Flexible printed circuits offers design choices that may lessen your product cost, enhance products features as well as improve the robustness, if the proper steps are taken in your product start up. Following these guidelines will help a designer or engineer more successfully utilize flexible circuit technology into packaging solutions.Execute a little research on flexible circuit terminology as this will help with supplier communication and result in a better design. Many terms utilized by your suppliers are industry specific terms. There are many sources for design guides or terminology like the IPC (see "Terms and Definitions for Interconnecting and Packaging Electronic Circuits" IPC-T-50 Rev. H). You don't need to become a specialist, but understanding the proper terminology will go a long way in improving the look process.Choose the best supplier for your needs; there are many flex circuit manufacturers that could gladly do business with you, however, not every supplier will likely be able to fill your unique needs. You must ask a lot of questions about your own future supplier. Does the potential supplier have experience in your industry? Can they demonstrate proficiency in the design your are trying to build? If it has fine lines, what's their demonstrated capability for line width and spacing? How long have they been building flex circuits, what's their longterm viability, is the management team committed to continued investment in this technology. These along with other questions should be section of your homework in choosing the right supplier. You should also talk to some other clients of your prospective supplier; insist upon getting customer references as a disorder of doing business. Talking to some of the suppliers customers can give you a ton of insight on what it is like employing them.Follow design input from your supplier. Your supplier understands how you can make a reliable circuit and knows the limitations of its manufacturing capability. Forcing your design on your own flex circuit supplier is really a sure way to decrease the reliability and increase costs. Sharp conductor corners create stress points; radius turns could have an extended life. Cracked conductors at solder joints have become common in poorly designed flex; this problem can be mitigated through the design phase. Filleting the intersection point between a trace and a pad tends to distribute stresses that might occur when the circuit is bent. Many suppliers will offer you comprehensive redesign to insure that common reliability issues are addressed and the look is manufacturable.Creating a technical contact at your flexible circuit supplier can dramatically improve communication and smooth the merchandise introduction process. A solid relationship can help assure mutual investment to the success of the program. Communication with a contact that can explain the processes, materials, design guidelines and cost implications can make the project more likely to succeed and improve the experience.Be sure that your supply chain team understands that a flexible circuit is custom designed and engineered with original features specific to the finish use application. Let's assume that this product is really a commodity that may be purchased anywhere will most likely cause you to higher costs, poor delivery and reduced reliability.Allow enough time in your total project to benefit from your suppliers expertise so that you could incorporate cost savings ideas and improve the design robustness. An overly compressed time line can lead to higher costs and lower quality as the supplier is forced to produce a poorly designed product in an instant turn environment.Analyze the entire cost of ownership instead of just looking at the product price. Utilizing an off-shore supplier might look like you are saving money, but communication issues, lack of timely tech support team, travel costs and delayed project set up costs can quickly consume any piece part savings that an overseas supplier gives. A number of the lowest cost flexible circuits are made in the usa. These companies are employing highly automated equipment and can compete with anyone on the globe. Other US suppliers specialize in lower volume with high product mix production, a location that many overseas producers will struggle at.While most of the above items seem like common sense to the experienced flex user, often, buyers seem to dramatically under estimate what is involved in successfully utilizing flexible circuits in their electronic packages. Utilizing a number of the guidelines given in this article will hopefully improve your chances of an effective start up.Dave Becker is the V.P. of Sales and Marketing at All Flex Flexible Circuits. Dave has been in the flexible pcb circuit industry for the past 32 years with a variety of positions in Quality Engineering, Product Management, and Sales Management. Dave has authored several technical articles on flexible circuitry design, manufacturing, and new product introduction processes. All Flex Flexible Circuits specializes in low to medium volume flexible printed circuits and flex circuit assembly. Their featured products include Flexible Heater Circuits and Maxi-Flex.