Ultimately, open and honest communications is important and the dialogue should not stop once the design team is done coming up with the latest consumer widget, industrial controller or telecom device. Someone somewhere needs to do the industrial design, the board layout, and maybe the mechanicals, and ultimately send it out for manufacturing either in-house or at a CEM. It is good business practice to communicate with the FAE and the Manufacturers’ Sales Representative on an ongoing basis, including after the design has effectively left the building for overseas manufacture.
Daniel Dillon is President of Dillon Technical Associates, Inc. http://www.dillontechnical.com and is a manager at Frontline Management, Inc. Sensors and Systems Division. Daniel spent many years working as a Field Applications Engineer for a European semiconductor company handling Western North America.