Bridging the Gap Between Designers and Customers with IoT

AW Audio, an engineering services company based in France, serves everyone from fledgling design houses to major AV equipment manufacturers. Some customers come with just ideas and others show up with schematics in hand; but they all want a way to engage in the development progress. The company is owned by Paul Payen de la Garanderie, who has an extensive background in the Audio/Visual industry. He has had to work with multiple companies over the years, from small start-ups to celebrated AV firms. As Paul moves AW Audio into more sophisticated designs and explores expanding his customer base to include universities and research facilities, Altium 365 will continue to help move him forward.

The process of transforming great ideas into real, physical electronic products involves a team of talented individuals and multiple companies. One of the key challenges in this process is the communication of PCB designs with customers. This is often difficult as visualizing the board’s development can be somewhat esoteric. Furthermore, the process of designing electronic systems can take upwards of a year and a half or more, making it challenging to explain to customers where their projects are in the pipeline. It’s difficult to share schematics and part placement during the development cycle. Paul Payen de la Garanderie, Founder and Owner of AW Audio, an engineering services company based in France, understands these challenges very well. He has had to work with multiple companies over the years, from small start-ups to celebrated AV firms, and is all too familiar with these challenges.

Paul made the transition to Altium Designer in part because of his manufacturing partners. The manufacturers wanted a solution that worked well with their workflow and what they are well familiar with. Altium software made his life easier too. Using Altium Designer with the Altium 365 cloud platform, the world’s first cloud platform for PCB design and realization, made his own processes much easier. He found that he could now manage board parts and libraries and easily find specific parts from various suppliers. With Altium Designer, Paul was able to keep his manufacturers happy, but he also needed a way to bring his customers into the loop. With Altium 365, he could easily communicate with his customers through all stages in the design cycle. He found that with the addition of Altium 365, he could bring everyone onto the same page, from his customers to his component manufacturers.

• With Altium 365, Paul was able to improve the communication process with his customers and manufacturers. It allowed him to track schematics and show people how their projects are progressing, building trust with his clients. The platform also made it easier for him to manage board parts and libraries and find specific parts from various suppliers. It was particularly beneficial for his customers, as they could see how their designs were progressing during the development stage. Altium 365 also served as a starting point for some of his customers because they could see him solving challenges as he worked on projects. As a result, Paul now uses Altium 365 every day with customers, including prospective ones.