Altium Concord Pro

PCB library creation and organisation.

PCB Component libraries are the backbone of any PCB design process providing the association from the schematic to PCB layout but it does not stop there. Through the generated BOM (Bill Of Materials) the CAD data has to link into the procurement systems.

Stop looking for free pcb libraries downloads, invest properly into long term gains and rid yourself of error messages like “pcb libraries server not found”

Altium Designer provides a scalable solution for their PCB design libraries; whether you create a series of individual schematic symbols and footprint libraries, integrated libraries, excel/access database libraries with or without SVN control or take advantage of the Concord Pro – an efficient PCB library process is required.

PCB design Libraries are never static, there are always new components to build, obsolescence to manage or even pruning existing PCB components to reduce the diverse number of devices as part of a library rationalisation. As the design library naturally grows, together with the number of PCB designs within a company, the cost of ownership increases. At this time many companies re-evaluate their design library process with an eye to moving from one solution, say from an integrated library, to another such as an excel/access database based one or using server based solutions such as Concord Pro.

The transition from one form of library to another can give the company an opportunity to re-organise the data and take advantage of PCB design library lessons learned. When moving from one form of library to another the cataloguing of the data can be revised; if moving to the Concord Pro solution templates can be built to aid with the consistent generation of new data, streamlining the process reducing the PCB component generation time and reducing the chance of errors. The addition of life cycles to the component generation process enables the checking of the library data at PCB release time. These are just a few of the areas that can be considered as well as the task of moving the data that may be in a single library into new PCB component categories.

Adopting an efficient library process will ultimately reduce the cost of ownership. The benefits include traceability of construction, consistent approach to library construction that supports your PCB design process, tracking the library component status through life cycle management, where used helping determining impact of library changes due to obsolescence etc.

Total Board Solutions are PCB design management experts and have a proven track record working with PCB libraries, not just creating content but also helping design teams define and maintain the PCB library structure itself. We are always happy to discuss your requirements and help advise you regarding the definition, content and process on all things related to your PCB library management .