SAN JOSE, CA–(Marketwire – September 27, 2011) – The IPC-2581 Consortium today announced the addition of several new members to its growing list of electronics industry companies. The new members are ScanCAD International, Ucamco (formerly Barco ETS) and Aegis Software.
The consortium, led by Cadence Design Systems and founded in August 2011 by several PCB design and supply chain companies, is dedicated to driving faster adoption of the industry-neutral design data transfer language created by IPC and known as IPC-2581.
“The addition of these new members to the Consortium clearly demonstrates that the desire for a new open, universal data transfer mechanism is not exclusive to one or two EDA companies,” said Hemant Shah, product marketing director at Cadence Design Systems, Inc. “These companies represent products and services that will extend IPC-2581 deployment deep into PCB fabrication, assembly and test, allowing end users to generate a single IPC-2581 output file once then leverage it many times without the need for follow-on conversions.”
ScanCAD is a global provider of optical inspection, legacy re-engineering and process control tools for the PCB design, fabrication, assembly and semiconductor industries. Ucamco is a market leader in PCB software (CAM and automated data analysis) and laser photoplotting systems with a global network of sales and support centers. Aegis Manufacturing Operations Software provides high-tech manufacturers improved speed, control, and visibility to all aspects of factory processes.
The new members issued the following statements of support for IPC-2581:
“ScanCAD supports the development of an intelligent, open, neutrally maintained standard to support all facets of the PCB design, fabrication, assembly, and test processes. This standard is consistent with the corporate vision of ‘simplifying complex technology.’ ScanCAD incorporates the IPC-2581 standard into its family of automatic optical inspection, measurement, legacy re-engineering and process control products in order to permit the accurate and efficient dissemination of manufacturing information.”
“Ucamco supports the IPC-2581 initiative as it will help its customers improve their productivity and quality. Ucamco is an early adopter. Since 2006 the output of Integr8tor Data Analysis software has used IPC-2581 to describe the stackup of jobs; this data is input by several engineering and quotation systems and is in daily use. Ucamco has generated IPC-2581 files since 2005.”
“Aegis Software relies upon efficient design data transfer as both the starting point and data model foundation of its manufacturing operations software. As such, Aegis is enthusiastically committed to the IPC-2581 format. The company believes the electronics manufacturing industry truly needs a vendor-agnostic format capable of carrying as much information as required to design, launch, and execute a manufacturing process. Aegis will be incorporating the IPC-2581 importer into its system and making it available for free to all current and future users of its CAD import subscriptions.”
Consortium members will demonstrate design data transfer between PCB EDA tool vendors and DFM/CAM vendors using IPC-2581 at PCB West on Sept. 28 at the Santa Clara convention center.
About the IPC-2581 Consortium
IPC-2581 Consortium is a group of PCB design and supply chain companies whose collective goal is to enable, facilitate and drive the use of IPC-2581 in the industry. It is devoted to accelerating the adoption of IPC-2581 as an open, neutrally maintained global standard to encourage innovation, improve efficiency and reduce costs.
Members of the IPC-2581 Consortium include OEMs, EDA/DFM/CAM software companies, PCB fabricators, electronics assemblers and test companies. The Consortium is open to any PCB design and supply chain company that is prepared to support or is committed to a roadmap for IPC-2581 adoption.
More information can be found at www.ipc2581.com
For a history of data transfer formats, their origins and current status see A Short History of Electronic Data Formats.
Links to other articles:
Equipping the PCB Design and Supply Chain with 21st Century Data, by Keith Felton and Hemant Shah, Printed Circuit Design and Fabrication, 28 July 2011
Users Updating, Adopting IPC Data Transfer Spec by Mike Buetow, Printed Circuit Design and Fabrication, 24 June 2011
Intelligent Design, by Mike Buetow, http://www.pcdandf.blogspot.com, 2 August 2011
About IPC-2581
IPC-2581 is a generic standard for printed circuit board assembly products’ manufacturing description data and transfer methodology. Developed in 2004 by IPC — Association Connecting Electronics Industry, IPC-2581 is used for transmitting information between a printed circuit board designer and a manufacturing or assembly facility. For nearly every step in the industrial process flow, IPC-2581 offers a standard to help companies ensure superior manufacturability, quality, reliability and consistency in electronics assemblies built for their products. To learn more about IPC-2581, please visit http://webstds.ipc.org/2581/2581intro.htm
