Simulation-a key to smart design

The electronic design problem has reached new complexities with VLSI with problems of access to test and very high production engineering costs. In this context, lean manufacture is getting the design right so there is no rework and the design is centred on the process norms so that there are no marginal design states to affect reliability. The background to this presentation is the simulation of computer hardware design, one of the smartest design methods within the author´s experience. The problems of simulation are that it is costly, both in time and resource and there is no prescribed “end point”. Lean design is when just enough simulation has been completed to ensure “right first time design” of the VLSI and the printed circuit boards that make up a computer and a design can be confidently committed to manufacture