As an IPC Certified Designer, I take offense to comments referring to the
"Lazy Designer". Perhaps you are forgetting that the Designer is not
responsible for contractual requirements, or perhaps the Lead Engineer has
stipulated certain requirements to be met. Perhaps the Designer was
responsible for the design of the board and not the documentation.
As a designer that has worked with both fabrication and assembly shops to
meet their needs, I take offense to your "Lazy Designer" stigma.
Perhaps when I call two assembly houses that have two sets of requirements,
and each is unwilling to change, I should call you "Lazy Assembly Houses".
Perhaps to those board shops that have modified my supplied artwork without
notification or approval, I should call you "Lazy Board Shops".
Perhaps you should ask the Designer (and not a Purchasing rep) why he made
such choices, and listen to the answer.
Perhaps you are too lazy to call!!!

Is that the type of response you expected Hans?
        ----------
        From:  Hinners Hans Civ WRALC/LYPME
[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
        Sent:  Wednesday, June 28, 2000 2:40 PM
        To:  [log in to unmask]
        Subject:  Re: [TN] DOD Designs...

        Hey Steve,

        Amen to everything already said.

        I'm gonna rant...

        Okay . . .

        I know the documentation paper trail can be daunting with DOD
assemblies,
        but is correcting the design to specify current assembly standards
too much
        to ask? It can only enhance the assembly reliability...

        Daunting is right.  I kill toner cartridges when I print hardcopies
of the
        documentation we need.   In addition to the people with engineering
        responsibility over those parts, there are alot of non-technical
people
        involved in supplying DOD with parts.  Your initial customer is
probably a
        nontechie.  And as everybody knows, you can't make changes without
customer
        approval.  So the customer (or rather their engineering support)
need
        testing done to demonstrate that it meets or exceeds the design's
intended
        use and will survive in the "wild".  If you ordered something out of
a
        catalog you wouldn't want them to make a substitution without
asking?

        We make suggestions to improve manufacturability and/or reliability
during
        the bidding process.  Sometimes they are accepted other times not.
If there
        isn't money for design modification the customer might not be able
to make
        the changes no matter what.  You could write up a "Best Practices
for PCB
        Assembly" (the hints of what makes your life easier) and provide
that to
        customers.

        The wall I hit is obsolescence.  The design drawings and BOM may
look
        complete until you actually try to build the little darlings.

        Here's one I could use some help on.  I'm looking for a connector
pin
        (solder plated with a copper base) that looks like a thumb
tack/nail.  It
        was originally used/made by Applied Technology (A Division of Itek
        Corporation).  I checked with Amp and they don't make one like it.
Anybody
        know of a custom connector manufacturer who does small batches  -
750?

        I am expecting replies from lazy designers that don't want to "buck
the
        system"... I'm saying that to get some people to speak-up.....

        Should I point out that lazy designers wouldn't reply or be on the
list?
        This list is not for the lazy.

        Later,

        Hans

        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        Hans M. Hinners
        Materials (Process & Manufacturing) Engineer
        Warner Robins Air Logistics Center
        Avionics Production Division
        Manufacturing Branch
        380 Second Street, Suite 104
        Building: 640, Mail Stop: LYPME
        Robins AFB, GA 31098-1638
        Voice: (912) 926 - 1970 Fax: (912) 926 - 7164
        mailto:[log in to unmask]
        http://www.robins.af.mil

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