The ODB++ Solutions Alliance is comprised of both users and solutions-development partners to facilitate the successful implementation of the ODB++ format, offering access to free software tools, specifications, documentation and continuous improvement to the format and implementation methodologies. The launch partners include companies involved in the design-through-manufacturing ecosystem: Assembléon, Cadence, Downstream, Easylogix, Frontline, Mentor Graphics, Nagoya Electric Works, Optimum Design, Orbotech, Streamline Circuits, Viasystems Group, Wise Software and Zuken. With this open, vendor-neutral alliance, the ODB++ format will continue to be driven, as before, by the thousands of its users worldwide. Thus, Alliance members will provide a focal point for further technological development and adoption of the data format. Membership and access to the Alliance resources are free.
“With full utilization of intelligent ODB++ files, we can greatly reduce the amount of manual time-consuming human interaction and the opportunity for quality errors,” stated Kent Balius, vice president of global front-end engineering, Viasystems Group, Inc., a leading worldwide provider of complex multi-layer printed circuit boards and a partner of the ODB++ Solutions Alliance. “This saves Viasystems time, money and enables faster response to the customer, helping to ensure on-time delivery of a high-quality end product.”
ODB++ intelligent data delivers a manufacturable design requiring minimal preparation effort at the fabricator or assembly house, thus reducing cycle time and significantly improving new product introduction (NPI) quality. Using the integrated ODB++ format, manufacturers will have a complete set of data defining the PCB product model for manufacturing: drill, inner-, outer- and component-layers, net data, and bill-of-materials. The ODB++ format also provides a wide range of capabilities that make separate drawings unnecessary since the format is a single self-contained structure. Conversely, Gerber data requires manual inspection of data followed by “reverse-engineering” to the manufacturing-oriented model of the product to be fabricated and assembled. The Gerber approach is cumbersome, requiring time to manually import, analyze, prepare and cross-check data for accuracy, with an average of 25% of data packages getting held up due to data anomalies.
“The self-contained single file structure of the ODB++ format delivers a low-risk, high-quality data set that makes the PCB fabrication and assembly NPI processes virtually error-free, while at the same time saving valuable time and cost,” stated Julian Coates, director of business development for the Valor® division of Mentor Graphics. “Members of the Alliance realize the importance of ODB++ as an established open format used globally. We intend to broaden its adoption by sharing best practices via the Alliance and online technical resources made freely available to members. All stakeholders in the PCB design-through-manufacturing world are welcome to join.”
