Enhancing Electronics Design and Collaboration with Altium Technology: A Case Study on Quantel Laser

Quantel Laser is a division of Lumibird, a global leader in laser technology. The company specializes in the development of solid-state lasers, laser diodes, and fiber lasers. These products are widely used throughout the industrial, scientific, medical, and defense industries. The company has main offices in Bozeman, Montana and Lannion, France, and has grown into a global organization of over 800 employees across two continents. The company has been in operation for over three decades and has seen the industry shift from a highly specialized technical field to one that powers a wealth of everyday essentials.

Quantel Laser, a division of Lumibird and a global leader in laser technology, has been facing increasing challenges in meeting the evolving needs of its customers. The company, which develops solid-state lasers, laser diodes, and fiber lasers, has seen its customer needs become progressively more intricate over the years. The industry has shifted from a highly specialized technical field to one that powers a wealth of everyday essentials. The demand for more energy in a smaller size at a lower cost has pushed the company's skills to the max. The company's engineers have relied on Altium technology for decades to meet these demands. However, the advent of the global pandemic posed a new challenge for the company, as it impacted their offices in France and the United States, disrupting their design team's ability to work together.

The solution to Quantel Laser's challenge came in the form of Altium 365, the world’s only cloud platform for printed circuit board (PCB) design and realization, and Altium CoDesigner, a unique capability that allows MCAD tools to integrate easily with Altium Designer. These tools ensured that Quantel’s customer expectations could always be met, even during the global pandemic. Altium’s CoDesigner, plus Altium 365, made it easy for mechanical engineers to work alongside their PCB designer colleagues by simply downloading a license-free plug-in for their MCAD tool and then continuing to work with their native assemblies without ever leaving their MCAD environment. Once they’re ready to share their designs, mechanical designers can just push/pull changes from their MCAD tools into the Altium ECAD space. This improved collaboration between MCAD and ECAD teams, eliminating the need for importing, exporting, or converting file formats.

• The use of Altium CoDesigner and Altium 365 has significantly improved the collaboration process at Quantel Laser. The tools have eliminated the need for importing, exporting, or converting file formats, making the design process more efficient. The CoDesigner capability has also made prototyping much easier, increasing the likelihood of getting it right the first time. Even complex projects have become easier to handle with CoDesigner. The tools have also improved transparency across the global design team, making it easier for the team to work together and understand each other’s needs. The success of using the CoDesigner capability to design the Viron set the stage for future developments at Quantel, particularly the Merion C.

• The use of Altium CoDesigner and Altium 365 allowed for seamless collaboration between teams, regardless of their location, during the global pandemic.

• The CoDesigner capability increased the likelihood of getting prototypes right the first time.

• The use of CoDesigner and Altium 365 enabled the rapid development of custom products for customers.