Cadence Design Systems Case Studies Pegatron Boosts Productivity with Cadence's Allegro PCB Designer

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	Pegatron Boosts Productivity with Cadence's Allegro PCB Designer Cadence Design Systems

Pegatron Boosts Productivity with Cadence's Allegro PCB Designer

Cadence Design Systems

Technology Category	Networks & Connectivity - Gateways Processors & Edge Intelligence - Microcontrollers & Printed Circuit Boards
Applicable Industries	Electronics Utilities
Applicable Functions	Maintenance Product Research & Development
Use Cases	Time Sensitive Networking Vehicle Telematics
Services	Hardware Design & Engineering Services
Challenge	Pegatron Corporation, a leading electronics manufacturing company, was facing a significant challenge in its product development process. The company's layout team was spending an excessive amount of time manually routing and tuning the traces on PCBs developed for notebook, tablet, and server products. The process was slow and labor-intensive, particularly when dealing with complex ball-grid array (BGA) packages that could have up to 1,000 pins. The company's customers were also demanding more detailed evaluations, requesting 100 percent routing, including tuning. This situation was limiting the number of projects the team could handle and was causing frustration among the team members. To increase their productivity and meet customer demands, the team needed a way to automate the routing process. Read More
About Customer	Pegatron Corporation is an electronics manufacturing company based in Taipei, Taiwan. The company develops a wide range of computing, communications, and consumer electronics products for branded vendors. Its product line includes motherboards, desktop PCs, notebooks, wireless systems, game consoles, networking equipment, and set-top boxes. Pegatron is a spin-off of ASUSTeK Computer Inc., also known as ASUS, a multinational computer hardware and electronics company. At Pegatron, the deputy director of computer-aided engineering (CAE), Sky Huang, leads a team that develops PCBs and design tools that support the company’s R&D units for tablets, notebooks, and servers. Read More
Solution	Pegatron turned to Cadence, a company they had a close relationship with and whose tools they were already using. Cadence suggested the use of a unique feature in their Allegro PCB Designer tool - the High-Speed Option (Auto Interactive Delay Tuning, or AiDT). This feature automates the tuning process based on electrical and physical constraints, adding tuning to selected sets of signals. The Pegatron team also used the Timing Vision feature of Allegro PCB Designer to gain a clearer view of the constraint condition of its design. They initially used the AiDT feature on two designs: a server extend board and a tablet PC board. The AiDT feature allowed the team to automate the routing process, significantly reducing the time spent on this task and freeing up resources to take on more projects. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Networks & Connectivity - Gateways

Processors & Edge Intelligence - Microcontrollers & Printed Circuit Boards

Applicable Industries

Electronics

Utilities

Applicable Functions

Maintenance

Product Research & Development

Use Cases

Time Sensitive Networking

Vehicle Telematics

Services

Hardware Design & Engineering Services

Challenge

Pegatron Corporation, a leading electronics manufacturing company, was facing a significant challenge in its product development process. The company's layout team was spending an excessive amount of time manually routing and tuning the traces on PCBs developed for notebook, tablet, and server products. The process was slow and labor-intensive, particularly when dealing with complex ball-grid array (BGA) packages that could have up to 1,000 pins. The company's customers were also demanding more detailed evaluations, requesting 100 percent routing, including tuning. This situation was limiting the number of projects the team could handle and was causing frustration among the team members. To increase their productivity and meet customer demands, the team needed a way to automate the routing process.

About Customer

Pegatron Corporation is an electronics manufacturing company based in Taipei, Taiwan. The company develops a wide range of computing, communications, and consumer electronics products for branded vendors. Its product line includes motherboards, desktop PCs, notebooks, wireless systems, game consoles, networking equipment, and set-top boxes. Pegatron is a spin-off of ASUSTeK Computer Inc., also known as ASUS, a multinational computer hardware and electronics company. At Pegatron, the deputy director of computer-aided engineering (CAE), Sky Huang, leads a team that develops PCBs and design tools that support the company’s R&D units for tablets, notebooks, and servers.

Solution

Pegatron turned to Cadence, a company they had a close relationship with and whose tools they were already using. Cadence suggested the use of a unique feature in their Allegro PCB Designer tool - the High-Speed Option (Auto Interactive Delay Tuning, or AiDT). This feature automates the tuning process based on electrical and physical constraints, adding tuning to selected sets of signals. The Pegatron team also used the Timing Vision feature of Allegro PCB Designer to gain a clearer view of the constraint condition of its design. They initially used the AiDT feature on two designs: a server extend board and a tablet PC board. The AiDT feature allowed the team to automate the routing process, significantly reducing the time spent on this task and freeing up resources to take on more projects.

Impact #1	The implementation of Cadence's Allegro PCB Designer with the High-Speed Option (AiDT) has brought significant operational benefits to Pegatron. The automation of the routing process has not only sped up the process but also freed up engineering resources, allowing the team to take on more projects. The team has also developed over 300 utilities in Allegro PCB Designer for routing, placement, postprocess checks, and other functions, which has helped minimize errors on the RD/layout engineering side. The solution has also increased customer satisfaction and allowed one engineer to handle routing and tuning on a project, where previously it took anywhere from one to four people. The company has also been able to reuse functions such as CPU, DDR, and PCH fan-out when the main chip placement is similar, further enhancing efficiency.

Impact #1

The implementation of Cadence's Allegro PCB Designer with the High-Speed Option (AiDT) has brought significant operational benefits to Pegatron. The automation of the routing process has not only sped up the process but also freed up engineering resources, allowing the team to take on more projects. The team has also developed over 300 utilities in Allegro PCB Designer for routing, placement, postprocess checks, and other functions, which has helped minimize errors on the RD/layout engineering side. The solution has also increased customer satisfaction and allowed one engineer to handle routing and tuning on a project, where previously it took anywhere from one to four people. The company has also been able to reuse functions such as CPU, DDR, and PCH fan-out when the main chip placement is similar, further enhancing efficiency.

Benefit #1	67% faster routing process achieved through automation
Benefit #2	75% reduction in engineering resources required for routing and tuning
Benefit #3	Decrease in errors due to 300 utilities developed in Allegro PCB Designer

Benefit #1

67% faster routing process achieved through automation

Benefit #2

75% reduction in engineering resources required for routing and tuning

Benefit #3

Decrease in errors due to 300 utilities developed in Allegro PCB Designer

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Overview

Pegatron Boosts Productivity with Cadence's Allegro PCB Designer

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit