EDACafe Industry Predictions for 2023 – Zuken

By Bob Potock, VP Marketing, Zuken USA

Bob Potock

Do you find it hard to keep up with all the activity around product development? Technology related to AI, cloud storage, cloud computing, digital engineering, smart manufacturing, and model-based design is moving fast. It feels as if the product development process is evolving more quickly than ever, and 2023 will be exciting. When looking ahead to expectations for 2023, let’s take a deeper look at digital engineering, cloud applications, and manufacturing.

Digital Engineering Adoption is Slow

The digital transformation, and more specifically, digital engineering, introduces a shift in methodology from a document-based design process to a model-based design process. A process that can help engineers avoid the pitfalls and consequences of poor design. A model-based design process shifts the critical steps from design, build, and test, to design, analyze, and build with verification all along the way. The model versus document approach provides a much more rigorous product description that includes safety protocols and environmental requirements.

As exciting as this all sounds, the reality is that most companies are still in the research phase. Keeping the model relevant throughout the design and manufacturing process is complicated. The traditional design toolchain struggles to evolve into the design tool thread. For example, companies that have adopted a model-based approach for product development using one of the available modeling tools commonly convert the model to documents for detailed design. A design thread would preserve model fidelity while transitioning to detailed design. Zuken is developing a second-generation design thread that maintains model relevance throughout the design process. The model is segmented into detailed design tasks and shared with each assigned design team. This approach offers several benefits including traceability, the ability to version the design task against a version of the model. We’re definitely the company to watch if you want to adopt a digital engineering process in 2023.

Cloud-Based Storage Versus Cloud-Native Applications

Cloud is a popular term these days. The term can be confusing when considering how it relates to the user experience. To simplify, you can think of it as three aspects; cloud storage, cloud-native applications, and cloud computing. Years ago, companies were reluctant to move their design data to the cloud (i.e., cloud storage). Security and privacy concerns have since been addressed, and cloud storage is now widely adopted for commercial and military applications. The reason is simple; cloud storage offers significant benefits over traditional on-premise server or desktop storage. Zuken takes cloud storage to a new level. Our best-in-class E3.series product suite for wire harness and panel design by adding project management to a cloud storage solution.

The next aspect of cloud deployment to look for in 2023 is the cloud-native application, or Software as a Service (SaaS), for product development. Cloud-native suggests a browser-based application for mechanical, electrical, and electronic design. The browser-based piece is essential. By utilizing the browser, there is no software installation, licenses, maintenance, or hardware requirements. One of the earliest cloud-native applications is Onshape from PTC for mechanical design. Browser-based, this mechanical design tool brings all the benefits of cloud storage and SaaS to the user experience. Look for more cloud-native design solutions in 2023.

Connecting Engineering to Manufacturing Automation

The manufacturing floor provides an ideal setting to boost productivity in 2023, one that directly impacts a company’s bottom line. For decades, the design process was the star of the show. Now it’s time for design to share that stage with manufacturing. Manufacturing floor automation has become very sophisticated, given the complexity of today’s products. Additionally, given the current labor shortage, companies are looking for ways to streamline manufacturing. A significant opportunity for improvement is connecting engineering to the manufacturing floor. The manufacturing floor connection requires the design tools to generate manufacturing machine control files and work instructions as part of the design process. This capability fits nicely into the digital engineering paradigm and the digital thread.

One example is IPC’s Digital Product Model Exchange (IPC-2581), a PCB manufacturing and assembly description. IPC-2581 has been around for many years and is now the preferred format for PCB manufacturing worldwide. If your design tool doesn’t produce an IPC-2581 file, it should.

More relevant to 2023 is the design and manufacturing of wire harnesses and control panels. The manufacturing of wire harnesses and control panels tends to be a manual process. Manufacturing automation is arriving on the shop floor in the form of wire processing and test machines. But the control file input is still largely manual. Zuken has made significant investments in buildling the connection between the E3.series design tool suite and the manufacturing floor. Driving the wire processing machines and test machines directly from the design tools lowers labor costs and reduces waste in a significant way. E3.series offers also offers a direct connection to work instructions. Work instructions can help mitigate the need for highly skilled workers and reduce assembly costs, two critical considerations given the recent labor shortages, Also, look for more augmented reality on the manufacturing floor driven by the design tools. EDA is going to be much more manufacturing aware in 2023.

About Author:

Bob Potock is Vice President of Marketing for Zuken USA and has been involved in hardware and embedded software development throughout most of his career. While in the Electronic Design Automation industry, he has held senior product management positions in design data management and system-level design. He has held positions at AT&T Bell Labs, Mentor Graphics, and Intel. Bob holds a BSEE degree from Case Western Reserve University and an MBA from Regis University.

Category: EDA Predictions

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 21st, 2023 at 3:00 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.