Mentor Graphics announces lean NPI solution

LAS VEGAS, USA: Mentor Graphics Corp. announced its unique new product introduction (NPI) solution that seamlessly links printed circuit board (PCB) design and manufacturing operations to deliver the industry's first integrated, automated flow for the design, fabrication, and assembly of PCBs.

The Mentor Graphics Valor NPI software product helps the design- and product-level NPI engineer prepare and validate product models according to the manufacturer's rule-set in the engineer's native design tool. This ensures a perfect design for production, without requiring specialist manufacturing knowledge or expertise. This then enables the process-level NPI engineer to evaluate and create process toolkits with no manual data entry, so the manufacturer will have a "right-the-first-time" design to eliminate production errors.

As the market share leader in PCB computer-aided manufacturing, Mentor Graphics closes the gap between the designer and manufacturer. Now, the manufacturer can create and adjust the rules to meet manufacturing requirements that the designer can follow for a truly bi-directional, consistent, one-rule flow. Mentor Graphics lean NPI solution benefits NPI product and process engineers by reducing design re-spins, improving overall product quality, and shortening product delivery schedules.

"Sintecs provides a Lean NPI service to our leading electronics-OEM customers comprising full DFM analysis feedback to design, and maximum use of the intelligent ODB++ format as input to manufacturing," stated Maarten Tettero, consulting DFM/DFA engineer, Sintecs. "As a result, the PCBs go through the prototype stage into volume production much faster using Mentor Graphics Valor NPI technology."

"We've experienced tremendous time and cost efficiencies using Mentor's Lean NPI flow because it optimizes our productivity and inter-communications between NPI design and manufacturing process disciplines," stated Nick Barbin, president and CEO, Optimum Design Associates. "Mentor's new lean NPI flow provides a key competitive advantage for us by integrating and automating our design, fabrication, and assembly processes."