×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

PCB Design Configuration Control

PCB Design Configuration Control

PCB Design Configuration Control

(OP)
Can anybody give advice on how configuration control can be exercised for PCB designs.  We are working with an organisation who have developed a potential piece of avionics hardware, which has many PCB's.

Our concern is how to define the configuration of a PCB i.e. by P No and dash No or by software version control or what?

Graham Murphy

RE: PCB Design Configuration Control

PCB docs are not treated any different than any other docs for config control. You need a system in place that tracks all docs by rev (not version) and s/n and is traceable throughout the company, and are consistent. All history has to be accessible.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 05
AutoCAD 05
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

RE: PCB Design Configuration Control

Wairau,

You might want to look at the book "Engineering Documentation Control Handbook, Configuration Management in Industry" by Frank B. Watts.

This book is more on the practical side than most others and has an extensive discussion on interchangability of parts which controls when a part gets a new number or is just a rev.

In your case the PCB would get a part number and probably would have a bill of materials associated with it.  If the PCB is changed and is still interchangable it will keep its current number but with the next rev number.  Part numbers should not contain the rev because the part should be interchangable.  Dash numbers are sometimes used for various reasons but should not be a way of controlling revs.  Generally what I've seen is that dash numbers are used to group together some parts that are very similar.

There have been several discussions in this forum similar to your question so it might be informative to do a few searches to see what you can find.

-Mike

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources