PWBMA: An Object-Oriented Knowledge-Based System for Manufacturability of Printed Circuit Boards

Abstract Cooperative or concurrent product development is gaining popularity and will become norms of the Industry of the Future. To avoid problem created by designs not amenable to manufacturing, the designer should be aware of manufacturing constraints. Electronics manufacturing is one of the fastest growing segment of manufacturing domain today. The rapid change in the manufacturing of printed wiring boards with the induction of surface mounted components makes the system design more complex. To capture the manufacturability constraints of the manufacturing of printed wiring boards (printed wiring board is another name of printed circuit boards), a knowledge-base is developed to assist the designer. Rules and guidelines pertaining to manufacturability are formulated and incorporated into the knowledge-base. The implementation of the meta-level knowledge to increase the efficiency of the system is also presented. The system is developed using an object-oriented paradigm and capable of suggesting design modification to the designer at the early stage of design to eliminate the manufacturing problems in the later phase of board production. The broad user interface makes the system very user friendly.