysis.

Improved analysis progress bar

We value your time! The analysis progress bar has been improved to give a more accurate indication of how much work has already been completed and how much is left.

Remember, you can continue to work in PCBflow while your DFM analysis runs. We’ll notify you when its finished.

Simplified BOM manager

Reviewing your BOM before advanced assembly analysis is important, and it just got easier and more intuitive. Our new BOM interface gives you clear instructions and simplified tools to make sure you are using the right parts.

Expanded Company Cards in Network

Companies can now supply more detailed information including a list of DFM profiles and their descriptions.

Search for your preferred manufacturer in the network and run DFM directly from the Company Card.

Additional DFM Profile information

Description and Industry were added to DFM Profile, enabling easier selection of the correct DFM profile when running analysis.

Manufacturers, update your DFM profiles now!

DFM Report – Dockable results widget

DFM report results are now shown in a dockable widget. Display the results anywhere on your screen so that you don’t block the view. Pin the results to the bottom of the window when you want to keep things tidy.

Introducing Fast Track DFM

Complete your DFM analysis more quickly by allowing PCBflow to automatically select a default (generic) DFM profile.

In assembly analysis, standard VPL part geometry will be used and analysis will run without any manual intervention required.

For more control, you can activate the “Advanced options” to manually select your preferred manufacturer DFM profile and review part geometry before continuing with analysis.

This release introduces three new features that facilitate and speed design review and price estimation processes. Now a wider range of users can preview printed circuit board (PCB) designs and perform design for manufacturing (DFM). Complete your DFM analysis more quickly by allowing PCBflow to automatically select a default (generic) DFM profile.

In assembly analysis, standard VPL part geometry will be used and analysis will run without any manual intervention required.

For more control, you can activate the “Advanced options” to manually select your preferred manufacturer DFM profile and review part geometry before continuing with analysis.

Additionally, users can now easily and quickly create accurate price estimates using manufacturers’ pricing information available from within PCBflow.

Benefits:

• Saves time and costs in the design-to-manufacturing handoff process by addressing manufacturability challenges
• Enables anyone to easily preview designs and perform DFM analysis – even users without access to ODB++ or IPC2581
• Connects designers with manufacturers to perform DFM based on specific manufacturing capabilities
• Enables designers to get accurate price estimates, immediately
• Provides a secure, cloud-based, collaborative environment with no IT investment

Features:

Support for Gerber 274x format, this enables users to:

• Easily upload compressed Gerber 274x design files
• Use the intuitive PCBflow Stackup Manager to specify additional critical design details
• Drag and drop layer position, select layer type, add copper weight, polarity, and drill layer information
• Quick Pricing powered by Boardera

View Full Release Notes

As a cloud-based tool, PCBflow requires no installation or configuration. Designers can simply upload ODB++Design files into the secure cloud environment and select one or more manufacturers to apply process capabilities to the DFM analysis.

PCBflow even supports flex and rigid-flex DFM analysis. PCBflow provides an interactive online viewer that enables drill-down and investigation of design faults, secure in-app sharing and collaboration, and a downloadable PDF report.

PCBflow guides designers through the manufacturability design errors, including manufacturing risk analysis. DFA analysis enables BOM validation based on manufacturer part numbers using the Valor Part Library Database and exposes component placement problems and potential assembly issues. In addition, PCBflow allows designers to review and track updates in the context of design violations, minimizing back-and-forth with manufacturing partners and making it simple to validate and optimize designs. Users can see, pan, zoom and navigate through all board layers, seeing all details, including component geometry. They can easily fully investigate the DFM analysis with an interactive result viewer that automatically zooms to the location of the result being investigated.

Designers can easily and securely upload ODB++, IPC2581 and Gerber 274x designs to PCBflow and run comprehensive DFM analysis instantly, online, at any time.

Get accurate price estimates, immediately PCBflow instantly shows updated cost and availability information for the components in a Bill of Materials (BOM), using the BOM Pricing and Sourcing tool.

PCB designers can use the QuickPrice function (powered by Boardera) to receive instant, accurate price estimates within PCBflow for the manufacturing and assembly of their projects.   Manufacturers can easily become qualified QuickPrice providers in PCBflow and receive notification each time a price estimate is requested.

Features

• Fast and easy – fabrication DFM analysis in two simple steps.
• Smart, self-explanatory, and interactive – DFM report includes filtering, statistics, summary tables and error grouping.
• Design for assembly (DFA) for manufacturer specific BOM validation and identification of component placement and manufacturing violations.
• Easy zooming and navigation through all board layers, as well as interactive viewing of DFM results, powered by Valor Parts Library.
• Support for Gerber 274x files – enabling upload, preview, editing and DFM analysis by users who lack access to ODB++ or IPC2581.
• Immediate and accurate price estimates, using QuickPrice powered by Boardera.
• Easy, secure, in-app collaboration and downloadable PDF report.
• Powered by the Valor NPI engine, an industry standard for DFM analysis.
• Secure cloud environment, PCBflow adheres to the strict Security standards of Siemens software, including ISO27001 certification.