Modern PCB design is no longer just about connecting signals and fitting components on a board. Today’s engineers must balance electrical performance, manufacturability, supply chain risk, mechanical integration, and increasingly aggressive schedules.
During a recent webinar hosted by EMA Design Automation and Hawk Ridge Systems, experts walked through five of the most common, and costly, issues that quietly emerge during PCB development, often surfacing too late to fix easily. More importantly, they showed how OrCAD X, tightly integrated with the SOLIDWORKS ecosystem, helps engineers identify and resolve these problems earlier in the design process.
Here’s a closer look at those five issues and how to address them.
1. Choosing the “Right” Component That Turns Out to Be the Wrong One
The Problem
A component may be electrically perfect and still be a terrible choice. Engineers routinely discover late in the process that a selected part is:
- Obsolete or nearing end of life
- Unavailable in required volumes
- Subject to excessive lead times
- Difficult or impossible to second-source
These issues often surface only after a design reaches procurement or manufacturing, triggering rework that could have been avoided earlier.
The OrCAD X Solution
OrCAD X integrates real-time component intelligence directly into the schematic and BOM environment with LiveBOM. As parts are selected, engineers receive immediate visibility into lifecycle status, availability, sourcing risk, and approved alternatives.
Instead of reacting to supply chain issues downstream, engineers can make fully informed component decisions upfront, reducing redesigns and protecting product schedules.
2. Hidden Electrical Issues You Can’t See by Inspection
The Problem
Some of the most serious PCB issues are nearly invisible during layout review, including:
- Traces crossing split planes
- Return path discontinuities
- Excessive trace coupling
- Current density bottlenecks
These problems are often easy to fix once you know where they are. The challenge is finding them before hardware testing or field failures reveal them the hard way.
The OrCAD X Solution
OrCAD X embeds in-design analysis and simulation directly into the PCB layout environment. Engineers can run fast, lightweight electrical checks while routing and throughout the PCB layout, with results displayed as contextual visual overlays on the board.
Instead of hunting for issues manually, engineers see problems clearly and can correct them immediately, while the cost of change is still low.
3. Electrical and Mechanical Designs Falling Out of Sync
The Problem
Electromechanical disconnects are a major source of late-stage surprises. A component moves on the PCB, a mounting hole shifts in the enclosure, or clearances disappear and it can mean a complete late-stage redesign.
Often, these changes happen for valid reasons, but without proper communication, they lead to conflicts, delays, and costly redesigns.
The OrCAD X Solution
OrCAD X provides bi-directional, high-fidelity data exchange between ECAD and MCAD using industry-standard collaboration workflows. PCB and mechanical teams can:
- Share accurate 3D representations
- Detect collisions and fit issues early
- Track changes with accept/reject workflows
- Preserve design intent and change history
Rather than working in silos, teams stay aligned throughout the design process.
4. Manufacturing Problems Discovered Too Late
The Problem
Designs that work electrically may still be impossible or expensive to manufacture. Issues such as traces too close to board edges, fabrication constraint violations, or assembly limitations often appear only after the design is sent out for quotes.
At that point, changes are late, disruptive, and sometimes non-negotiable.
The OrCAD X Solution
OrCAD X includes built-in Design for Manufacturing (DFM) checks that run continuously during layout. Engineers can apply:
- Industry-standard IPC rules
- Manufacturer-specific fabrication constraints
By validating manufacturability throughout the design process, engineers catch issues early long before they delay production or force last-minute redesigns.
5. Errors and Version Mismatches at Release to Manufacturing
The Problem
The final release to manufacturing often involves exporting dozens of files; Gerbers, drill tables, PDFs, assembly drawings to name a few which are frequently generated manually. It’s easy for revisions to fall out of sync, creating confusion about which version is correct.
These mismatches can lead to manufacturing errors, scrap, and time-consuming investigations.
The OrCAD X Solution
OrCAD X automates documentation generation and manufacturing packaging, pulling everything directly from the latest CAD data. Engineers define release “recipes” once and reuse them across projects and teams.
The result is a single, consistent source of truth and confidence that what gets built matches what was designed.
Designing with Confidence Earlier
Across all five issues, the underlying theme is the same: the earlier a problem is identified, the easier it is to fix.
OrCAD X enables a “shift-left” PCB design approach by embedding intelligence, analysis, manufacturability awareness, and AI-assisted automation directly into the workflow. Engineers gain better visibility, stronger collaboration with mechanical teams, and more time to focus on optimization rather than rework.
In an era of tighter schedules and more complex products, that shift isn’t just helpful, it’s essential. Watch the full webinar, 5 Common Issues Lurking in Your PCBs and How OrCAD X Can Solve Them, and test these features out yourself with a free trial of OrCAD X.
