EMA Design Automation® today announced the addition of SiliconExpert to its PCB design portfolio. This provides three new capabilities to the EMA customer base: Part Search for electronic component data and business intelligence for millions of components, BOM Manager to proactively monitor the supply chain risk factors that affect a business, and the CIP Compliance Module for OrCAD which integrates part search and analysis capabilities directly inside OrCAD.
“Our customers can now select parts based on component lifecycle status, environmental compliance, inventory and more all without leaving the OrCAD design environment,” said Manny Marcano, president and CEO of EMA. “This capability alone has the potential to save weeks of manual part research, while ensuring that parts with the required specifications are used in the designs. This translates to a significant time savings, while managing risk, avoiding redesigns, and mitigating obsolescence.”
The SiliconExpert component database is continuously updated with the latest data on millions of integrated circuits, passives, and electromechanical parts from thousands of leading component manufacturers. Along with BOM management, these tools empower engineers, supply chain and procurement professionals to make the right decisions at the right time. By using partial part numbers or description searches, design teams have access to millions of up-to-date electronic parts and can quickly and easily determine if parts will meet environmental and regulatory compliance requirements.
They will also learn upfront if new components are aligned with product lifecycle and manufacturing yield objectives, as well as enabling them to gain insight into obsolescence and counterfeit risk using advanced lifecycle algorithms. Form-fit-function replacements are easily identified in order to eliminate costly redesigns and to ensure product delivery schedules are met. When the design is complete, BOM scrubbing and management tools ensure there are no surprises when moving to production.
A significant portion of the cost of a company’s end product is determined by components chosen by engineers during the design phase. The CIP Compliance Module is built into OrCAD to put crucial component selection criteria onto the designer’s desktop, driving several downstream supply chain efficiencies for easier procurement, higher quality products, and streamlined manufacturing functions.
These new offerings come on the heels of EMA’s recent announcement regarding the EMA Enterprise Connect family of products which establish linkages to an OrCAD customer’s internal supply chain through bi-directional PLM, ERP, and MRP integration. Adding SiliconExpert intelligence addresses OrCAD customers’ needs for visibility into their external supply chain as well.
“Enabling intelligent component selection early in the design phase greatly reduces the likelihood of unexpected component changes late in the process, or even after design completion,” added Marcano. “Streamlining the development process with these types of integrated capabilities allows companies to get to market faster with less risk.”
