Important Criteria in Selecting Engineering Work Stations

This paper discusses the changes in perspective brought about by the migration of Design Automation tools from the drafting and layout departments upstream to the electronic design engineer. Criteria are suggested for selecting among this new breed of computer-aided engineering (CAE) workstations. A brief description introduces the driving forces behind the need for increased engineering productivity including: product life cycles vs. product development cycles, number of design engineers vs. industry needs and the push for improved product quality and innovation. In addition, the design engineering task is examined to determine which areas are most likely to benefit from CAE tools. The paper examines four important considerations: functionality, ease of use, price and flexibility. Each of these considerations is defined, including issues that may not be readily appearent. Hidden costs are uncovered, functionality is defined in terms of user requirements rather than specifications, and the elements of ease of use and flexibility are examined and related directly to real design engineering problems.