Mentor Blogs

Hi there This week I would like to ask for input on assembly variants. For the context of this post I would like to state that an assembly variant is one where the base bare PCB is common to all assembly variants and that the variation is through the presence and absence of parts including part substitution of functionally different parts. Therefore using an Approved Vendor List (AVL) to substitute … Read More

data preparation, approved vendor list, bill of materials, process, BOM, assembly variant, AVL, variant

Hi there This may seem a strange topic for a Process Engineering Blog but bear with me on this. Over the past few years, car manufacturers seem to be in a race to develop the cars with the highest number of gear ratios in them. Currently cars on the market have automatic gearboxes with 8 forward ratios. Manual gearboxes exist with 7 forward gears now.  I have also heard about possible future gearboxes … Read More

programming, AOI, data preparation, vPlan, bill of materials, BOM

Hi there Many of our customers have seen an increase in the number of products that need to be grouped together to enable them to run with a single SMT setup to reduce the time taken for change-over from one product to another. The challenge is knowing which products can be incorporated in to a single group given the unique part numbers on each product and the feeder capacity of each machine in the … Read More

Planning, process, vPlan, bill of materials, Enhancement, programming, grouping, BOM, Sequence

Hi there One of the areas that we constantly look to enhance with each release is our support for the machines that are in use with our customers. Although we use the Mentor Ideas site as a opportunity to derive feedback from yourselves, I also wanted to take this chance to ask you to let me know which machines you still need us to support either because they are new to the market or needed to address … Read More

Enhancement, AOI, Flying Probe, ICT, data preparation, AXI, bill of materials, Design For Test, Automated Optical Inspection, Automated X-Ray Inspection, documentation, boundary scan, BOM, process, vPlan, SPI, THT, Solder Paste Inspection, programming

Hi there I have heard of a couple of cases of PCB designs where a common pad is shared between two separate components. At it’s simplest case, two 0603 components lie end to end but instead of four pads, two for each, there are only three in total. The two pads closest to each other overlap meaning only one is visible on the board. In other words they share a common pad. This scenario is typically … Read More

packages, aperture, vPlan, ICT, programming, bill of materials, stencil, variant, BOM

Hi there We recently had a successful trade show at Apex 2013 in San Diego. During the event I was interviewed with iConnect PCB007′s Andy Shaughnessy. We discussed the main themes that we were promoting on the booth in the area of Process Preparation, namely being able to use a single solution for all areas of PCB manufacturing data preparation as well as simplying the many types of part library … Read More

IPC, vPlan, AOI, documentation, Flying Probe, ICT, AVL, data preparation, AXI, Design For Test, Automated Optical Inspection, Automated X-Ray Inspection, BOM, bill of materials, testability, SPI, Solder Paste Inspection, programming, process

Hi there I recently discussed the new capability in Valor MSS Process Preparation 11.3. I mentioned that I would go in to more detail on some of the areas that are part of this version and I will cover the new Test Probe Placement capability today. We have added an all new Test Probe Placement Session in 11.3 that performs the physical test probe placement analysis natively within the application. … Read More

AOI, Flying Probe, ICT, data preparation, AXI, bill of materials, Design For Test, Automated Optical Inspection, Automated X-Ray Inspection, boundary scan, BOM, process, vPlan, testability, VPL

Hi there The Valor team are here in San Diego at the IPC Apex Trade Show. We’ve had a great couple of days, meeting our customers, plenty of new ones as well as meeting with some of the other vendors at the show. Our theater presentations have been well received, bringing people in to the booth and then stopping afterwards, asking questions and looking for more information. If you are at the … Read More

Enhancement, documentation, programming, Solder Paste Inspection, AOI, Design For Test, SPI, apex, stencil, testability, Automated Optical Inspection, VPL, BOM, Automated X-Ray Inspection, vPlan, boundary scan, approved vendor list, data preparation, AXI, AVL, bill of materials, Flying Probe, Planning, mixed vendor, OIB, IPC, ICT

Hi there We have just released a new version of Valor MSS (11.3) that brings a number of significant enhancements to existing customers as well as those looking to invest in cutting edge process preparation solutions. I’ll be covering some of these enhancements in more detail in future blogs but here is a short summary of some of the new capability that we have in 11.3. We have made significant … Read More

OIB, mixed vendor, vPlan, AOI, Flying Probe, ICT, BOM, AVL, documentation, bill of materials, Enhancement, Design For Test, data preparation, VPL, testability, stencil, programming, Planning, process

Hi there Next month on February 19th, 20th and 21st is the annual IPC Apex Convention in San Diego and there will be more than 400 exhibitors from 50 different countries represented at the show. Here are five reasons you should attend: 1. The Valor Division of Mentor Graphics will be exhibiting at booth 1227. So, you will be able to meet the U.S. sales team as well as some of the Product Line personnel … Read More

mixed vendor, Flying Probe, AOI, apex, ICT, IPC, bill of materials, BOM, approved vendor list, documentation, data preparation, Design For Test, vPlan, stencil, Sequence, programming, san diego, process

Hi there A few months back I talked about in-line AOI but this time I’ll mention a similar capability we have in the Valor MSS Process Preparation suite of in-line Solder Paste Inspection or SPI. The idea with in-line AOI and SPI is for the outputs to the different inspection machines to understand where components are being placed in the line and to create output that matches the placement. … Read More

vPlan, bill of materials, AOI, data preparation, programming, BOM, SPI, stencil

Hi there This week yields a new medium for the Valor MSS Process Preparation suite in that you can now hear from me through the YouTube video below. Here I talk about the advantages of our suite for those users who are still using multiple products for process engineering or are having to maintain multiple part libraries across the various types of equipment on your production line. I’ve had … Read More

Library, mixed vendor, AVL, test expert, vPlan, bill of materials, part library, data preparation, fabmaster, programming, BOM

Hi there Firstly, let me wish you all a Happy New Year and Best Wishes for 2013. I appreciate everyone taking the time to read my blog and to also comment on the areas that we have discussed. This week I am going to continue on from my theme from the last posting where I discussed the auto-generation capability in Valor MSS Process Preparation. I described the capability to create machine specific … Read More

documentation, mixed vendor, programming, AVL, vPlan, approved vendor list, Planning, data preparation, process, bill of materials, BOM

Hi there I have talked about the Valor MSS unique capability to use the Valor Parts Library or VPL in multiple ways during PCB manufacturing. VPL data is manufacturer specific information about the actual component body and pin areas that can be used for multiple uses across DFM, Stencil, Documentation, SMT programming, test programming and inspection programming. I’d like to focus the specifics … Read More

Sequence, programming, mixed vendor, AVL, bill of materials, process, data preparation, documentation, Flying Probe, Design For Test, BOM, vPlan, stencil, VPL

Hi there I have talked to a number of users who are asking for capability to manage the Process Preparation needs of multiple locations around the world. I would like to hear from you on what requirements you consider important to this discussion. For example we have some customers running a single database across multiple locations allowing them to share data across all their facilities. One downside … Read More

programming, ICT, AVL, multi-site, data preparation, documentation, bill of materials, Flying Probe, BOM, Design For Test, database, server, testability, vPlan