VALOR INTRODUCES NEW PRODUCTS AT EPC98

New electrical test package for Genesis users in pre-production engineering
VUV – free graphical viewer available to all in the electronics industry
Enterprise 3000 - manufacturing simulation solution for PCB designers

Belgium – June 1998 – Valor Computerised Systems NV will be showing its latest range of CAD/CAM solutions at the EPC 98 show in Wiesbaden. Valor will be demonstrating a unique and powerful PCB design and manufacturing environment at the show that unifies the PCB design and manufacturing communities: vertical integration between design, fabrication and assembly, based on ODB++ (Valor’s open data exchange format) and web-based communications tools – Cyberlinks (Forms and Flows).

New Electrical Test Product for Next Generation Genesis

A new, rules-based intelligent electrical text (ET) fixture package is being launched at EPC 98 that further enhances Genesis 2000 as a result of Valor’s continuous product development policy and valuable customer feedback. It allows Genesis users to automatically prepare and generate bare board text fixture data and test machine programs. The ET product supports Universal single and double-sided testers; flying probe; split fixture flying probe testing; dedicated fixtures and repair functions. ET is shipping in Q3 1998.

Free Graphical Viewer – VUV

Valor is making its WYSIWYG graphical viewing tool free of charge to everyone in the electronics industry – to PCB OEMs, design contractors, fabricators and assemblers. The VUV (Valor Universal Viewer) is a powerful auto-input, read-only / view-only tool for viewing product designs as they go into manufacture.

‘Valor believes that there is a general need in the PCB CAD/CAM world for a robust viewing tool that shows a product design fully WYSIWYG. Many users are using low-end CAM products solely for the purpose of viewing the product they have designed, or are about to put into manufacture,’ said Valor European managing director Julian Coates. ‘As a leader in the CAM market we are committed to providing more intelligent data for engineering and manufacturing, and have decided to provide this very powerful tool free of charge.’

PCB designers can use it as a viewer. Fabricators can view files before loading them in the CAM system and also let their customers’ use VUV to review jobs and improve inter-company communications. Customers can use VUV to review jobs in the powerful ODB++ format, with all the intelligence intact, after the preproduction process before committing to output.

Powerful DFM solution analyses designs before manufacturing

The new Enterprise 3000 is a DFM software solution for virtual manufacturing simulation, developed for electronic OEMs and board designers. Enterprise 3000 introduces a proven design methodology called manufacturing simulation where designers can reduce the number of iterations by analysing design for manufacturability (DFM) concurrently during the board layout process. DFM simulation can also help reduce hard tooling costs and design-to-product cycle time by improving the reliability and quality of the design data before it goes into manufacturing.

‘In the product development trade-off between functionality and cost, right-first-time design for manufacturability can make a significant difference to the bottom line,’ said European managing director, Julian Coates. ‘By verifying the manufacturability of a design at the earliest stage in the design flow, huge cost- and time- savings can be realised. Changing designs later on in the process is very expensive for the designer and the manufacturer.’

Built upon ODB++, Enterprise 3000 is a fully automated, intuitive system that incorporates over 200 manufacturing (bare board and assembly) audits. By implementing manufacturing simulation concurrently during the design process, PCB layout engineers can design with confidence, utilising the built-in process rules and design constraints to guarantee a completely manufacturable product – whether for prototyping or volume. Enterprise 3000 integrates with all the leading PCB CAD systems (Cadence, EDIF, Mentor, PADS, Zuken-Redac and others).