Macaos Enterprise

Macaos Enterprise is a comprehensive system allowing PCB designers and purchasers to easily manage their PCB and Solder Paste Stencil acquisition needs.

PCB

Use the Product Browser to view and organize your board and stencil products. With the graphic viewer you can view, inspect and measure any detail in the product. The browser also lists key product specifications, fabrication history and order history. Instant online quotations are available for most products. Select a price and add to the shopping basket to place an order. Use the Import Module to easily create new PCB products from your Gerber, Drill and Pick & Place files.

Panelize

With the Panelization Module you can step up a PCB board to a panel (array) suitable for assembly in a matter of seconds. You have complete control over the placement and style of break-off tabs. In addition, you can easily add fiducial marks, tooling holes, bad marks, copper fill, bar codes and text to the panel frame. It is also possible to add assembly mask data (such as peel-off mask, glue mask, etc) to the panel. A WYSIWYG viewer shows your panel just as it will be interpreted by the manufacturer. Once the panel has been "published" to the system it will appear in the Product Browser, ready for purchase.

Stencil

The Stencil Module allows you to easily create a solder paste stencil product, either based on an existing PCB product or on a gerber file. Choose from one of the pre-defined stencil frames or upload your own. Specify adjustments to pad openings, split large openings into an array of smaller openings, add text and remove extraneous objects. A WYSIWYG viewer shows your stencil just as it will be cut. Once the stencil has been "published" to the system it will appear in the Product Browser, ready for purchase.

Collaborate

The product sharing features of Macaos Enterprise allow a board owner to share the board with an EMS supplier. The EMS supplier can then panelize the board, add assembly mask data (such as peel-off mask, glue mask, etc), and generate solder paste stencils optimized for their own assembly processes, either for quotation purposes or to place an order for production.

PCB

With Macaos Enterprise you can easily manage information about your PCBs and Solder Mask Stencils. Product information, production data, order and fabrication history, etc. is at your fingertips. Instant online quotations and order placement save you time and money. Product Browser The Product Browser allows you to browse all of your PCB and Stencil products for product specifications, fabrication history, order history, etc. Products may be sorted into customizable project folders for easy searching. The Product Viewer allows you to view and inspect the product's Gerber, drill and pick & place data in detail. Features include pan, zoom, measure and complete layer selection. Documentation files, including automatically generated stackup drawings and panel drawings, may be viewed or saved locally. You may also add documentation additional to the product, if necessary.
Import Module The Import Module is used to read Gerber and drill files, as well as pick & place data and documentation, into the system and "package" them into a PCB product. Each input file is automatically mapped to it's board layer, based on pre-defined or customizable filename filters. A WYSIWYG viewer shows your board just as it will be interpreted by the manufacturer. Once the PCB has been "published" to the system it will appear in the Product Browser, ready for panelization and/or purchase.
	A unique feature of the import module is the ability to add symbols to the component legend or solder mask layers. Available symbols include: Lead-free, CE-mark, WEEE, Recycle, ESD, RoHS, bar code, fiducial and the fabricator's UL-mark.
When defining your board, you may choose from a large selection of pre-defined stackups, or define your own buildup. Either way, a detailed stackup drawing is automatically generated in PDF format.
Quotation Module The Quotation Module gives you access to online price quotations from participating suppliers. Select multiple board quantities and delivery times in order to choose the quantity/delivery/price combination that suits your needs. Once you have selected your desired price, your order can be placed with just a few mouse clicks.

Panelize

The Macaos Enterprise Panelization Module allows you to quickly step up a PCB board to a panel (array) suitable for assembly.

You can easily add features to the panel, such as:

Break-off tabs
Fiducial marks
Tooling holes
Break-off holes
Bad marks
Copper fill
Text
Bar code

A WYSIWYG viewer shows your panel just as it will be interpreted by the manufacturer. Once the panel has been "published" to the system it will appear in the Order Browser, ready for purchase.

Pick and place data (if included in the board product) is stepped together with the boards. Once the panel product is published, right-click on a Pick&Place layer to export pick and place data for the panel.

Features available with pro license

Multi-product panels

With a pro license you also have the possibility of making multi-product panels. You can put several different products into one panel, often giving a better price than when ordered individually. If the multi-product panels is specified without break-off tabs, then the factory will manufacture deliver the boards as separate products (rather than as a panel).

Add assembly masks to a panel

Often, the necessary data for assembly masks is missing from the Gerber files created by the board designer. Especially in cases where assembly is being done by an EMS provider, this missing data can be a problem. It is the EMS provider who knows the processes and needs to specify the masks, but getting this information to the board designer early enough to be included in the design is usually not possible.

With this feature, the mask areas may be specified by the production engineer while creating the assembly panel. Mask areas may be specified either to fill a rectangle drawn by the user, or to fill all solder mask openings within a rectangle drawn by the user. The following masks may be defined:

Peel-off mask (Blue mask)
Paste mask
Glue mask
Hard gold
Carbon

By adding paste mask data to the desired solder mask openings of a panel, it is possible to create a solder paste stencil when paste mask data was missing from the designer. Although the solder mask openings are usually somewhat larger than the copper pads, this is easily corrected in the Stencil module, which adjusts openings relative to the original copper pad size (when available) rather than the specified paste mask pad size.

Move and rotate boards within a panel

Any board in a panel may be moved or rotated as desired.

Stencil

The Stencil Product Creator Module allows you to quickly define a solder paste stencil for your PCB.

Using the copper layer and paste mask layer data from the PCB, you can do the following:

Select a frame from among pre-defined or uploaded frame data
Adjust all opening sizes by a percentage of area
Adjust the corner rounding of all openings
Fine tune individual opening sizes to correct for process issues
Mark fiducials for etching (rather than cutting)
Add text
Place top and bottom openings side by side on the same stencil
Split a large opening into an array of smaller openings
Define regions of the stencil to be built up or etched down to a different thickness

All opening size adjustments are defined as a percentage of the copper pad area (when copper data is available). The WYSIWYG viewer lets you see how your adjusted openings compare to the copper pads.

A frame manager and editor allows you to upload frames or build new frames based on pre-defined templates. Frames may be defined with variable texts (company name, product number, etc) which automatically get substituted in the Stencil Product Creator.

Once a stencil product has been published, you can get prices and order the stencil in the same manner as for PCB products.

Collaborate

Macaos Enterprise is designed for collaboration. You can share your products with your design bureau, fabricator, EMS, purchaser, etc so that each partner has access to the data they need without compromising product security.

For example, a product might go forward like this:

When the design bureau finishes the board layout, they load the Gerber, drill and pick & place data, together with drawings and other documentation, into the Import Module.
Once the product has been specified in the Import Module, the design bureau "publishes" the product, assigning ownership to the product's owner.
The product owner locates the product in the Product Browser and clicks on the RFQ for Assembly button to generate RFQs for populated boards. This module automatically "shares" the product with participating EMS providers, and then asks them for a quote for a batch of populated boards. Alternatively, the product may be shared manually and any EMS provider may be directly contacted for a quotation.
The EMS production engineer analyzes the board and adds assembly mask data (such as peel-off mask, glue mask, paste mask, etc) to the board product (or panel), as needed.
The EMS panelizes the board as best suited to their own processes and uses the quotation module to estimate their cost for the bare boards. This, together with the product's pick & place data and BOM allows them to make a quotation.
Once the EMS gets the order, they can order the panels and solder paste stencils via Macaos Enterprise.
When the bare boards are finished, the fabricator uploads quality documentation and shipment tracking number, so that it is visible in the Product Browser.
When the populated boards are finished, the EMS uploads quality documentation and shipment tracking number, so that it is visible in the Product Browser.

Macaos Enterprise has several levels of access and visibility, so that the product owner can control access to their data.

Macaos Enterprise Pro

There are some Macaos Enterprise features which are only available with the Pro version. These are:

Multi-product panels

In many cases, it may be desirable to put several different products together into a panel. For example, by putting the different boards in a system together into a panel, it would be possible to order one panel per system. Often, the price of a multi-product panel will be substantially lower than the price of the same quantity of boards ordered individually.

The product chooser in the panel module allows compatible boards to be added to a panel by simply dragging the desired board into the panel and dropping it in place. If the boards are to be delivered as a panel, then break-off tabs must be placed between the boards. If break-off tabs are omitted then the "panel" will be manufactured as individual boards.

Here is an example of the potential savings that can be attained when purchasing multi-product panels. Example prices in USD for 5 pcs, 2-layer 1.6mm FR-4, from UL-approved manufacturer, including El-test and shipping.

Board	Size	3 days	5 days
A	137 x 86 mm	413	313
B	77 x 53 mm	350	280
C	200 x 76 mm	435	324
D	42 x 42 mm	310	259
E	78 x 38 mm	334	271
F	78 x 20 mm	305	256
Total price		2147	1703
Multi-product panel price		823	556
Savings		1324	1147

Move and rotate boards within a panel

Any board in a panel may be moved or rotated as desired. By default, boards automatically snap to align with the edges of neighboring boards. Boards may be rotated in 90 degree increments with a keystroke. Peel-off mask

Add assembly masks to a panel or to an existing product

Often, the necessary data for assembly masks (peel-off mask, paste mask, glue mask, carbon or hard gold) is missing from the Gerber files created by the board designer. Especially in cases where assembly is being done by an EMS provider, this missing data can be a problem. It is the EMS provider who knows the processes and needs to specify the masks, but getting this information to the board designer early enough to be included in the design is usually not possible. With this feature, the mask areas may be specified by the production engineer while creating the assembly panel, or added to an existing product that lacks the mask data.

Masks are specified by drawing rectangles on the panel. The user selects whether the mask will be applied to the entire rectangle or to all soldermask openings within the rectangle. This is repeated at the same location on all instances of the same board.

Edit title block text for PDF drawings

A panel drawing and a product stackup drawing (in PDF format) are automatically generated when a product is published. These are technical drawings in accordance with ISO drawing standards, suitable for use as product documentation. Pro version users may edit the text in the drawing's title block fields, such as title, drawing number, owner, etc. Pro users may also generate a panel drawing without publishing the panel.

Version comparison

Feature	Basic version	Pro version
Multi-product panels	No	Yes
Move and rotate boards	No	Yes
Add assembly mask data	No	Yes
Edit title block text for PDF drawings	No	Yes
Panel drawing	After purchase*	Yes
Paste mask data (Gerber)	After purchase*	Yes
Panelization charges	Yes*	No**
Production data (Gerber)	No	With download license

*With the Basic version, you will be charged a panelization fee for each panel. This fee will be charged the first time the panel is purchased. You will not have access to the panel drawing or the panelized paste mask files until the panel has been purchased.

**In some countries, Macaos Pro functionality is available to users without a Pro license. These users must still pay panelization charges.

Pricing

Basic version. No license cost. Some functionality, such as panelization or downloading production data is available on a pay-per-use basis.

Pro version. EUR 750 annual license fee.

Pro version with download. EUR 4000 annual license fee. The download license gives unlimited access to production data, allowing products to be ordered from suppliers outside of the Macaos System.

What's new in Macaos Enterprise

What's new in Macaos Enterprise 3.5

Import module improvements

Automation improvements when importing files

We have made a number of changes further automate the import process.

Automated drill file scaling: In many cases, the drill files will automatically be scaled to match the scale of the Gerber files. Boards with very few drill holes, or where only a small portion of the board has drill holes, may not be scaled automatically.
Automated contour selection: Outer and inner contours are automatically detected/created in many cases. Track routing and scoring must still be specified manually. Note: If the Gerber file for the board layer contains a drawing frame or title block, then contours will not be automatically detected.
Unpack .rar files: Compressed archives in rar format can be opened in the same manner as zip files.
Link filter sharing: User defined link filters are stored online, so that they may be shared with other users in your company. We are also constantly looking at ways to improve and expand the link filters built into the system.
Paste drill tool specifications into the tool list: If drill tool diameters are not defined in the drill file, they are probably defined in one of the text files generated by your CAD system. If you right-click on the file and choose View file, you can select the lines of text that specify the tool definitions and copy them to the clipboard. Then go to the Drill tools tab, right-click on the tool list and choose Paste tool sizes from clipboard to load the tool definitions into the tool list. Note: you should only copy the lines of text that define tools. Do not copy any other text into the clipboard.
Get assistance from an engineer: If you are still having trouble getting your files imported properly, you can send them to a Macaos engineer with the
Help|Request assistance from a Macaos engineer menu command. The engineer will import your files and return an import (*.mei) file to you by e-mail. After opening the .mei file in the Import module, you can add symbols and complete board specifications (as necessary), prior to publishing the product.

Improved stackup drawing

We have refurbished the PDF stackup drawing, to give a more detailed and accurate view of the stackup. Right-click in the stackup viewer (in the stackup selection dialog box) to generate a PDF stackup drawing. The drawing follows ISO standards for the frame and title block.

A product stackup drawing is automatically generated when a product is published. If the product has blind or buried vias, these are shown in the stackup drawing. The product stackup drawing may be viewed or printed from the Macaos Enterprise product viewer.

Available only with pro license

Macaos Pro users have the option of entering their own text into the various fields of the drawing's title block. In this manner technical drawings for project documentation may be easily created, with title, drawing number, revision, etc. in accordance with the requirements of your organization.

Aluminium stackups

It is now possible to specify an aluminium carrier or core when defining a custom buildup.

Board specifications accessible in tabs

Two new tabs have been added to the product specifications tabs. Board specifications and statistics are shown in these tabs, rather than in a dialog box. This makes it possible to use the graphic viewer while viewing the product data, which can be useful when measuring minimum track, clearance and annular ring values.

Additional layer definitions

Three additional documentationlayer definitions have been added (to Additional layers) for assembly drawings and drill drawings in Gerber format.

Show/hide top or bottom layers

Right-click on the layers overview to show top, bottom or all layers, or to hide all layers.

Panelization improvements

Stackup drawing

A product stackup drawing is automatically generated when a panel is published. If the panel has blind or buried vias, these are shown in the stackup drawing. The product stackup drawing may be viewed or printed from the Macaos Enterprise product viewer.

Available only with pro license

Macaos Pro users have the option of entering their own text into the various fields of the title block. This feature applies both to the panel drawing and the product stackup drawing. In this manner technical drawings for project documentation may be easily created, with title, drawing number, revision, etc. in accordance with the requirements of your organization.

Default panel settings

With the Tools|Settings menu command, you can choose between specifying the default panelization settings at program startup, or automatically remembering the specifications used last time the program was run.

Other improvements

Request a quotation for assembly of a PCB

You can automatically send an RFQ to Electronic Manufacturing Service (EMS) providers for a selected PCB. The EMS providers will view your PCB and component info in Macaos Enterprise and then return a quotation to you by e-mail.

Create solder paste stencils with variable thickness

When creating a solder paste stencil, you may define regions that are to have a different thickness than the thickness of the stencil. Regions may either have a reduced thickness (by etching the region) or an expanded thickness (by gluing additional material to the stencil). Defining variable thickness regions will give you more control over the amount of solder paste deposited on component pads.

New color scheme in viewer

The product viewer has been given a new color scheme which more accurately matches the colors of a typical PCB.
You can restore the older color scheme by right-clicking on a layer name and choosing Restore classic colors.

Multiple login identities

If you use multiple user logins, Macaos Enterprise will allow you to select an identity when logging in. To enable this feature, set a check mark by the File|Remember multiple passwords menu command.

Get new password

If you have forgotten your login name or password, click on the Get new password button in the login dialog box. A new password will be sent to you by e-mail.

Commit order dialog box

The Commit Order dialog box has a summary of the order, including contents of the shopping basket, price and delivery info for each item, invoice info and total price for the order. You may add a purchase order number and additional comments, if desired.

View packing list

When viewing the order history for a product, you may click on the pack list number to view the package contents and a link to the shipper's online tracking system (where available).

What was new in previous versions

What's new in Macaos Enterprise 3.4