Revision Control of PCBs (Printed Circuit Board) and Printed Circuit Board Assemblies

We are trying to strenghten our revision control of PCB. We are considering placing 2 rev levels on each board, one for the board and one for the assembly. The board level will most likely be numbers like 1.9, 2.1, etc. The assembly level will most likely be letters. What do other companies do and what pitfalls should we be aware of?

Re: Revision Control of PCBs (Printed Circuit Board) and Printed Circuit Board Assemb

Bunny said:

We are trying to strenghten our revision control of PCB. We are considering placing 2 rev levels on each board, one for the board and one for the assembly. The board level will most likely be numbers like 1.9, 2.1, etc. The assembly level will most likely be letters. What do other companies do and what pitfalls should we be aware of?

Click to expand...

While the PCB level revision control can come from the legend screen or the copper etch itself, the PCA level control can be either marked or barcoded after assembly, and a defined area can be earmarked in the legend screen by a rectangle. With PCB sizes shrinking day by day, sometimes the PCB revision would even be hidden under a component after assembly. If this is planned well during the PCB design stage, it can be nicely achieved.
Please note that with one PCB, several models or varients of a product can be assembled depending upon the Bill of materials. So make sure your PCA number and revision has got proper and sufficient place kept for marking them.

Re: Revision Control of PCBs (Printed Circuit Board) and Printed Circuit Board Assemb

Are there any industry stanards we can refer to?

Re: Revision Control of PCBs (Printed Circuit Board) and Printed Circuit Board Assemb

Bunny said:

Are there any industry standards we can refer to?

Click to expand...

I have not seen an industry standard for naming or numbering conventions of PCBs.

I have worked in contract manufacturing for a long time and has been exposed to all kinds of numbering system. Every customer had their preference. We had to convert them to our system to reduce confusion. Rev up does not necessarily mean obsolescence of the older one. The revs have to match the PD.

The numbering system should suit your organization. For example, if you have too many Gerber file changes, you might select one way and if yo have lead time issues and have to buy cross, you might select another way.

The easiest one I dealt with was "x.a" format, where x= the rev level of Gerber and a=the rev level of BOM/schematic. If the customer dictates the process, you might want to make it "x.a.b", where b corresponds to the qualified process. We would ask the board house to print the PCB rev and add a silk screen rectangle for handwriting the ".a.b" with a sharpie.

hope this helps!

Re: Revision Control of PCBs (Printed Circuit Board) and Printed Circuit Board Assemb

I have not seen an industry standard for naming or numbering conventions of PCBs.

I have worked in contract manufacturing for a long time and has been exposed to all kinds of numbering system. Every customer had their preference. We had to convert them to our system to reduce confusion. Rev up does not necessarily mean obsolescence of the older one. The revs have to match the PD.

The numbering system should suit your organization. For example, if you have too many Gerber file changes, you might select one way and if yo have lead time issues and have to buy cross, you might select another way.

The easiest one I dealt with was "x.a" format, where x= the rev level of Gerber and a=the rev level of BOM/schematic. If the customer dictates the process, you might want to make it "x.a.b", where b corresponds to the qualified process. We would ask the board house to print the PCB rev and add a silk screen rectangle for handwriting the ".a.b" with a sharpie.

hope this helps!

Re: Revision Control of PCBs (Printed Circuit Board) and Printed Circuit Board Assemb

Printed circuit board assembly is the process of soldering or assembly of the electronic component to a printed circuit board. There are three types of revision control of PCBs such as PCB part number, PCBA part number, and Hardware revision. Methods of handling revision control issues are varying due to time.

We have a PN for bare boards (prefix 000-xxxxxx) last digit is rev. And then we have a completed assembly number XXX- (Depends on product) and then XXXXXX and again last digit is the rev. We also have sub assemblies with different prefixes that end up in a completed assembly number. But primary user numbers are the bare board (considered a component) and then the final shipped assembly number. The product structure or BOM is to the final ship number. This calls out the bare board number