Why design review catches errors before fabrication in PCB Design - Business Case Study

Scenario Mode

👤 Your Role: You are a PCB design engineer

📋 Request: Your manager wants a report explaining how design reviews help catch errors before fabrication to reduce costs and improve quality.

📊 Data: You have data on PCB projects including number of errors found at design review, errors found after fabrication, cost impact of errors, and project timelines.

🎯 Deliverable: Create a dashboard showing error counts before and after fabrication, cost savings from early error detection, and timeline improvements.

Sample Data

Project	Errors at Design Review	Errors After Fabrication	Cost Impact ($)	Time Delay (Days)
Alpha	5	1	500	2
Beta	8	3	1200	5
Gamma	2	4	1500	7
Delta	6	0	0	0
Epsilon	4	2	800	3
Zeta	7	1	400	1
Eta	3	5	2000	10
Theta	9	0	0	0

1

Step 1: Create a table showing total errors found at design review and after fabrication for all projects.

SUM of 'Errors at Design Review' and SUM of 'Errors After Fabrication' columns.

Expected Result

Total Errors at Design Review = 44, Total Errors After Fabrication = 16

2

Step 2: Calculate total cost impact caused by errors found after fabrication.

SUM of 'Cost Impact ($)' column.

Expected Result

Total Cost Impact = $6400

3

Step 3: Calculate average time delay caused by errors found after fabrication.

AVERAGE of 'Time Delay (Days)' column.

Expected Result

Average Time Delay = 3.5 days

4

Step 4: Create a bar chart comparing errors found at design review vs errors after fabrication by project.

X-axis = Project, Y-axis = Number of Errors, Series = 'Errors at Design Review' and 'Errors After Fabrication'.

Expected Result

Bar chart showing higher errors caught at design review than after fabrication for most projects.

5

Step 5: Create a card visualization showing total cost savings by catching errors early (assume each error after fabrication costs $400).

Cost Savings = (Total Errors at Design Review) * $400

Expected Result

Cost Savings = $17,600

6

Step 6: Create a line chart showing time delay impact by project due to errors found after fabrication.

X-axis = Project, Y-axis = 'Time Delay (Days)'.

Expected Result

Line chart showing projects with higher delays correspond to more errors after fabrication.

7

Step 7: Summarize insights in a text box explaining how design review reduces errors, cost, and delays.

Text summary based on data visualizations and calculations.

Expected Result

Design reviews catch most errors early, reducing costly fixes and delays after fabrication.

Final Result

Bar Chart: Errors by Project

↓

Card: Cost Savings $17,600

↓

Line Chart: Time Delay by Project

✓Most errors are caught during design review, preventing costly fixes later.

✓Errors found after fabrication cause an average delay of 3.5 days and $6400 in costs.

✓Early error detection through design review saves approximately $17,600 across projects.

✓Projects with more post-fabrication errors experience longer delays.

Bonus Challenge

Create a predictive measure to estimate potential cost savings if design review errors increase by 10%.

Show Hint

Calculate 10% more errors caught at design review and multiply by $400 per error to estimate savings.