There’s a new IEC/PAS 61182-12 available, “Generic requirements for printed board assembly products manufacturing description data and transfer methodology.” The document provides the user with a wealth of information on the XML schema used to describe PCB’s and PCB assembly products for tooling, manufacturing, assembly and inspection requirements. Interestingly enough, it is based on a series of IPC documents which have been submitted to IEC for inclusion as an IEC standard.
First, what exactly is an IEC/PAS? The PAS stands for Publicly Available Standard. It is a technical specification that does not fulfill all the requirements to be a “real” standard, but is made available to the public because of it’s usefulness or as a precursor to adoption as a standard. It will only remain valid for three years, by definition. Then it will be withdrawn or adopted as a regular IEC document (dropping the PAS designation).
It is not uncommon for a PAS document to have dual logos and this is no exception. You’ll see both the IEC and IPC logos in the upper left hand corner of this document, right there on the front cover.
What IPC standard is the IEC/PAS 61182-12 based on? Basically it’s the IPC 2581 Revision B that’s been used for the general requirements. Then the four additional standards in the IPC 258X series (IPC-2582, IPC-2583, IPC-2584, and IPC-2588) supply the XML details necessary for the range of data needed by industry.
The IEC/PAS 61182-12 is arranged into two main sections — Requirements and Content. This separates the general information about XML and the types of schema used in the standard from the detailed requirements for specific data levels and content definitions. There’s also extensive information at the end of the document on applicable IPC, ANSI, EDIF, ISO and DoD standards, as well as Annexes on the IPC-7351 naming convention for land patterns, the panel instance file, and a potential reference designator assignment for non-electrical items.
If you need any of these documents, you’ll want to use Document Center as your source. With a consolidated collection of standards from around the world, Document Center offers you the opportunity to purchase, monitor and maintain standards from diverse sources at one location.
You can buy them at our webstore, www.document-center.com. Or contact our staff by phone (650-591-7600), fax (650-591-7617) or email (info@document-center.com). We’ve been supplying customers like you from our Silicon Valley location since 1982. Make us your Standards Experts!
