Industry Partnership Provides 25,000 Models for Download

TE Connectivity (TE) and SnapEDA have partnered to make over 25,000 digital models available to electronics designers and engineers. The companies hope to reduce product iteration cycles and other engineering hurdles in order to help speed up the entire electronics design process.

Designers typically spend a significant amount of time generating models for each of their standard components, an endeavour that can become even more tedious and time-consuming for certain components. Connectors, for instance, are almost always more difficult to design because of their nonstandard shapes, pitches, pads and cut-outs.

Thanks to TE and SnapEDA’s joint venture, designers can now download free printed circuit board (PCB) footprints and symbols for TE components through SnapEDA’s website. The models are compatible with Altium, OrCAD, Allegro, Eagle, PADS, DXDesigner and KiCad.

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The Importance of Culture and Cohesion in the Work-Life Ratio

How can you find and maintain a successful balance between the work and life of your staff? How can you match efficient business operations with the often chaotic nature of our personal lives? These questions have nagged management teams for decades, and while there isn’t a perfect “one size fits all” solution, there are several goals a business can strive to achieve in order to create a healthy and productive balance between labour and leisure.

Ultimately, the crucial delineation is between perks and values. Pool tables are fun, but values like providing extended parental leave, opening avenues for communication and support, or a commitment to transparency are but a few examples of cultural beacons that serve to illuminate the path to a more rewarding work environment.

Though the pace of our world is constantly quickening and the expectations placed upon businesses are rapidly increasing, companies must remain grounded, invested in the pursuit of success, and continually striving to improve the precarious balance between work and life. Envisioning a unique workplace culture and striving to provide flexibility to employees are two important pillars in the pantheon of progress.

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Industry Partnership Aims to Streamline PCB Design

SnapEDA and Mentor Graphics have joined forces in order to make SnapEDA’s component library accessible to users of Mentor’s printed circuit board (PCB) design tools, including PADS, DX Designer, and the PADS Maker Edition.

In the not-so-distant past, electrical engineers were forced to spend time and energy on the development of blueprints for each of their individual components. As a result, smaller design firms often faced significant barriers when entering into the industry, lacking the in-house part libraries their larger competitors could afford.

SnapEDA aims to overcome this paradigm by providing a comprehensive online repository of blueprints for circuit board design. Its database consists of millions of symbols, footprints and 3D models that can be used for PCB development. In addition, all of the parts contained within the company’s library are auto-verified and follow ANSI and IPC standards, reducing the risk of faulty components and unnecessary prototype iterations.