Macaos Enterprise for Engineers is a powerful system for working with printed circuit boards in real world applications and simplifying your PCB acquisition process. Whether you are part of a large organization or just a service provider in the supply chain, Macaos Enterprise for Engineers will help you get the job done.
Macaos Enterprise is not a design tool for PCBs. There are many good tools available for designing a single PCB. However, most such tools stop there. You get an excellent PCB design converted to an output format (such as Gerber and drill files) which may then be sent to a fabricator.
A single bare printed circuit board is not a finished product. Modern electronics manufacturing makes use of automated assembly lines for component placement, soldering, depanelization, test and more. The various modules in Macaos Enterprise for Engineers allow you to rapidly generate the data and tooling necessary for these assembly steps. Macaos Enterprise also eases the process of purchasing PCBs.
A complete data set streamlines production
Gerber and Drill files: At the minimum, you need a Gerber file for each layer of the PCB. In addition, you should have a Gerber file containing the board outline (as well as the outlines of cutouts and centerlines of slots, if any). If the board has drilled holes, then there must be one or more drill files (in either NC Drill or Gerber format).
Gerber Job file: A Gerber Job file will speed the import of your data. The Gerber Job file specifies which layer each of the Gerber/Drill files represents. It may also include additional board specifications, such as stackup and mask colors.
ODB++ data: Alternatively, ODB++ data may be imported. This would replace the Gerber, Drill and Gerber Job files.
Pick and place data: PnP data includes the designator, location and rotation of each component on the PCBA. It is helpful if the PnP data also includes fiducial marks and test points (for in-circuit testing). Macaos Enterprise for Engineers stores this information on the Component Top and Component Bottom layers of the PCB.
Bill of materials data: BOM data includes the designator, manufacturer part number, manufacturer and other properties of each component on the PCBA. Macaos Enterprise for Engineers stores this information on the Component Top and Component Bottom layers of the PCB, using the designator to link components from the BOM data to components from the PnP data.
IPC-D-356 data: An IPC-D-356 file contains data used for bare-board testing. This file is very useful for the PCB manufacturer. In addition, Macaos Enterprise for Engineers uses this data to determine key pins and component outlines (in the Assembly Data Manager), to link stencil openings to components (when designing a solder paste stencil), and to annotate test pins (when designing test fixtures).
When all of this data is present, the various modules in Macaos Enterprise for Engineers will do most of the work for you.
