Our Webinars give powerful insight into Macrofab’s capabilities, solutions and features.
Click on Live or On-Demand Webinars below to get started
Live: Thursday, Jun 23, 2022, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Increasing development speed and cutting your time to market can substantially increase your product’s competitive advantage. Join us as we discuss different ways to facilitate efficient design processes. Discussion topics include:
1. Designing team roles to maintain communication and break down silos
2. Developing good documentation practices and how they impact data integrity
3. Exploring steps you can take to avoid design rework and production delays
Live: Thursday, Jul 14, 2022, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Traditional manufacturing partitions data within independent information silos, impacting order processes and limiting data insights that could drive improvement. But cloud manufacturing provides a data-centric environment that can break down walls between your teams and enhance overall company performance. This webinar will
1. Identify common asset and labor bottlenecks that can impede company productivity
2. Explore strategies to reduce costs, speed up throughput, and make better use of resources
3. Map key performance indicators that can help you build business flexibility and resilience
Live: Thursday, Jul 28, 2022, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
The manufacturing industry continues expanding and exploring new technologies and applications. In this webinar, we explore the materials, applications, and strategies best employed to maintain high performance under harsh conditions. This webinar will
1. Identify the impact of chemicals, dust, and other hazards on PCBAs and how to mitigate them
2. Define proper design requirements for excess vibration, heat, shock, etc
3. Explore how conformal coatings and external enclosures can improve product reliability
Live: Thursday, Aug 11, 2022, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Continued challenges in shipping from Asia has led OEMs to reconsider American-based prototyping. But what should you consider if you’re moving prototyping back to the USA?
This webinar will
1. Identify risks to consider before changing prototyping locations for existing designs and what to consider for NPIs.
2. Compare and contrast advantages of US-based prototyping with traditional Asian sourcing
3. Explore the cost, quality, delivery, and risk benefits associated with American-based prototyping.
Suggested Download
It is important when embarking on any new project to minimize risk. New system development must achieve critical milestones at each stage, from concept through engineering prototype, on to the first build.
Live: Thursday, Aug 25, 2022, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
The last step in the design-prototype-build process is creating a quality final design. But getting to this step takes time and patience. This webinar will cover the most common mistakes in the design and prototyping process that can lead to production issues. This webinar will
1. Define documentation requirements needed for a quality build
2. Explore best design practices and the advantages of alternative BOM planning
3. Examine how cloud manufacturing contributes to fewer design issues and faster production
Live: Thursday, Sep 15, 2022, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
IT/OT convergence is speeding up, with more physical control systems connecting to information technology every day. But risks increase as devices connect to the cloud. Security for these devices must now begin early in the design process. This webinar will
1. Identify the types of systems and devices most vulnerable to cyber-security issues
2. Explore why integrated cyber-security is becoming more important
3. Identify the steps OEM's should begin taking to successfully protect their designs and their customers.
Live: Thursday, Sep 29, 2022, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
As more North American companies look to reshore or nearshore manufacturing from constrained Asian sources, supply chain limitations, a lack of awareness of market specialties, and unfamiliar landscapes can complicate the mission.
Join us to learn more about the process of reshoring production from Asia to North America, how to develop sourcing strategies that can provide the necessary flexibility during the transition, and how to utilize digital platforms to accelerate the process. In this webinar, you will learn:
1. High-level strategies for reshoring production
2. How to transfer existing products from Asia to North America
3. How to start new products in North America
4. Ways to develop an adaptive supply chain: multi-sourcing, design variations, and JIT vs. inventory
5. Why utilizing digital platforms to discover and develop a wider network of manufacturers can make life easier
Presented: Thursday, May 12, 2022
Increasing demand for competitive efficiency has moved today’s inventory control systems beyond simple automated tasks. Join us for our webinar where we will discuss:
1. The impact of recent supply chain issues on inventory management
2. Inventory management system optimization using better datasets
3. How cloud manufacturing data and after-build services can restore inventory balance
Presented: Thursday, Apr 14, 2022
Not all supply chain problems can be attributed to COVID-19. Your customer experience relies heavily on accurately predicting risk and making decisions to avoid it. This webinar will discuss:
1. Regular issues causing supply chain disruptions (weather, geopolitical, changes in demand)
2. Risks associated with supply chain disruptions (poor customer experience, missing deadlines, operational disruptions, insufficient forecasting, counterfeit parts)
3. Tools and strategies to predict risk and improve decisions
Presented: Thursday, Mar 3, 2022
Nearly every Bill of Materials has one or more line items that are single-sourced: only one component from one manufacturer is allowed. Single-sourcing materials is the most common cause of unavailability, and therefore, delayed or halted production.
Join us as we discuss the importance of Designing for Availability: rules and strategies for design engineers to support continued manufacturing in times of ever-increasing supply chain delays.
You will learn:
Presented: Thursday, Feb 17, 2022
When your product is held up waiting on a single component, it's common to go to brokers and other secondary sources to find enough materials to unblock your product. For some manufacturers, this is something to be avoided at all costs, and for others , it's an every-day activity. How do you determine if you should include independent suppliers in your sourcing strategy?
Join us as we discuss the differences in Independent Distributors, Brokers, and Secondary Source markets. We'll cover how each operates, where they source their materials, the impact it can have on your sourcing strategy, and how risks are mitigated in non-authorized component markets.
What you will learn:
1. Who independent distributors are, and their role in the components marketplace
2. The risks associated with materials acquired through independent channels
3. Common tools and strategies to minimize risk when buying materials from independent sources.
Presented: Thursday, Feb 3, 2022
Every day, we hear bad news about the supply chain for electronics materials and components. The supply chain is not a static system however, and while some new issues may appear, others can improve.
Join us to receive an up-to-date view on the overall electronics component and materials supply chain, which vendors are improving their outcomes, which ones are having greater market pressures, and an up-to-date view of the next six months.
What you will learn:
1. Current status of the electronics supply chain: which materials are facing new supply pressures, which are improving, and which remain challenges
2. How manufacturers and vendors are reacting to the supply chain challenges and what can we expect to see coming in the next few months
3. Projections for material availability and pricing for the near-term
Suggested Download
In normal times, supply chain risk management is not a design-stage concern. But in the post-Covid supply chain, engineers must consider form, fit, and function and also whether there will be components available to build their product.
Presented: Thursday, Nov 18, 2021
Designing and validating a new product prototype is just the beginning of every journey. Effectively managing the transition from prototype to production for printed circuit board assemblies can stress even the most mature processes.
Join MacroFab for a product demonstration on how to effectively manage prototype production, version and track changes, transition designs from engineering to purchasing teams, and manage purchasing through the MacroFab platform.
What you will learn:
1. How to use the MacroFab platform to price and order prototype designs
2. Versioning, change tracking, and locking down production designs
3. Managing the purchasing workflow between engineering and manufacturing teams in the MacroFab platform
Presented: Thursday, Nov 4, 2021
Every product starts at prototyping, but not every product makes it past that that stage. Getting your new design to production as quickly as possible reduces risk and accelerates revenue. Digital manufacturing tools and platforms enable product teams to design, test, iterate, and solve production challenges faster than ever before.
Join design and manufacturing experts from Altium, MacroFab, and Xometry to learn how to accelerate your new products from idea to customer and capture market value away from companies using traditional tools and methodologies.
What you will learn:
1. The current state of digital manufacturing, platforms, tools, and capabilities
2. Leveraging digital manufacturing and design tools to accelerate prototyping
3. Utilizing digital manufacturing platforms to solve prototype to production transition challenges
Presented: Thursday, Oct 21, 2021
Digital manufacturing platforms today have a wide range of capabilities at every stage of production. Bringing a product to market used to be a slow, manual process. But in the last five years, businesses have been able to accelerate product design, prototype development, NPI process, and high-volume production using digital manufacturing platforms to gain access to thousands of electronics assembly factories, machine shops, and plastics fabrication facilities.
Join design and manufacturing experts from Altium, MacroFab, and Xometry to learn how building a digital thread from design stages to production at scale allows you to eliminate delays caused by the supply chain crisis and build products faster using cloud technologies.
What will you learn:
1. What is the current state of digital manufacturing? What kind of products can be built using these platforms, and what production scale can you reach?
2. What range of processes do these platforms enable? Can you really build fully assembled products, tested and packaged products using digital manufacturing platforms?
3. Why integration between design tools and digital manufacturing platforms enables faster product development, with significantly reduced errors and better visibility.
4. What will digital manufacturing platforms enable me to do in the future? What exactly is Industry 4.0, and does it matter?
Presented: Thursday, Oct 7, 2021
What will you learn:
1. What is the current state of digital manufacturing? What kind of products can be built using these platforms, and what production scale can you reach?
2. What range of processes do these platforms enable? Can you really build fully assembled products, tested and packaged products using digital manufacturing platforms?
3. Why integration between design tools and digital manufacturing platforms enables faster product development, with significantly reduced errors and better visibility.
4. What will digital manufacturing platforms enable me to do in the future? What exactly is Industry 4.0, and does it matter?
Presented: Wednesday, Sep 29, 2021
A successful PCB project isn’t just about creating a schematic and turning it into a great looking layout. Your PCB design project doesn’t end until you receive your board back in its physical form and ensure it has high yield, falls within budget, fits within its enclosure properly and it performs as intended.
That is a lot to get right! The good news?
There are steps you can take to ensure that your PCB will translate seamlessly from a digital design to the physical world of manufacturing. This webinar, hosted in partnership with MacroFab, will focus on best practices and CAD features that can help you design and produce manufacturable boards, eliminate the need for multiple board re-spins and reduce time spent on unnecessary design iterations.
We’ll cover:
1. Tips and tricks for designing and producing manufacturable boards
2. How to virtually test how your PCB design will assemble into its enclosure
3. How to snap component positions to match existing geometry in your enclosure
4. How to quickly and easily create accurate 3D models and footprints for your electronics components using Fusion 360’s built-in 3D Package Generator
5. How you can leverage MacroFab to manufacture your PCB designs directly from your final Fusion 360 board layout