DownStream Technologies is shipping BluePrint for PCBs Release 1.0. The software helps users quickly create the documentation that drives PCB fabrication, assembly and inspection. The first shipment of the product included sales to a cross-section of the PCB industry including PCB design and engineering groups, PCB prototype manufacturers and contract manufacturers in the U.S. and Europe.

Development began over 3 years ago. “We see BluePrint as major milestone in our product development strategy to automate the PCB release process,” said Rick Almeida, one of DownStream’s founders. “By working closely with PCB designers we had learned they face a significant challenge in trying to post-process their designs for successful manufacturing. Not only did they need to generate CAM outputs, but they also needed a way to collect and manage the myriad of data files that are needed to build a PCB assembly. By delivering BluePrint Release 1.0, combined with our flagship product CAM350, we are realizing a major milestone in our product strategy. Our customers now have the ability to create manufacturing tooling aids such as Gerber and NC files, as well as Fabrication Assembly Drawings and Parts Lists and deliver them in a single, electronic package to manufacturing,” said Almeida.

BluePrint uses the available PCB design intelligence to automatically create and link unlimited PCB views and details resulting in a detailed, accurate documentation package. Documentation packages contain all the data necessary to build, view and archive the final product anywhere, anytime.

“The creation of accurate PCB manufacturing drawings is often overlooked as an important aspect of the PCB design process. With the introduction of BluePrint this area of concern has been completely solved,” said Martin Davies, a PCB Designer in the UK who participated in the beta program. “BluePrint gives us an efficient tool that will enable us to provide consistent, thorough and accurate PCB manufacturing documentation.”