Electronics product design best practice-an international perspective

In order to understand the functional requirements of next-generation electronics design automation (EDA) tools, the authors collected data on current design practice, design methodologies and EDA tools used by acknowledged electronics sector market leaders in the United States, Japan and Korea. The companies and research organisations visited are described in outline. The authors discuss the research methodology used to carry out the research and present details of a number of the most significant international case study findings, highlighting differences in both the technological and managerial approaches to electronics product design adopted by the companies visited. The paper highlights examples of new knowledge discovered through the research visits and concludes by presenting a number of practical ways in which Western electronics firms, by learning from international `best practice´, can effect major improvements in their design-to-product capabilities