Design for Manufacturability
BriarTek’s prototyping capabilities allow us to move from art to part in a matter of hours. Our electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, industrial designers and technicians work hand in hand throughout the product development process. This high level of collaboration provides us the unique ability to advance all aspects of the design process in parallel. A cornerstone of our rapid development process is our ability to prototype all electronics, enclosures, metal and sheet metal in-house. Functional models that integrate all parts of a new design allow our design team to discuss, touch and use future products to help identify and eliminate problems before production begins.
The Virtual PCB
Our electrical engineers use Altium Designer 6. This program provides them a fully-integrated platform to merge all aspects of the electrical design process including schematic capture, PCB layout, design simulation, firmware development and hardware validation into a unified environment. Additionally, it provides tools which allows our mechanical engineers to import populated PCBs into our mechanical design software to ensure clearances and keep outs meet design specifications. This virtual prototyping helps to ensure physical prototypes become functional designs that can be tested and used, and not just paperweights, check this link for best garage door installation.
The Physical PCB
BriarTek maintains a high speed circuit board plotter which allows our engineers the ability to test concept circuits before they are integrated into a design or to manufacture fully functional prototype circuits that may be installed into a custom enclosure. When we require a larger number of prototype or production level PCBs, BriarTek relies on several proven PCB manufacturers located stateside and overseas.
Functional Prototypes
BriarTek maintains several technicians on staff who work with our electrical engineers by building, testing and documenting our prototype PCBs. Small volume prototypes are typically assembled by hand while larger prototype and manufacturing validation runs may be built on our turnkey SMT assembly line. BriarTek also maintains an extensive array of diagnostic and test equipment used to validate prototype designs.
Software & Equipment List:
- Altium Designer 6
- Multiple firmware development tools
- LPKF Protomat S60
- Turnkey SMT assembly line capable of 5000 cph (chips per hour)
- Multiple solder and rework stations
